SANTA TERESA 1796 Venezuela Solera Rum, 40% ABV, 70cL / 700mL

Product Information

On the palate, the rum is very creamy with an oily, syrupy consistency and a noticeable palate weight. It’s sweet, almost candied, with notes of dried fruit, vanilla, brown sugar and a bit of dark chocolate, along with some banana, cinnamon spice and some pepperiness. The barrels were first filled in 1992, and since then the Solera casks have never been fully emptied. As with Sherry from Jerez, Spain, each time a bottle is drawn, the Solera is topped up with a slightly younger rum blend, meaning that each final bottle has a balance of the ‘Ron Madre’ or Mother Rum blended with the flavour profile of younger expressions. In Venezuela, [rum] takes two years [of aging] to be called a rum. But to make that super-premium rum, you need at least 15 years,” she says. “The blenders need just as long to develop the science and magic — to fully understand the raw materials that go into a bottle of rum, it takes a long time.” However, it’s not all toiling away to get there. “The maestro ronero spends their day playing and creating with those liquids to understand how they develop," Duarte says. Inspired by bothVenezuela and the Scottish Highlands, Santa Teresa 1796 Speyside Whisky Cask Finish has been crafted using a rare 13-month finishing process in casks previously used forSpeyside Whisky. This distinctive approach sets it apart as one the of the world's only rums to be made this way. Its extended maturation, in conjunction with Santa Teresa 1796's signatureSolera Method, renownedfor its use in sherryproduction, results in a drier, more balanced flavor. As the original cask isnever emptied, this process ensuresthat every bottle carries echoesof the very first 1796 cask. Some critics condemn the practice and believe it detracts from the rum adding an artificial quality. Others see nothing wrong with it. I’m in the latter camp, although I wish, for the sake of transparency, that producers disclosed the practice and the dosage.

A solera is a system of fractional blending that originated in the sherry producing zone of Andalucía. In a sherry solera, the liquid is moved through a tier of barrels where a portion is mixed with previously aged sherry. Each tier is called a criadera (cradle). The bottom tier is called the solera. The term solera is also used to describe the entire process. Registered in 1909, the Santa Teresa brand boasts the title of Venezuela’s very first rum trademark – as well as proudly carrying the “Ron de Venezuela” (Rum of Venezuela) DOC label. Maturation is in a combination of ex-bourbon barrels of American oak and in French Limousin oak some of which previously held wine or Cognac.In the case of Santa Teresa 1796, each bottle is a blend of rums ranging in age from 35 years to 5 years. The older rums, however, are only a small proportion of the overall blend. The color is a rich, dark amber with a pronounced orange-brown hue. On the nose, there is a distinctive aroma of molasses and brown sugar that gives way to a caramel sweetness, along with hints of cooked apple, some coffee notes, a touch of banana and a bit of melon.

The issue is twofold. The application of an age statement to solera aging is difficult because it depends on how the solera is managed, varies by jurisdiction and is often inconsistent. The older the Solera the greater the difference between its age and the average age of its contents. This issue is made even more complicated by the fact that the definition of age statements also varies by jurisdiction.Each tier corresponds to a specific age. The contents, however, are a blend of all the liquids that have passed through each criadera. As the sherry moves down through the different criaderas the average age increases. The stated age of the solera corresponds to the date the solera was started, i.e., the oldest portion of the sherry in the blend. The older the solera, the tinier the amount of the original sherry that is still retained. So how does one even become a maestro ronero at one of the world’s oldest rum brands? Again, it’s all about time. Duarte joined Santa Teresa in 1990, and has spent years developing her craft. She’s now the fifth-ever person to hold the position in the company’s 226 years of existence. She likens becoming a master blender to aging a cask of rum itself.