Jamaica 1878 Chateau Millanges

Description

Here is a very old vintage of Jamaican rum, distributed by Oakes & Co Limited, an import company founded in India in 1843. Among its many offerings is this remarkable 1878 vintage rum, presented in a miniature 50cl bottle...

The label refers to Château Millanges. Located between the Garonne and Dordogne rivers, in the heart of the Entre-Deux-Mers region, the Domaine de Millanges still exists today. It includes a former 135 m² wine cellar—now renovated—where this rum from Jamaica may once have aged.

This former wine estate, dominated by an elegant 18th-century manor house, is said to have belonged to the family of Simon Millanges (1540-1623), a renowned professor of literature and publisher. He became the printer to King Charles IX and notably published, in 1580, the first edition of Montaigne's Essays. In Bordeaux, a street named after him is now called Rue Millanges, and his house still stands at 28 Rue Saint-James.

Through this bottle, the history of the spirits trade, that of a former Bordeaux estate, and the memory of a humanist closely linked to one of the great works of French literature converge.