Michel Forgeron, Barrique 1989 59%

Ryan's Review

Michel Forgeron is another relative newcomer in the cognac community. Michel began with 2 hectares of vineyards on the family farm in 1960 and as of 2007 expanded to 24 hectares. They sold their first cognac in 1977.  Again, young isn't always bad. Sometimes young can mean adapting to higher standards and demands from the consumers.   Perhaps that means unadulterated and undiluted? Yup, this one was bottled at a whopping 59%.  It sounds like they are also trying to take a more environmentally friendly approach towards their production, installing solar panels, using less chemical pesticides, reusing rainwater, etc. Those are ideals I can get behind. Anyway, this cognac is a single vintage blend of eaux-de-vie from the Grande Champagne region. It was released in 2015 making this blend around 25 years of age.

Nose: Not an immediately fragrant nose.  Some earthy notes - clay, cement. Indistinct spice of the oak variety. Faint vanilla.

Taste: More going on in the palate, but not a whole lot more. An earthy gravel note. Some vanilla and bitter chocolate. Some sugary citrus peel. It's fair to assume that maybe it needs some water to open up, although I wouldn't say this drinks very hot. Yep, water opens it up a bit. We're pulling out more of those juicier fruits now, still of the citrus variety. It transitions into a dull earthiness and we're also highlighting some more oak astringency towards the finish now.

Finish: Some mildly bitter oak notes and rough pepper spice are all that's left after the sweetness fades.

Overall: This isn't an offensive cognac, but it's entirely uninspiring, as well.  Water helps, but it doesn't bring all the parts together.

C+

Jean Grosperrin Borderies N°64 52.1%

Recently, I had what I would call the perfect scrambled eggs. It’s not hard to make scrambled eggs – anyone with a pan, hotplate, and eggs can do it. But to make the perfect scrambled eggs, that takes skill. More often than not, scrambled eggs are over-cooked, saturated with additional ingredients, or stirred wrong and curdled into large chunks. But we still eat scrambled eggs, even if they are mediocre or overloaded, because eggs are eggs and fucked up eggs still taste ok. An Ohio greasy spoon changed my whole perspective on scrambled eggs. The restaurant had an open floorplan and I could watch the cook while he worked. He oiled up an already heated stainless steel pan, lightly whisked the eggs in a bowl, poured them into the pan, flipped and stirred them occasionally, and then dumped them onto my plate. That’s it. I didn’t think anything about the cook’s method before I shoveled the scrambled eggs into my mouth. But afterwards, all I could think about was how good the scrambled eggs were and how the cook accomplished scrambled egg greatness with such a simple formula. The whole experience was cathartic – simple can be great.

I think that at some point in his life, Jean Grosperrin had a similar catharsis about cognac. You don’t need sugar, boise, coloring, or significant dilution to make cognac great and palatable. A lot of cognac shines brightest when it’s left alone and not tampered with…when it’s simple. This is the type of cognac I am looking for.

Jean Grosperrin started in the cognac business as a cognac broker, estimating the quality of various cognacs and connecting producers to houses, traders, and sellers. His job took him all over cognac and while exploring the cellars of producers, he found family treasures that were not intended to be sold to large houses. With strong connections to some of these producers, he was allowed to purchase some of these family treasures which he bottled under his own name. In 2004, Guilhem Grosperrin, Jean’s son, took over the brand. Jean Grosperrin cognac is about as simple and pure as cognac can get. They are careful with water reduction, and if they do reduce, it’s slowly over years; some Grosperrin cognacs are released at true cask strength. Grosperrin does not add color, boise, or sugar, and they do not chill-filter. In fact, they reportedly clean their bottles with cognac prior to bottling.

Grosperrin owns warehouses where they age their vintage cognacs, and according to their website, they also age some cognac in ORECO warehouses. What the hell is an ORECO warehouse? Well, take that image in your head of what you think a cognac warehouse is…ancient, barrels stacked on top of each other, crumbling brick walls, cobwebs in every corner, ancient demijohns strewn about…and replace it with the cold, stainless steel, antiseptic feel of modern industry. ORECO is a modern commercial storage facility located in cognac that offers a number of different storage options for cognac producers and bottlers. It has a very “goodbye art, hello science” ambiance. I highly suggest you check out their website (listed below) – it has a lot of great information and provides some insight into the current state of cognac.     

At the very end of this post there are a couple linked videos about Grosperrin cognac; an interview with Guilhem Grosperrin (his discussion about vintage cognac is very interesting and a topic for a future post) as well as a video from an Israeli site that shows Guilhem negotiating with a family to purchase a batch of cognac. I highly recommend you watch them.

