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A Few Good Armagnac Houses – No 2 Delord

Posted in Famous Armagnac Houses and tagged

What can we say about Delord, a wonderful producer of the finest armagnacs in the region? The firm has supplied consistently high quality armagnacs to Brandyclassics for nearly a decade and we have had nothing but praise for this fine firm. Based in Lannepax in the eastern side of Bas Armagnac, between Nogaro and Condom. Condom is geographically the central town of Armagnac, but Delord is based in the second cru known as Tenarèze.

The firm was founded in 1893 by Prosper Delord, a travelling distiller who fell in love with the wonderfully fruity eaux de vie of the region. The firm became known as Delord Brothers when his two sons, Gaston and Georges took over the distillery. They were equally passionate about the wonderful spirits they were able to make. More recently Jacques and Pierre Delord have continued the family traditions and have handed down to the current sons, Jerome and Sylvain, ensuring that the family traditions live on.

Grape varieties are the traditional Folle Blanche, Ugni Blanc and Colombard and they still use the old still of their forefathers which is only capable of producing around 30 litres of eau de vie an hour. But a look into their cellars reveals more than 700 x 350 litre barrels, that are home to armagnacs dating from the beginning of the last century.

Delord still use the basquaise flat green bottle, although most of their armagnacs are now shipped in the modern tall bottle, all with hand personalised labels. These armagnacs are all distilled at the lower end of the range and have the wonderfully pruney style.

Christmas 2011 – a busy time for Cognac distillers

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 Christmas is an extremely busy period for everybody in the cognac industry. Distillation is now at its peak and there are more than 4000 producers who will be working to ensure that they get the very best from their grapes.

Much depends on their skills and years of experience. Every distillation will be different, since there are so many factors that can influence the quality of their eau de vie. This is also the time for trade fairs and many small firms will be attending to sell their cognacs all over France. Christmas lunch at a distiller will include regular checking of the stills.

Of course it will be many years before this years hard work is ready for sale as cognac, but more immediately the Eaux de Vie are for sale. For those of you that wish to sample the produce of more recent years vines, we sell a range of Eaux de Vie from Paul Devoille, Nusbaumer and F.Meyer

 

The Brandy Bottle – Hermitage 1988 Grande Champagne

Posted / in Brandy Bottle Reviews and tagged

We probably wouldn’t be shouting about this cognac just yet but it is worth mentioning since it has just won a Masters medal at the Cognac Masters Competition.

The Cognac was distilled close to Ambleville in Grande Champagne and has been kept in damp cellars. The cognac has been aged in Limousin oak barrels for more than 20 years and it has developed a lovely light citric and floral aroma with dry apricot and some honey flavours. It is a light coloured cognac with colours of light straw and gold providing a most unusual combination of finesse and delicacy.

There is very little of this precious cognac available with only about 600 litres left. This cognac provides a wonderful introduction to the cognacs produced in this region. It is an excellent example, displaying the characteristic common to cognacs produced in this area.  Our Score 9/10

This bottle sold so well that unfortunately we are now out of stock, but we have a very nice 1988 Chez Richon that you might like to try…

 

Did You Know? Rudolf and that Red Nose

Posted in Brandy Education and tagged

Legend has it that one cold night Santa, being known as a man of great generosity and feeling great remorse at the duties of his reindeer, plied a quantity of brandy over some rich cake and gave it to his lead reindeer to keep him warm, resulting in a red nose.

The famous Christmas song Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer started life as a poem created by an American advertising executive called Robert May. He was requested to produce a poem that could be given away to children by the Santa Claus employed by Department Stores at Christmas! Working as an Advertising Executive, Robert May had a natural flair with words and was able to compose the Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer poem. This marketing ploy was a massive success and approximately 2.5 million Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer poems were given away in the first year of its publication!

In 1949 the singer Gene Autry recorded a musical version of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer composed by Johnny Marks. In Athens officials say somebody added a little holiday spirit to the deer-crossing signs hereabout: red reflectors on the deer silhouette’s nose and, they assured, if you ever saw one, you would even say it glows. The culprits’ identity is a Christmas season mystery that has piqued their curiosity.

 

2011 – An award winning year to remember for Brandyclassics

Posted / in News and tagged

Cognac goes from strength to strength

The last twelve months of the year have seen the most exciting period in the history of Cognac. The Cognac industry has seen unprecented growth in world markets at a time when it seems that the news is dominated with gloom and economic recession. Markets in China have grown by record levels and that is over last year which was also a record year. Indeed some distributors in China have even had to ration their supplies of cognac.

At Brandyclassics we to have seen good trading, not just in exports but also in the UK, where Pre-phylloxera sales have done well and our internet sales has also seen good growth. However our core business, sales to hotels and restaurants, has been affected by the economic gloom.

But  it’s always good to finish the year on a high and this year we are pleased with our success at the Cognac Masters where we have won a total of five medals. These included three masters awards for our Hermitage 1988, 23 year old and 43 year old, as well as the Grand Masters award for outstanding contribution to cognac.

