L'Habitation La Montagne is an agricultural estate founded by Jacques Duparquet, first governor of Martinique in 1651.
During the 19th century, the Depaz family, which worked sugar cane, participated in the growth of the town of Saint-Pierre, particularly through the development of the production of Martinique rum. At the same period, Saint-Pierre quickly became the world's leading rum port, and was nicknamed "The Little Paris of the Antilles".
However, everything came to an abrupt end on May 8, 1902 when the Montagne Pelée volcano erupted. In 180 seconds the town of Saint Pierre was wiped off the map and 30,000 souls lost their lives in the catastrophe... As chance would have it, Victor Depaz, then in Quebec on business, was the only survivor of his family.
It was not until 1917, 15 years after the eruption, that Habitation La Montagne was reborn from its ashes. On his family's land, Victor Depaz built his own distillery supplied by 521 hectares of sugar cane which he now owns in the heights of Montagne Pelée. Following this, he built a family home where he moved in 1922 with his wife and eleven children in what was then called "Château Depaz". It was from this moment that Depaz rums acquired worldwide fame.
In the 1950s, it was André and Raoul Depaz who took over, they modernized the cultivation of sugar cane and improved the production tool which took the name "Depaz distillery".
Cultivated at an altitude of 1,395 meters on the majestic slopes of Montagne Pelée, the sugar canes draw minerality from this volcanic soil, the aromatic signature of Depaz rums.
The Depaz distillery produces Rhum Agricole AOC Martinique and follows a resolutely traditional approach. In fact, the grinding is still carried out with an old steam engine, and it is only the bagasse which supplies the distillery with energy. At the end of the distillation column, the Depaz white rum has a strength of 70% vol. Finally, if old Bourbon barrels are preferred for aging, the Depaz distillery does not exclude, occasionally, using other types of barrels for the aging of its rum.
