The story of Montebello: The craftsmanship of the Marsolle family of distillers passed down from generation to generation for more than 90 years. Initially owners of the “La Lise” distillery, in 1966 the family of rum makers took over “Carrère”, a distillery founded in 1930 in Petit-Bourg, and began to produce Montebello rhums.
Under the initiative of Jean MARSOLLE, second generation of the family, the rhum begins to be aged in oak casks. The Marsolles become precursors of old rhums in Guadeloupe and therefore Montebello distillery owns today one of the largest stocks of old rhum over 20 year-old.
The year 2020 marks a turning point for Montebello. First of all, a new dynamic and ambitious team completes the existing one. Also, the distillery celebrates its 90th anniversary with the release of two carafes: ORIGINE and HORIZON, two cuvées carefully guarded in our cellars for decades like treasures.
This new generation wants to take advantage of the rich history and unique craftsmanship of the distillery to shape a bright future.
Two exceptional rhums
The aging method has always been the same since the beginning of production at the Montebello distillery. That allows us to unveil two splendid cuvées with unparalleled colors and aromas, for the pleasure of contemplating and tasting.
ORIGINE
The first cuvée makes a link with the origins and roots of the distillery. This 18-year-old rum comes exclusively from an unreduced cask and expresses the best our cellar has to offer.
This rum has aged in two types of barrels in a hot and humid tropical climate to give it incomparable richness and aromatic concentration. The first 9 years, a bourbon cask lent it its identity and its generosity, the last 9 years, a cognac cask infused its complexity and elegance.
The nose is gourmande and subtle as a cloud of orange marmalade, sweet spices, raisins, dried flowers and very ripe apples.
The opening in the mouth is thick and evokes a chocolate dessert. This blend of sweet spices, very ripe fruit and orange marmalade carries us away. Light notes of leather and tobacco are also present.
The finish is complex and very indulgent, and will make us want to come back.
HORIZON
This second cuvée is a 20-year-old single cask brut. It is one of the very few Rhum Agricoles from Guadeloupe to have undergone such extensive aging. It represents the quintessence of our rhums, the fruit of a family heritage. Like the Origine cuvée, this rhum has aged in both bourbon and cognac casks. The particularity of this nectar is that it enjoyed a finish of 3 months in a cask of Rye Whiskey which gave it its nobility and a finish that goes on and on.
The nose is an autumnal journey with notes of stewed fruit and candied citrus zest.
The palate opens with a precious mix of wood and roasted cocoa. A rhum that is smooth and velvety with lovely aromas of tobacco and coffee.
For the finish, the aromatic persistence is endless and leaves us salivating on generous notes of apricots and dried mangoes.
A timeless carafe
We decided to work with millimeter accuracy on the display of these exceptional elixirs, as if they were precious stones.
Our carafe is made from a noble material: crystal. A crystal that has been treated so that its shine is everlasting. The bottle is thick and weighs 2.3 kg empty which protects the rum and its sensory characteristics.
For the display to reflect our image, we made it personal. Each bottle is numbered. The carving of the neck of the carafe has been drawn and cut by hand.
An object of art by its own right, the carafe invites us to contemplation. Its carving uses timeless processes with actual silver finishes for ORIGINE and actual gold for HORIZON.
The selection of typographies subtly reveals the positioning of our carafes. For ORIGINE, an old type recalls the origin of the distillery, with noble notes. For HORIZON, a modern and rectilinear type connotes the lean towards the future and search for innovation of the distillery. These calligraphies also represent the switch between two generations at the same time as they constitute a link between the past and the future.
The bottles are delivered with bespoke transport caps depending on the cuvée. ORIGIN with the old imprinting and silver finishes and HORIZON with the modern typography and gold finishes.
We have chosen silver to highlight the ORIGINE carafe as a symbol of a rich and prosperous past, which we honor and cherish because it made us who we are.
The HORIZON carafe is enhanced by gold, which represents a blossoming future with an identity that will be present for generations to come.
A bespoke crystal totem in the form of a carafe is what we offer to each customer as a symbol that binds him to the Montebello distillery.
Excellence in every detail
After such a precise and thorough choice for the crystal carafe, we present to you an exceptional box which transcribes the values of our distillery while sublimating an extremely rare product. Our house colors are black, deep red and precious metals representing timelessness and elegance.
Our box is made of solid wood lacquered in black with actual gold or silver finishes and is lined inside with velvet in the colors of the Montebello distillery.
The beauty of simplicity and an eye for detail underlay this magnificent box.
If you touch the sides of the box, you will perceive the name of the distillery as well as that of the carafe. If you look at it from the side to the light, the details of the exceptional cuvée it contains will be revealed. Finally, on the right door of the box, there is a badge with the logo of Montebello distillery.
Manufactured with attention to the smallest detail, hundreds of hours of work were deployed from the sketching to the entire manufacturing of the box. Its more than 5 kg will support the precious elements that it contains. The doors are cut in a diagonal, giving the carafe an upwards orientation.
You can therefore admire the carafe without taking it out of its case. Its frames, locks and descriptive plate are silver-finished on ORIGINE and gold-finished on HORIZON.
Inside the box, you will find the carafe, its decorative crystal stopper, a card and a pouch of glass beads.
This personalized black velvet pouch, silver finish for ORIGINE and gold finish for HORIZON, contains glass beads that will allow you to support the stopper and restore its balance with the air after savoring the product. Since oxygen has oxidative effects on rum, it can degrade its organoleptic qualities.
Each carafe is exclusive. An electronic booklet in the form of a business card gives access to information related to the carafe. In order to surprise you every day, this personal card entitles you to a preview VIP member area.