Category: News

We have recently returned from Hong Kong where we have been working closely with UKTI in setting up distribution of Hermitage Pure Vintage Cognacs. Our visit included meetings with four specialist luxury drinks distributors who have now tasted and explored the possibilities of selling Hermitage cognacs to their customers. They are all involved with sales to the luxury sector of the Hong Kong hotels and restaurants markets and their clients are excited at being able to buy non generically labelled cognacs for the first time. Brandyclassics expect to be receiving their first orders from Hong Kong within weeks. Many of… Read more

We are proud to announce a rare and very special limited edition cognac, a 70 year old Grande Champagne cognac, will be available to the cognac connoisseur very shortly! During a recent visit to the Charente when we were discussing old cognacs with a producer, we came across a very rare Grande Champagne cognac hiding in a cellar. By a quirk of coincidence not only is this cognac 70 years old (that is 70 years in a barrel),  there are also only 70 bottles available. This fine old nectar has a wonderful rich toffee, almond aroma, this is also in… Read more

At last, a major cognac house has recognised the need for numbers on bottles! Courvoisier have introduced age statements with their 12 and 21 year old cognacs. Here at Brandyclassics we have campaigned for more than a decade the need for customers to benefit from knowing the age of the cognacs they buy. We recognised that customers have become confused with the generic descriptions used by the big houses to sell cognacs. Not only are they unaware of the age of cognacs used in such descriptions as VS, VSOP and XO, they have also come to recognise that there is virtually no… Read more

During a visit to Cognac last week we have been lucky enough to find two old bonbonnes of rare cognac. Each bonbonne holds the equivalent of about 42 bottles and some will be decanted into bottles next month. The first container is a rare 1900 cognac which we have found with the help of one of our suppliers; it has an extremely traditional Grande Champagne style and taste and is ready for bottling now. The second comes from the area now known as Borderies and is a 1914 vintage. This is the third cru of Cognac and is famous for… Read more

Workers at Hennessy’s cellars of Haut-Bagnolet walked out last Tuesday as a show of solidarity against wages. They are seeking a bigger share of the cognac producer’s profits. Urged by the unions (Intersyndicale CGT and Force Ouvriere), employees are not happy at the breakdown of talks earlier in the week at the mandatory annual negotiations about a reassessment of staff wages. CGT delegate Francoise Puchaud stated that the company wants to bring in a reassessment well below the company’s growth. Business is looking strong for 2011 and the proposed offer for employees is not keeping with this. Hennessy have refused to… Read more

Hennessy are in the news again. This time its for all the wrong reasons. It appears that somebody has been making off with some of their massively expensive Ellipse cognacs and selling them back onto the market. One has to ask who is the bigger crook. The cognac priced at 7565€ is a blend of seven different eau de vie, some of which must come from other than the champagnes, plus there is no age statement on the bottle! We have to hope that there is some of the increasingly costly pre-phylloxera blended in to justify the price. Indeed, early pre-phylloxera… Read more

During last November, customs officials seized a record quantity of wines and spirits from smugglers attempting to sell them on the open market in the UK. In essence it is not difficult to see why – some people will attempt to bring spirits into the UK without paying duty or taxes, since the duty rates have been steadily increasing over the last few years. And these increases are on top of what were already the third highest duty rates in Europe, with only Finland and Ireland paying more. The current rate of duty on spirits which we have to pay… Read more

March 31st is the official end of the cognac year when all distillation must cease. In practice distillation will probably have finished around Christmas, but on the 1st April all cognacs become ‘comtpe 0’ – the official start of the cognacs long ageing process. Cognacs put into barrels by 31st March 2011 will become 1 year old on 31st March 2012. This is the reason why people tend to express ages using the half year term. For example, three and a half when referring to the minimum ages of VSOP, or six and a half for XO. A cognac may have… Read more

The Chancellor announced yesterday an increase in duty on all spirits, taking the level up to £25 a litre of pure alcohol. This equates to £7 a bottle at 40% alc. This means for an average bottle of cognac costing £30, more than £16.50 goes on duty and tax. And don’t forget that Vat is also charged on the total of the spirits value and the duty combined – in effect double taxing the consumer. Under the new duty increase, Hermitage Cognacs will in future sadly have to cost more, adding nearly one pound to an average bottle of cognac…. Read more

It seems that the onward march of cognac is continuing. Despite the recession sales of cognac on a worldwide basis are only 5 million bottles short of the 2007 world record year. Indeed, volume sales were up 18% on the year to 153.1 million bottles, according to the Bureau National Interprofessionnel du Cognac (BNIC). In value terms the increase was even more startling – with the value increasing 30% to €1.86 billion. It appears that the key driver was the Far East, where we have been seeing substantial increases over the last five years. Shipments to the region increased by… Read more