The Good & Great Cognac Houses – Hermitage

Posted / in Famous Cognac Houses and tagged

At the end of our series on the Good and Great Cognac houses, we thought it appropriate to do a bit of chest beating for our very own Hermitage Cognacs. They are not the products of a single distiller, but from family distilleries and cellars with proven production and ageing procedures.

The concept of Hermitage Pure Vintage Cognacs was formed about fifteen years ago, as we recognised the need to move away from blended cognacs which lacked individuality and failed to promote the age of the cognacs in the bottle. Our customers recognised that older brandies are better than young ones.

The difficulty we recognised is that the distillation of cognac must be to between 67 and 72 degrees alcohol, after which all cognacs take many years to drop naturally to 40%, the commercial selling level of alcohol. The problem was that the commercial pressures to sell in volume was outstripping availability, which put huge pressure on the older stocks available in the thousands of cellars in the region. Those pressures have become far more acute now, with world sales of cognacs at nearly double those of the mid 1990s. which meant that the big houses were creaming off the best vintages for blending.

Although there are many distilleries supplying us, we now have four or five who meet our stringent Hermitage requirements for quality and ageing and adapt their cognacs to meet our customer’s needs.

In those fifteen years of Hermitage, we have created some of the very finest cognacs and we have the gold medals for best vintages to prove it.

Hermitage Medal winning Cognacs

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The Ladies Drink Cognac too…

In a recent disclosure, the drinks firm Beam have claimed that it has taken them 216 years of marketing to realise that ladies drink spirits as well as men. Beams marketing chief asked his team to establish what they were missing out on and introduced a range of spirit based drinks that they feel women will enjoy.

Top of their bunch was a Jim Beam Bourbon infused with black cherry. Since then they have purchased Skinny Girl cocktails and Pucka Vodka. Now guess what? Courvoisier Cognac have introduced Rose Courvoisier, a red wine and cognac mixture.

At Brandyclassics we are already selling the perfect Ladies Cognac. Hermitage 10 y.o. is recognised by bar managers and sommeliers as the perfect Ladies Cognac.

 

 

Record Price paid in Hong Kong for 1858 Cognac

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Croizet 1858 sells at Auction for US$156,000

Last month, the highest known price for a bottle of Croizet Vintage 1858 Cognac was paid by a Chinese client. The Cognac is one of many the house has in its cellars and the firm is known for its collection of these old cognacs, many of which were bottled and kept in their cellars in St-Même-les-Carrières near Jarnac.

The price paid for the bottle reflects the growing desire of the Chinese to own expensive cognacs, particularly those whose vintages contain a number eight. Although the price is high, the desire for expensive cognac has grown with the market and its association with good luck and status.

Around eighteen years ago Brandyclassics sold twenty four of these bottles to a Swiss gentleman who flew in specially to collect them – he paid about £18,000 for 24 bottles.

Prices have increased somewhat since then!

In addition to our range of exceptional early 20th century cognacs and armagnacs, Brandyclassics have a number of rare 19th Century Pre-phylloxera cognacs available for the discerning Cognac aficionado.

The Brandy Bottle – Nusbaumer Supreme de Cassis

Posted in Brandy Bottle Reviews and tagged

As a bit of interesting deviation from the cognacs and armagnacs we normally feature here, we thought it might be worthwhile tasting the macerated fruit eau de vie often used with wine, champagne or in cooking when a strong blackcurrant flavour is desired.

The Nusbaumer Supreme de Cassis is without doubt one of the very finest cassis we have tasted. The blackcurrant flavour is intense and has been describes as even stronger than blackcurrants themselves. It is truly delicious and poured over desserts such as ice crème is enchanting. Nusbaumer also have a number of other macerated fruit eaux de vie including the sour cherry Ratafia de Griottes and the unusual Red Pear, “Williams Rouge”, which has been aged for 20 years. They provide a reasonably priced liqueur which can be served in many ways. Our Score 7/10

 

 

Did You Know? Grappa

Posted in Brandy Education and tagged

Grappa was originally a peasant drink, designed to provide comfort and strength to the maker – usually a poor peasant in the mountains of northern Italy. Grappa was more than just a drink – it was a tradition, a disinfectant, a medicine, allegedly sovereign against complaints as diverse as depression in old age, toothache, constipation and even bronchitis!

Grappa can be consumed in many ways. It used to be consumed as a standard breakfast drink, espresso corretto con grappa with just enough grappa in the espresso to get the blood circulating. A drop or two in the coffee also formed part of the grappa-lore, as did the use of grappa in cooking, splashed into potatoes in their jackets or as flavouring for coffee cakes and pan de figo – dried figs soaked in the stuff. It could also be tasted in many original ways, including by rubbing a little on the palm of the hand as though it was a perfume, or by letting a few drops fall into a cup of boiling water. It was so strong that even a few drops in a cup of coffee gave one new life!

More recently many of them have become cult drinks. This is partly snobbery, parallel to the acceptance of former peasant foods such as gnocchi or tagliatelle reflecting the search for older traditions by self conscious urban intellectuals, and partly the preservation of the Arneis grape.