Terroir is it Important in Rum or Just Wine?

     What is Terroir? The definition is the complete natural environment in which a particular wine is produced, including factors such as the soil, topography, and climate, the characteristic taste and flavor imparted to a wine by the environment in which it is produced.

     Rum is not a spirit that you hear many people talk about the terroir of, but in certain cases it is a very real factor.  This is especially clear when the rum is made from cane juice rather than molasses.  The place where the sugar cane is grown has a real effect on the flavor of the spirit.  When rum is made in the French style, from cane juice, the Terroir becomes evident.  There are a number of rums made from cane juice all around the world and they are all different in taste.

 

     Rums made in Hawaii from locally grown sugar cane have a very different taste from those made from sugar cane grown in Martinique, Venezuela, Cuba, Mexico, California, Haiti, Jamaica, Dominican Republic, or Brazil.  Each has its own terroir and imparts a different taste and flavor to the rums.  There is a difference in the taste and flavor in rums that are made from molasses that originates in different places, but the terroir of the rums made from sugar cane becomes even more apparent.