Maison Park 7 Year Grand Champagne and 1973 Pellehaut Armagnac

I’m on the road for work, so no screaming babies, no angry spouse, nothing to do but review...So here are two reviews (samples from good friends):

Cognac Park 7 Year Grande Champagne Cognac - 44% - Vine and Table Store Pick

Nose: floral, fruity, and sweet…orange peel, pears, flower petals, green apples

Palate: floral, fruity, and sweet…just like the nose…green apples, pears, flower petals. It’s definitely on the sweeter side

Finish: medium length, the sweetness cakes the tongue

Grade: B

Thoughts
My buddy didn’t put region on the sample bottle label and I speculated that it was Grand Champagne. I just so happened to be right. It was dumb luck and I lean more towards an idiot than savant. With that said, this cognac is not overly complex but it is completely crushable, and given the young age, that’s pretty remarkable. There is literally no harshness to it…but it’s also nowhere close to awe inspiring. The sweetness got me wondering whether sugar was added? And the color got me wondering whether it was colored - it’s got a real nice copper hue for a 7-year-old…hmm... More importantly, does any of that matter here? I honestly don’t know – maybe to some people? If this was an older bottle, I’d definitely care a lot more (with them tainting something they probably shouldn't have). But this is a young ~$60sh bottle and its decent (I could see myself drinking this on a warm summer evening), so I don’t think I’ll descend into an additive-laced diatribe right now. If this was a pricier bottle and presented the same level of sweetness and lack of complexity, I assume I’d likely go off. At some point I may get a hydrometer out of sheer curiosity. Until then, I’ve got to speculate. Regardless of what I just rambled about, this isn’t bad. I’m grading it…

Grade: B 

For what it's worth, the other Maison Park's I've tried haven't been this sweet, so I wonder if they add sugar to some but not others?


Chateau Pellehaut 1973 (44 year) Armagnac – Ungi Blanc – 43.8% - K&L Pick

Nose: sandalwood, cotton candy, very oaky, vanilla, some baking spices…it’s a little bourbony but still retains some semblance of an Armagnac character

Palate: the oak dominates but its not over-oaked if that makes sense; however, there is some tannic bitterness. Brown sugar, molasses, rich dates, caramel, leather…all those rich flavors you usually chalk up to good bourbon but again it still retains an Armagnac-likeness

Finish: for rocking a lower proof this hangs around for a while - I'd classify it as a medium to long finish, with the brown sugar and dates prevailing.

Thoughts
Damn, this is really tasty. I purposely didn’t check out K&L’s page until I completed my review. K&L's notes are real fair and spot on. This is definitely a bourbon drinkers brandy - it could be mistaken for some dusty ND old Taylor. I know Driscoll catches some flak for some of the things he says from time-to-time, but at the end of the day, there aren’t many retailers doing what K&L is doing, and there are even less bringing in brandy like this stateside.  I waffled on how I wanted to grade this. Like the L'Encantada Pibous stuff, it's bourbony. But it's really good, so I'll grade it on its merits alone. It would be a solid A if the oak was dialed back a tad. So, it gets…

Grade: A minus

If you're a bourbon drinking woodchuck, I imagine you'd really enjoy the Pellehaut.

Cognac Park – K&L Selections

K&L recently brought in 3 different Cognac Park barrel picks:

Park 15 Year Old "Lot 15" K&L Exclusive Single Barrel #289 Cask Strength Fins Bois Cognac 42.5%

Park 18 Year Old "Lot 18 - K&L Exclusive" Single Barrel #332 Cask Strength Borderies Cognac 43.5%

Park 28 Year Old "Lot 28" K&L Exclusive Single Barrel #401 Cask Strength Grand Champagne Cognac 44.5%

The Binny’s Maison Park / Cognac Park Borderies 10 year was a solid pour, especially for the price, so I was pretty excited when I saw these pop up on the K&L website. Unfortunately, K&L doesn’t ship anymore. Fortunately, I have a few friends, and even more fortunately, they wanted to try these as well and we all went in on a bottle split. As a control, I started with the Binny’s Maison Park Borderies. Here’s what I think of the K&L bottles:

Lot 15 – Fins Bois – 42.5%

Nose: Caramel, honeysuckle, old leather, eucalyptus, a tiny bit of acetone (not bad though)

Palate: the palate on this one is light, apple, a touch of cinnamon, cedar, rock candy, jasmine, Christmas spices.

