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Posted / in News and tagged

The William Grant & Sons Market Report looks closely at changing consumer habits following the recession and concludes that “Value is much more than just value for money; it is now measured as the value that the brand, product or service can provide the consumer.” The marketing director goes on to surmise that “The market is more polarised than ever and it is premium brands that can really take advantage of this trend.”  The value of premium spirits sold in the UK has increased by 14% this year which is five times more than the total spirits market.  The consumer is becoming more discerning, consciously choosing how to spend his disposable income rather than cost-cutting across the board.  Premium brands, like Hermitage Cognacs, that offer excellent quality with value for money are what the customer seeks.  Compare our quality and price with the competition, you will be pleasantly surprised. Hermitage 1999 Grande Champagne Cognac retails for only £45.54 – try it and see.

Brandyclassics News – Four Gold Medals

Posted / in Brandy Bottle Reviews, News, News from the Brandy Houses and tagged ,

Another great year at The Spirits Business Awards for Hermitage Cognacs as all four of ourGrand Master entrants were awarded GOLD medals.  Hermitage Provenance Grande Champagne 6 Year Old, 20 Year Old and 30 Year Old produced specifically for the export market all proved their worth.  In our ever growing premier collection, one of our latest vintage releases, Hermitage Chez Richon 2005 Grande Champagne was the fourth highly successful cognac.  Following on from our COGNAC GRAND MASTER AWARD 2014, this news could hardly have been better.  You can see the whole Hermitage range here.

A Great Name Disappears – A.E.Dor is no more.

Posted / in Famous Cognac Houses, News, News from the Brandy Houses and tagged ,

The firm A E Dor has been sold to the Cognac co-operative, Uni-Cognac, for an undisclosed sum. We understand that Uni-Cognac are keen to move into the Far East market and regard the Jarnac based firm of Dor as a significant name in the industry.

The firm had a number of owners including a relative, we believe the brother, of the French President Franҫois Mitterrand before it was bought by Odile and Jacques Riviere. Odile ran the firm and was highly regarded in the industry as a gifted blender.  She became one of the five best female blenders in the industry. Sadly Odile died in a motoring accident and Jacques was at a loss as to what to do with the firm as his knowledge was not in the same league as his wife’s. He offered the management to his daughter, a pharmacist, but she wasn’t interested and eventually his son, Pierre Antoine took on the management. Pierre knows little of the industry and sadly, the quality of the cognacs from the house have deteriorated.

A quarter of a century ago Brandyclassics took on the distribution of A.E.Dor Cognacs. As generic blends of their day they were highly regarded and their old Paradis is still one of the most famous cellars in the industry with its many bonbonnes of old pre-Phylloxera cognac. Now they have been sold to a co-operative, Odile will be turning in her grave.

We still stock a few of the best A.E.Dor cognacs, have a browse here.

 

Hermitage 1900 Salles d’Angles Grande Champagne Cognac

Posted / in Brandy Bottle Reviews, The Bottle Story and tagged

We have often had more than one 1900 vintage in the Hermitage range and this one originating from the region of Salles d’Angles, on the western side of the Grande Champagne, is the latest arrival.  Its wonderful aroma of vine leaves and jasmine with green walnuts, cedar, mangosteen and dry spice combines with initial flavours of toast, liquorice and truffle developing into pear, kumquat and grapefruit peel all mixed in with cloves, mushrooms and ginger.  Wonderfully complex cognacs this good are rare.  Read about the rest of our Hermitage range here.

The Land and The Vines Part 1 – Terroir

Posted / in The Land and The Vines and tagged

The French have a word, ‘terroir’ which cannot be directly translated into another language but refers to the land, the weather, the climate and just about anything which affects the quality of the vine and the conditions in which it grows. In the Charente the ‘terroir’ is very special, in theory the component parts could be reproduced anywhere but here the result is unique.  According to Professor Louis Ravaz (who did a great deal to help replant cognac vineyards after the Phylloxera disaster),

“The same variety of grape can be grown anywhere and in the same way as in the Charente, distillation can be carried out as at Cognac and in the same stills, the brandy can be stored in identical casks as those we employ in our region; it can be cared for as well or maybe even better. But the same combination of weather and terrain cannot be found anywhere else. As far as the soil is concerned, it is not enough that it should belong to the same geological formations, it must have the same physical and chemical composition and no one has ever found such a duplicate. In addition, the climate of the region must be identical to the climate of the Charente and that is almost inconceivable. There is therefore very little chance that all the elements that influence the nature of the product should be found together in any other region apart from the Charente and thus no other region can produce cognac. The slightest difference in the climate, the soil and so on is enough to change completely the nature of the brandy, and that is as it should be because there are, even in the Charente , a few spots (small ones, it is true), which produce mediocre brandy. All the trials that have been made all over the place to produce cognac with the same varieties and the Charentais method have resulted only in failure. And this lack of success could have been foreseen if people had remembered this one principle, that the nature of products is dependent on a combination of conditions which occurs only rarely.”