Onto the review. This is the Jean Grosperrin Borderies N°64 at 52.1%. I’m guessing that it was distilled in 1964, but perhaps due to some documentation issue, Grosperrin could not list it as a vintage cognac. Serge reviewed this and gave it 86 points – while respectable, it’s not a glowing review. So, what do I think?

Nose:
Soft but not muted…pears, apricots, shitake mushrooms, vegetal undergrowth (root-like, think potato skin), mint, a little flower petal

Taste:
Peaches, mint, some light citrus, a little grassiness, too…then tobacco leaves along with a floral / tea-like thing (chamomile) 

Finish:
Medium length and dry…the light citrus lingers with a little metallic minerality.

Thoughts:
This is a good cognac. I think Serge was a little low – if I was grading on Serge’s scale, I’d put it closer to 89. There is nothing offensive and I’d describe it as an austere cognac. So, I’m giving this a…

Grade: B +

One final thought…
Grosperrin is doing it right, just like L’encantada. I look forward to exploring their cognacs and hearing back from the community if they choose to explore Grosperrin.

Links

ORECO
https://www.oreco.fr/
https://vimeo.com/58530159

General Video on Grosperrin 
https://youtu.be/6EJqC903qps

Great Video on Grosperrin Cognac Acquisition
https://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-5067731,00.html

François Voyer Extra 42%

Ryan's Review

François Voyer is another family run cognac house that got their start in the 1870s. Justin already shared a bit of information on them and reviewed a single vintage that really set the bar.  It's hard to find any specifics on the cognac in this particular bottle beyond that it is a blend of eaux-de-vie from the Grande Champagne region, and apparently aged for 30 to 40 years. Their cognac comes from vines on their 28 hectares estate in the Grande Champagne region.

Nose: Caramel, cedar, tobacco, dried plums (just sounds better then prunes).

Taste: An initial wave of honey, vanilla pods, sweet cream. Buckets of apricot and plum. Lots of melon, as well. The fruit is followed by some light florals, and then moving into cinnamon, cloves and other baking spices.

Finish: That warm and sweet cinnamon, some tobacco, and another wave of fruits. Some lightly tangy citrus, and, oh yea, more plums. Spices linger for a little longer than the rest.

Overall: I love this style, full of summer stone fruits and layered fragrant florals and cooking spices. Highly recommended and can be found for around $140 in normal cognac bottle. You can find the same cognac in a fancy decanter, but you'll pay more.

Grade: A-

Chateau de Pellehaut 1989 Ugni Blanc and 1996 Folle Blanche (K&L Pick)

Ryan's Review

Both of the armagnacs today come from a house owned and run by the Beraut family located in the Ténarèze region of Armagnac. The Pellehaut house is a relatively large estate covering some 530 hectares, about half of which is dedicated vineyard. What we're looking at today is two different vintages produced with two different grapes.

Chateau de Pellehaut 1989 
28 years old
49.9
Ugni Blanc

Nose: Heavy cinnamon, paprika. Moving to some sweeter notes. Maple syrup, light orange notes. A bit of astringent oak, as well.
Taste: This is quite lively right up front and not as spice forward as I feared.  Sweet honey followed by an assortment of juicy fruits. Plums, melon. Oh, and sugary grapefruit! Tangerines, too. Very juicy. Fruits are followed by sweet cinnamon, burnt caramel.
Finish: Long, with the sweet cinnamon, followed by more of those juicy fruits intermingling with the spice.

Overall: This shows multiple layers of complex sweetness from the fruits, to the honey and burnt caramel, to the cinnamon and spice. Yes, for those of you who don't find yourselves in the kitchen, too often, even some spices can show sweetness, especially if you've ever cooked with high quality cinnamon or paprika. Lovely armagnac. Oh yea, and it'll cost you just under a $100. I recently read a comment from somebody who felt there wasn't good value and accessibility in armagnac. Well this is an armagnac that says otherwise. Anyway...

Grade: A-

1996 (bottled 2013) Chateau de Pellehaut (K&L Pick)
17 years old
50.4
Folle Blanche

Nose: Creamy citrus, cinnamon, coffee, light earthiness
Taste:  Lots of brown sugar right up front, and then some fruits. Melon, guava, there's that plum again. Slightly syrupy. Just a slight roughness where it transitions to the back end with those typical baking spices and a bit of aromatic oak taking over.
Finish: Fair bit of oak envelopes the palate on the finish. Some light cinnamon, coffee, lingering fruits. Bitter orange peel.

Overall: Quite good. With all that brown sugar sweetness and oak we're finding ourselves creeping closer to bourbon territory, but we're not really crossing the line. This is still recognizable brandy, and like the 1989 vintage, the fruit sugars really shine. This one was around $60 when available in 2013, but if pushed to make a choice I think I'd pay the extra $40 to have that '89 Ugni Blanc, instead.