Finish: short to medium length, the palate just fades with nothing new

Grade: B-

Lot 18 – Borderies Cognac – 43.5%

Nose: richer than the Lot 15, cocoa powder, nutty, coffee beans, clay

Palate: richer than the Lot 15, too, brown sugar and molasses, sweet tobacco, fried banana, a bit of an earthy character in line with the clay note, I’d say slate

Finish: nice length with cocoa and molasses hitting fading off slowly

Grade: B+

Lot 28 – Grand Champagne – 44.5%

Nose: fruity and sweeter than the other two, citrus, grapefruit, rose petals,

Palate: plenty of fruit, citrus, clementine’s, and red grapes, orange rind, fall hay, some demerara sugar, too

Finish: nice medium length

Grade: B+


Thoughts

I dig the Lot 18 and the Lot 28 – they are tasty bottles. But at the same time, these aren't going to wow anyone (in my opinion, anyways). The K&L notes makes it sound like they tried these at true cask strength. If these were higher proof, they would really shine. If I had to pick a favorite, it’d be a Lot 18, but if you’re more partial to fruity flavors, you might want to grab the Lot 28. Given the price, why not both? If it helps to know where I stand, I might buy an entire bottle of the Lot 18 and Lot 28, but don't plan on buying multiples.

2006 Maison Park Cellar No. 5 Single Barrel # 9266 Borderies Cognac Aged 10 years Binny's Handpicked

A review!

A couple weeks ago I was working my way through my local Binnys, picking up some vino for the wife and depressingly making my way through the uninspiring spirits aisle (at no fault of Binnys, mind you) when I saw a pair of new Maison Park, also known as Cognac Park, single cask cognacs sitting on the shelf. There was a 10 year old from Borderies and a 10 year old from Grande Champagne. I’m a fan of the regular Maison Park Borderies so my curiosity was piqued. The Maison Park Borderies was 90 proof and only $69.99, while the Maison Park Grande Champagne was 98 proof and $99.99. I took the path of least financial resistance and picked up the Borderies.

Brand: Maison Park, also known as Cognac Park. Cognac Park is a brand that is owned by The Distillerie Tessendier estate, a house that purchases eaux-de-vie (generic French term for cognac) from various cognac producers. Cognac Park is a relative young brand from what I can tell. According to their website, the Tessendiers have a long family history in the distillation and production of cognac – but everyone has a story that goes back eons in the booze industry. I’m guessing they operate on a contract basis with distillers and purchase unaged and aged cognac, and then use the purchased cognacs in their blends. Every house is unique so I’m sure I’m oversimplifying their operations a tad.

Region: Borderies. Cognac is essentially broken down into 6 growing regions. The Borderies region is the smallest growing region (52 square miles), has a mix of chalk and clay soil, and runs a tad cooler than the other regions (perhaps due to the clay). Borderies allegedly carries an intense and nutty character. Several large houses, like Martell, source eaux-de-vie from the Borderies region. Whether or not soil, clay, and more generally “terroir” play a factor in flavor is something I intend to explore as I go on – are these factors just different shades of color on the same car or do they imprint a unique flavor onto the spirit?

Binnys provided the following notes for the Maison Park Borderies: “A more delicate nose here with some butterscotch, ripe stone fruits and French oak spice. Round and supple on the palate with peaches, fruit jelly and lingering oak and toffee. Poached pears and delicate spice highlight the finish.”

Here’s my take on this bottle:

Nose:
Butterscotch, Molasses, sweet green tea, lemon, nutmeg

Palate:
A little young wood, brown sugar, more baking spices, pears, almonds...definitely some Werthers Original in the background.

Mouthfeel:
Nice viscousness

Finish:
Settles on the tongue for a nice medium length

This is a tasty Yak. The price makes it even more attractive. It’s not very fruity but that’s ok, it hits on a lot of notes. This would be a great entry level bottle for anyone.

REVISIT
I still really enjoy but now that I've had more time with it I'm giving it a solid B. It's still a great value and worth picking up in my book.

Grade B