So it is that we consider the extraordinary terroir in the Charente, the only region in the world that is responsible for making cognac, the King of all spirits.

Read more about the cognac industry on our Information Pages.

David on Technical Topics – Adding Water to Cognac

Posted / in Brandy Education, How to make Cognac and tagged ,

We call it dilution in the industry and nearly every cognac needs to have a level of dilution to optimise its qualities.  Some cognacs are superbly smooth and almost too easy to drink whilst others are fiery and aggressive and seem to burn the mouth with every mouthful drunk.  Getting the optimum balance between aggressiveness and flavour is a skill that must be acquired in order to maximise the quality of the cognac.

Adding water to cognac is certainly not just a case of pouring water from the tap into a barrel of cognac.  The water must be pure and not contain any minerals.  Distilled water is the normal choice but there are some special waters supplied in bulk for big blenders.  The addition of this special water is a skill that has been developed over many years of understanding the noble spirit.  In essence, spirit and water do not mix easily and some cognacs have a higher absorption level than others.  A good diluter can taste the water in cognac if it has not been mixed properly.  There are a number of ways that mixing can be undertaken.

Some producers dilute their cognacs whilst they are still hot and fresh from the still but this can be difficult as the strength of the cognac gradually reduces from the start of the distillation to the cut (the point where one stops collecting the water-clear eau de vie because it is too weak to provide sufficient flavour).  Other producers will make a “Petite Eau”, a weak blend of cognac and water which is aged in casks before adding back into the cognac to arrive at the right strength.  When a cognac has been produced and aged for many years most will dilute it gradually, a couple of degrees at a time.  Each step can take many weeks before the correct balance is achieved and usually, the nearer one gets to 40% abv, the longer each step will take.

The speed of dilution depends largely on the speed that the cognac will absorb the water.  A good dilution, where the two components mix without detection, may take several years.  Other factors which may influence the dilution process are the size and shape of the still, the maximum temperature of the hot eau de vie and even the age, toasting and size of the barrels used for storage.

Cognacs should be diluted to a strength that optimises their flavour and so the final abv will vary.  Take a look at our Hermitage 1975 at 47% and Hermitage 2005 at 40%, both of which are beautifully balanced and full of flavour.

You have probably gathered by now that adding a drop of tap water before drinking your cognac is not a good idea!  Go to our Brandy Education Page to read more Technical Topics.

David on Technical Topics – Is there a need to Blend Cognac?

Posted / in Brandy Education, How to make Cognac and tagged ,

There are between four and five thousand cognac producers in the Charente and Charente Maritime region of France. Only brandy produced here, under strict regulations, is allowed to be called cognac.

The world market for cognac is hundreds of millions of bottles but because cognac can only be made once a year, after the grape harvest, the amount that can be sold is limited to how much can be made. The situation is made yet more difficult as even the very youngest cognac has to be aged for 3 years in oak barrels before it can be sold. The big cognac houses supply over 80% of world sales but probably only have direct involvement in about 5% of production.  They rely heavily on the thousands of individual producers to provide enough cognac for their markets.  Blending them provides consistent flavour and is therefore critical to their survival.

The big cognac names try to assert their authority over the smaller producers, by influencing their distillation methods, with varying levels of success.   By blending hundreds, or indeed thousands, of different cognacs together any of the individual craft and style, which has been developed over the generations of distillation, is lost and the flavour becomes neutral.  Indeed neutrality is encouraged by the major blenders since it is easier to blend neutral spirits than those with complex flavours. There is though, another factor that changes flavour and that is ageing.  By buying their cognacs young and ageing them in their own cellars, the big houses are able to control any variation in style and flavour that may occur.

