Category: News

We have a fantastic range of cognacs, armagnacs and calvados, any one of which would make the perfect present this Father’s Day.  Vintages from 1930 – 2000 let you select the one that’s most meaningful.  How about Dad’s year of birth?  Or what about your year of birth? Whichever you choose, vintage brandies are gifts that keep on giving.  Dad will be able to savour his delicious amber nectar on many occasions, keeping it for as long as he wishes. And if you’re running out of time to buy your Father’s Day Gift, don’t panic.  Your order will be delivered… Read more

We are delighted to announce that three of our Hermitage Cognacs range were awarded medals at the recent Spirits Business Cognac Masters Competition.  Almost 40% of our Hermitage range now have a Masters or Gold Medal. Our highly-prized Hermitage Cognac Marie Louise was presented with a Masters Medal in the Vintage – Single Estate category.  The judges commented that “when a cognac is done well, it is exceptionally good at ageing”. Gold Medals were also awarded to two other vintages.  Our Hermitage 45 Year Old Grande Champagne Cognac clearly wowed the judges as well as ourselves, as did the Hermitage 1958… Read more

There are many producers of cognac in the legal production area of France known as The Charentes and Charentes Maritime. Each one of them, quite naturally, believes that their cognacs are the best. The truth, however, is rather different.  Producers don’t advertise their presence so most have probably only ever tasted different cognacs in bars and restaurants. Indeed, I have spoken to some producers who didn’t even know that they had a distillery next door.  This lack of local industry awareness has, over the years, resulted in the development of our own cognac quality control. There are of course standards… Read more

Due to the alcohol laws in America, the States that we can ship our brandies to have recently changed.   USA Shipping is ALLOWABLE to the following States.  Delivery usually takes 5 working days. California              Connecticut            Delaware                                Florida     Idaho                      Louisiana                Maine                            … Read more

Sustainable and taint-free corks are the latest innovations to hit the ‘spirit stoppers’ market.  Distillery by-products such as grape marc from cognac, barley malt from whisky and juniper from gin make up 50% of the raw materials used to produce ‘Abor’ corks.  Manufacturers, the Tapi Group, are “seeking to create brand awareness in an eco-sustainable way” with their ‘green’ and sustainable new closures.  Cork Supply, by contrast, have just released a range of ‘taint-free’ corks with a money-back guarantee.  Their vision was to “produce quality closures that add value to the industry”; taint-free cork stoppers will surely have a place… Read more

Alexandre Bisquit established his famous cognac trading house in Jarnac in 1819.  When his daughter married Adrien Dubouché in 1848, his son-in-law’s name was added to the firm. It remained in family hands until the mid-60s when it was sold to Paul Ricard.  Latterly it was owned by Distell but earlier this year it was sold again, to the Campari group, for over 50 million Euros.  In many ways the purchase of Bisquit Dubouché by M. Ricard was the start of the firm’s real growth.  Not only did he buy the biggest chateau in the region, with more than 200… Read more

We were disappointed to read earlier this year that Cognac Renault has created ‘a new innovation – an expression specifically designed to pair with coffee’ – called Renault Avec.  Quite simply this is not the case. Hermitage Cognac launched its Café 20 Cognac in the Autumn of 2016 and it is already well established in the marketplace as a coffee accompaniment.   Provenance is not the only difference.  Renault have blended cognacs from 3 different crus aged between 3 and 8 years.  They are ‘not attempting to create a big, powerful cognac’ so have treated the barrels differently to affect the… Read more

Food pairing is all the rage right now, including with cognac.  Hennessy have created a whole dining experience to enjoy their latest cognac blend with a 4-course meal.  We never recommend doing this with vintage cognac but as a digestif, it does bring a special enjoyment.  Some cognacs have complimentary flavours which go well with after dinner courses, such as coffee (see The Bottle Story).  Chocolate is another post-dinner treat and also has flavours found in cognac, as reported recently by ‘The Telegraph’.  Our Hermitage Provenance 30 would be an excellent accompaniment with its rich flavours of chocolate and natural… Read more

The big cognac houses are well aware of the similarity of their products so the need to spice up their ranges is always evident. We have seen recently the efforts by some to add a cask finish to their cognacs; sherry casks have already been used by one house.  But the latest craze is to try and produce a super XO cognac called XXO.  Hennessy, who have the biggest sales of XO cognacs, have already launched an XXO in the Far East.  They tried to register it as a Hennessy name thereby denying other houses the opportunity to use the… Read more

Vintage cocktails, made from rare and very old vintage cognac, are trending …… they are also extremely expensive!  Interest began with the World’s most expensive cocktail which was created in 2012 and sold for £5500.  It contained a 1788 Cognac, 1770 Liqueur and 1860 Orange Curacao.  Similar concoctions can now be bought at the very best bars in the world for similarly handsome prices. Cheltenham Festival also followed suit this year producing a cocktail containing 1937 Delord Armagnac, in memory of Golden Miller, Gold Cup winner 1932 – 1936. Very old (pre-Phylloxera) cognacs and Armagnacs are, by definition, incredibly rare… Read more