Grade B+

Jean Fillioux XO Grande Reserve 44%

Ryan's Review

The Cognac house Jean Fillioux was founded in the late 1800s and is currently owned and run by a 4th and 5th generation father and son team, Pascal and Christophe Fillioux. They operate on a 63 acre vineyard, exclusively growing Ugni Blanc grapes, up until recently when they started planting Folignan. Apparently, the eaux-de-vie in this bottle has been aged for more than 30 years and comes from grapes grown in the Grande Champagne region.

Nose: Dark sugars and caramel. Quite nutty with some old oak notes.
Taste: Apricots, peaches, and heavy vanilla up front. Quickly transitions to some earthier notes. Leather, nuts, and herbal bitters. Elderberry comes through.  Much like the nose there’s a dark caramel layer underneath all of this.
Finish: A spicy finish. There are some walnut bitters and simple syrup. But what lasts beyond the rest is the cinnamon and other oak spices.
Overall:  This is a complex cognac in its layers of sugars, bitters, and spices. The fruits take a back seat to some of the heavier and darker notes. A fair amount of oak influence, although not oaky. Perhaps not going to be everybody's cup of tea, but no denying it's quality.

Grade: B +

L’Encantada Lous Pibous cask 132 1994/2017 53.5%

FOMO, or fear of missing out. The psychological trigger is very real and causes people to make irrational decisions because I CAN’T BE THE ONLY PERSON THAT DOESN’T HAVE THIS. But sometimes groupthink causes you to accidently make the right decision because, sometimes, a bunch of people can be right about something. The very concept of collective rightness rubs against my repressed inner-hipster like sandpaper, but I can’t deny that sometimes the masses are right. C’est la vie.

I’m trying to figure out whether the collective bourbon consciousness, i.e. the bourbon borg, is right about the recent L’Encantada Lous Pibous bottlings. L’Encantada is a new(ish) bottler and they offer bottles from a couple of different estates, but Lous Pibous is the estate that’s making all of the waves – we’re talking 50-year storm waves here, Bodhi!

Rather than go into a detailed history and such, I’ll just provide some bullet points – Ryan already provided some details in a previous post and there are plenty of other people out there with way more intimate knowledge about L’Encantada and Lous Pibous than I could ever provide. So, the distilled version is this: Pibous uses Folle Blanche (old-timey, pre-phylloxera) grapes, ages in new French oak, and he may be dead or at least no longer producing. Well I don’t know if he’s actually dead – that’s more gossip than fact and I’m sure someone in the know can correct me on it. Being Armagnac, it’s distilled in a column still (not an alembic charentais pot still). This bottle is apparently from a cask that has had several lots drawn from it over the years and this is the 2017 bottling.

New oak…column still…this is beginning to sound a lot like…bourbon. But how does it taste?

(Tasted from a sample from an overly generous friend who sends me way too many samples)

Nose: big oaky sweetness, almost Stagg-like. Bourbon. Caramel, vanilla, cotton candy, tobacco…a little coconut and citrus.

Palate: more bourbon – tastes just like is smells but also some confectionary sugar, molasses and a little grape, making it mildly distinct but not really that different from bourbon.

Finish: nice length that gracefully dances all over the palate without causing any damage.

Thoughts
Well, I see why bourbon drinkers like Lous Pibous – it tastes like really good bourbon. But that’s not always a compliment. When I go to France, I want to eat French food, not hamburgers and French fries (FRENCH FRIES ARE NOT FRENCH FOOD). So, in reality and the context of this brandy blog, this one is tough to grade. Rather than stack it up against other brandies, I’ll stack it against other bourbons because that is what I think you are getting here. With that in mind, on the bourbon-grade-o-meter I grade this…

Grade: A Minus

Rancio – Don’t Ask Me

There is a special allure to old spirits. Take me for example – I’m a total sucker for them. Get me drunk enough and there is at least a 50% chance that I will start rambling on about how, back in the day, equipment like worm tubs and coal-fired stills made better whisky than today’s Phizer-like operations. In reality, I probably don’t need to be drunk to complain about how things aren’t as good as they used to be…

Anyways, that leads me to “rancio,” a flavor that I’ve read about and one that allegedly pops up in cognac that would be classified as an “old spirit.” When I started getting into cognac, I’d read reviews of what I drank before I drank it. If the review said “rancio,” I’d pretend to know what rancio was and later tell people “oh yeah, that cognac has rancio.” Obviously, I was full of shit and perhaps a little insecure. I was new to cognac (and still am), so give me a break. This post is my penance, or at the very least my make-up paper. I’ve scoured the web for a definitive answer on how to identify and define rancio, and I’ll be honest, I’m still lost on what “rancio” is and what it’s supposed to taste like. But also, that may be the whole point? I think through my lazy research I’ve cobbled together a very unsatisfying answer as to what rancio really is.