Most of the young cognacs sold to the major blenders will be at near distillation strength (67-72%); reduction in strength is therefore necessary.  To enable this distilled water is gradually added, a slow process that can take many years to perform successfully.   Additionally, because these cognacs are so young they will not have developed much colour or taste from the barrels and worst still, they will be aggressive and very fiery.  All these problems can only be addressed with the permitted addition of sugar syrups and caramel.

The blending process should take years but to meet market demand it is often accelerated.  Blending also fails to promote individuality in the final product.  As a consequence, Hermitage Single Estate Cognacs, with age statements, offer a wide variety of styles, flavours and individuality with which blended cognacs cannot compete.

Read more Technical Topics on our Brandy Education Page.

David on Technical Topics – The Colour of Cognac Part 2.

Posted / in Brandy Education, How to make Cognac and tagged

Last month I discussed the effect of the natural ageing process on cognac colour but not all cognacs on the shelf have obtained their colour this way.  Some of the big cognac houses try to provide a false maturity to their cognacs by adding a colouring agent.  Most common of these colour additives is caramel and even quite small additions   can make a relatively large difference since its use is usually in relatively young spirit that has only been aged for perhaps 2-3 years.

Previously I discussed how different types, sizes and toasting of oak barrels all make a difference to the colour of the cognac but colouring in this natural way takes a long time and many of the big cognac houses cannot wait long enough for this to occur.  Much of the spirit they sell is young and so to give it more of a cognac-like appearance, caramel is added.  Usually when caramel is used sugar syrup is also added to obscure the fiery flavour of the young cognac. Caramel can often be detected by sight as it will provide a red tinge to the spirit in the bottle.

A more natural way of colouring cognac, other than by the ageing process, is with the addition of ‘boise’.  It is made by boiling oak chips in cognac over and over again to produce a dark syrupy liquid and this is then added to the cognac. Although this is a much more natural method of providing colour it can also give the cognac a slightly bitter flavour. Over time this bitterness disappears and the result is a more intense flavour and richness but its use has to be carefully controlled to achieve this effect.  When ‘boise’ is used correctly, the appearance of the cognac remains natural and it can, we believe, enhance the flavour and long term stability of some very old cognacs.

All of the cognacs we supply at Hermitage Cognacs are aged naturally so the colours have not been altered with the addition of caramel.  For example, the Hermitage Chez Richon 1979 Cognac has been aged for 25 years but still retains a relatively light colour.

To learn more about cognac and other brandies, subscribe to our newsletter here.

Visiting France this Summer?

Posted / in News and tagged

If you’re visiting south west France this summer then why not take a trip to the Cognac region?  Steeped in history it has lots of beautiful and interesting places to visit and things to do.  Here are our top 5 suggestions:

  • Stroll around the medieval quarter of Cognac.  It is like going back in time as many of the buildings were inhabited by the early cognac merchants.
  • Take a boat trip down the Charente.  The river plays a vital role in the cognac region’s success.
  • Visit a small cognac house.  For a more intimate insight into the cognac production process.
  • Picnic in the vineyards.  Take to the countryside, find a secluded spot and drink in the scenery.
  • Visit the Musee des Arts du Cognac.  Located in the heart of Old Cognac, discover why cognac has become a way of life for some and a much revered drink for others.

And if you find yourself in the heart of Grande Champagne you might come across our French offices, SARL Hermitage based in a pretty little village called Segonzac.

Read more about the Cognac region in our quarterly reports – The Charente Scene.

The Cognac Process – Part 14. Modern Times

Posted / in The Cognac Process and tagged ,

By the mid-20th century the ‘big two’ cognac houses had become the ‘big four’ with Courvoisier and Remy Martin selling substantial quantities to both the Asian and American markets.  Demand from major cities such as Detroit and Cleveland really helped to boost sales. Remy focused their appeal on cognacs made in the Champagnes but across the board, the growers were not ready for the inevitable surge in demand. Vast new vineyards were planted and as viticulture techniques continued to improve, production levels increased dramatically.  Even so, keeping up with the large volume demand from the big houses was challenging for the Cognaçaise.  Eventually, it was the development of the Chinese markets that saved the day as demand moved towards smaller volumes of more expensive cognacs.  Hennessy had pioneered this market before the Second World War with their XO cognacs but now other houses followed suit.

As a consequence of the growth of the larger houses some of the smaller growers and distillers chose to develop their own styles.  This has enabled specialised houses, such as Hermitage Cognacs, to identify and sell the finest, single estate cognacs from the top cognac crus such as our Hermitage 1975.