Trois Rivières VO Cuvée du Moulin

Nicolas Fouquet, Superintendent of Finances under the Sun King, amassed an immense fortune that also included extensive sugarcane plantations on Martinique — among them estates that form the heritage of the Trois Rivières brand.

In the seventeenth century, sugar was the crown jewel of the colonial economy, with plantations generating margins of 300–500%. Fouquet controlled the entire value chain, from cultivation and processing to distribution and trade. The profits were privatized, while the burden of expenses — such as maintaining garrisons — was left to the state.

Although resources were nominally vested in the crown, in practice the king parceled out concessions and privileges, leaving their recipients dependent on royal favor. Fouquet managed to keep the royal finances afloat in an era of constant turmoil—a feat in itself—yet he ultimately lacked political instinct. His ostentation—most notably the extravagant fête at Vaux-le-Vicomte — failed to impress Louis XIV; instead it wounded the monarch’s pride and aroused his jealousy.

Charles de Batz-Castelmore d’Artagnan — immortalized in Dumas’s novels as the fourth musketeer — was assigned to apprehend Fouquet. The subsequent audit of the superintendent’s wealth uncovered numerous irregularities, yet the trial was more than a criminal proceeding — it was political theater, staged to display the full reach of absolutist power. While the tribunal sentenced Fouquet to exile, the king intervened to harden the verdict into lifelong imprisonment and confiscation.

Jean-Baptiste Colbert, who succeeded Fouquet, cast himself as the monarch’s discreet servant. In place of chaotic embezzlement, he established a carefully managed system of clientelist patronage that sustained his hold on power until his death. Colbert also built a considerable fortune, yet conducted himself with enough prudence to remain within the orbit of royal favor.

Fast forward to the present, and it seems that each new generation of the politico-economic elite treats the stories of Fouquet and Colbert as a ready-made manual. The forms of power may evolve, yet the primer of kleptocracy remains strikingly unchanged.

The earliest records of rum production at the Trois Rivières plantation date back to 1785, though it was not until 1905 that the distillery turned to crafting rhum agricole. The brand began exporting beyond the Antilles in 1980 and, in 1996, received the prestigious Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée Martinique (AOC) designation. Following changes in ownership, the original Creole columns were transferred to the La Mauny distillery in 2004, yet the sugarcane still comes from 120 hectares of historic terroir in Sainte-Luce.

At the southern tip of Martinique, where the Caribbean Sea meets a tropical climate, sugarcane thrives in clay and magnesium-rich soils. These unique conditions impart a vivid mineral character to the rums born from this terroir.

The sugarcane harvest runs from January to June, with the juice pressed fresh and fermented for up to 30 hours. Distillation takes place in two traditional Creole copper columns. The rhum vieux agricole designation ensures a minimum of three years of aging in oak barrels on Martinique (French oak from Limousin or new American oak). Crafted without additives.

Trois Rivières became part of the Campari Group in 2019 through an acquisition valued at around €60 million.