Our Hermitage 1975 Grande Champagne was awarded the Masters Medal in the prestigious 2010 Cognac Masters Competition held in London, beating every other vintage cognac. But not just with a Gold Medal but with the highest accolade of all, The Masters Medal. So why is this wonderful cognac so good? It was produced on a small12 hectolitre narrow headed still, designed to minimise rectification by allowing all the fruit flavours in the wine to condense when it returns to a liquid. What makes this a great cognac is the ageing and strength – small oak barrels with a medium toasting,… Read more

Reading a cognac label is relatively easy – reading what is not on the label is a little harder! There are labels that will try and give the illusion that what is in the bottle is better than it is. Since the delimitisation of the region and the creation of cru’s, many have tried to provide an image of Grandeur on their labels. There are six cognac cru’s. They are from the top, Grande Champagne, Petite Champagne, Borderies, Fins Bois, Bon Bois and Bois Ordinaire. Very little cognac from Bois Ordinaire is supplied under producer labels. A further term can also be… 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

Otard is one of Cognacs most famous names, thanks partly to it’s ownership of the 16th century Château de Cognac, which deservedly is the town’s most famous historic monument, as well as being ideal for the maturing brandy. The firm was founded in 1795 by Jean Dupuy, a local grower and Jean-Antoine Otard de la Grange, a local land owner who had to be rescued by his tenants from the Revolutionary Terror. He was the descendant of a leading Scottish family devoted to the failing fortunes of the House of Stuart, whom they followed into exile in France. Otard and… Read more

Here at Brandyclassics we have often spoken lovingly about the benefits of long ageing. It is a pre-requisite of very fine cognac and there is certainly no substitute that will enhance the flavour. So how is it possible to create a new cognac, given that it needs so long to age in the barrel? We have discussed in these articles previously the need to find stocks produced from the right grapes, distilled in the right shaped and size stills, then aged for a long period in the right barrels. But this is only the start of the process to find… 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

Spanish Brandy has a longer history than cognac; it is more varied and in some ways more intriguing. Most Spanish Brandy should be called Brandy de Jerez because they are distilled and sold by the firms that make sherry. Brandy making in Spain goes back to the early Middle Ages when the Moors occupied southern Spain and Jerez. As its full name “de la Fontera” suggests, it was on the frontier between Christendom and the then more civilised Moorish Kingdom of Granada. The Brandy making tradition disappeared until the arrival of the Dutch, in the late 17th century, came looking… Read more

The geology of the cognac producing region is the single most important factor in the success of the famous drink. The spirits success rests solidly on chalk – a very special sort of chalk known as Campanian chalk, named after the Latin original of the word. This became known as Champagne and exists under most of the Grande Champagne area. There are two other chalk varieties which are defined mainly by their porosity. Santonian, named after the general cognac region of Saintonge is found mainly to the south of Cognac. Coniacian chalk is found around the town of Cognac. The physical… 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

Professor Louis Ravaz was the young professor who established the Station Viticole in Cognac and did much to re-establish the new vines after the Phylloxera around 1890, his definition of the Charente terroir is usefully described thus: “The same variety of grape can be grown anywhere and in the same way as in the Charente: distillation can be carried out anywhere else as at Cognac and in the same stills; the brandy can be stored in identical casks as those we employ in the region; it can be cared for as well or maybe even better. But the same combination… Read more