Depaz Distillery is located in Martinique, on the slopes of Montagne Pelée, in the North of the Island. Originally exploited for the cultivation of tobacco, indigo and for cattle farming, the land was very quickly used by Victor Depaz for the cultivation of sugar cane which developed strongly thanks to the improvement of distillation techniques. But on May 8, 1902, the Mount Pelée volcano woke up: the town of Saint Pierre was wiped off the map. Victor Depaz, then a student in Bordeaux, learns of the terrible disaster at the same time as the disappearance of his entire family. Orphaned, ruined, he sets out to settle in Canada. During his journey, during a stopover in Martinique, he decided to return to Saint-Pierre, to the Périnelle house where he was born. On May 8, 1917, just 15 years after the eruption, he set up his brand-new distillery supplied by the 521 hectares of sugar cane which he now owns on the slopes of Mount Pelée. He then had a family home built, a replica of the Habitation Périnelle where he spent his childhood, quickly called Château Depaz, where he settled in 1922 with his wife and eleven children. During the 1950s, the sons of Victor Depaz took over from their father. André and Raoul Depaz modernised the production of sugar cane and improved the distillery that everyone now calls the Depaz distillery.
The Depaz distillery is one of the smallest production units in Martinique. As in its origins, the Depaz distillery still operates today thanks to an old steam engine. The true heart of the distillery, it provides the steam necessary to activate the mills used to crush the cane, as well as the distillation columns.