As a child of the internet age, I look to it for answers. Below are a few websites that attempt to identify and define rancio.

Webster’s Dictionary

I was a C student in college and it’s instinctive for me to start with Webster – don’t all bad research papers begin in this fashion? According to Webster, rancio is “of, relating to, or constituting the nutty flavor peculiar to some fortified wines (as sherry and Madeira)”. Ok, I know nutty, I know it well, but I’ve never heard someone describe nutty scotch or bourbon as having rancio. Maybe they did and I wasn’t paying attention. Either way, nutty, doesn’t really pin down an answer. I also wasn’t expecting Webster to solve the universe’s rancio riddle, but it’s a start.

Serious Eats
A Serious Eats article from 2013 defines rancio as “earthy, ripe cheeses or mushrooms, with a hint of soy sauce.” Ok, there is no mention of nutty there at all. Further down, the article states that “when those qualities pop up in cognac, the term used to describe them is rancio. (The same word is used to describe Spanish and Portuguese fortified wines, such as sherry, Madeira, and port, hence its appropriation by the French.) A full 10 years or more of oak aging are required to develop rancio in cognac.” So contrary to Webster, this article is claiming that rancio a flavor that is earthy, cheesy, mushroomy, and also has a little soy sauce…and it develops around 10 years. There are not citations in the article so I guess we have to take the author at his word.

Prunier
Turning towards a distiller’s perspective, Prunier has a webpage dedicated to the question of rancio which they aptly titled “What is 'Rancio?” It’s like they knew I was coming! A quick side note: I haven’t tried Prunier yet but they are definitely on my radar – they release vintage cognac at true cask strength, and apparently, the Scandinavians love it. Anyways, Prunier defines rancio, or what they more eloquently call “rancio charentais,” by the age of a cognac. Wait, what? Well, Prunier says that rancio in cognac 18-30 years old is “floral, nutty, dried fruit and spicy notes.” In cognac aged 30 years or more, rancio notes evolve into “nutmeg, tobacco, and cedarwood cigar box.” After 40 years, rancio takes on more tropical fruits and old, polished leather. If you go to the website there is an entire chart with all the potential rancio flavors they identify – there’s over 30.

Brandy Classics
I hope you’re as confused as I am, but there has to be a unifying answer out there, right? Brandy Classics, a UK site that bottles and sells cognac, also has a webpage dedicated to defining rancio. After some marketing babble about connoisseurship, the webpage cites reputable sources in their rancio explanation, like Berry Brothers. According to the Brandy Classics webpage, rancio appears after around 20 to 30 years of aging and is represented by a “character of fullness and fatness…[and can resemble] Roquefort cheese.” The webpage also explores the chemistry of rancio, indicating that it “derives from the oxidation of fatty acids in the spirit into ketones which produce the richness felt on the palate…reminiscent of an old madeira wine, a sort of rich pineapple mustiness.” This is different - rancio is a chemical change that gives a spirit a full and fat character and may taste like Roquefort cheese, madeira, and musty pineapple? Huh.

Nicholas Faith Cognac Guide
Moving to Nicholas Faith’s Guide to Cognac (which is bookmarked in the links section), a mere sentence is dedicated to the definition of rancio. He states that “after twenty or more years in wood the best cognacs acquire the unique quality of rancio, a rich blend involving nuts of all descriptions as well as candied fruits, similar to that of the rich fruit cakes beloved of the English.” The guide then defines rancio as a note in over 60 different cognacs that Nicholas reviewed.

Cognac Expert
This was my last stop. It’s a great website and usually the first place I go to for information. Even though they are also a retail shop, they seem to provide straightforward and untainted material on cognac houses and brands. With that said, they have a page on their website titled “The Rancio Charentais.” They begin by breaking up rancio into age tiers, just like the Prunier. Per Cognac Expert: “First Rancio stage: 10 to 15 years Peak of vanilla and oak taste, Flowery, dried rose, nutty, spicy; Second Rancio stage: 17 to 22 years Jasmine, Chocolate, Dried, candied fruit, curry, saffron, ginger; Third Rancio stage: 30 to 40 years old tawny port, cedar, eucalyptus, cigar box, tobacco, old muscat wine, nutmeg; Fourth Rancio stage: 50 to 60 years tropical fruits, passion, lyche wood scents: sandal wood.”

From there, they say “the concept of rancio is a complicated one: Even Cognac producers struggle when it comes to explaining the term. It is nearly impossible to describe. Is it Nutty? Cheesy? At least it is to be spotted on the tongue and finishes with a, let’s say, walnutlike oil-iness. It is very special – a bit bitter, like nut. Some people compare the taste of Rancio to musrooms, earthy and hints of soy sauce.” A little honesty, perhaps?

So, what is rancio?
The short answer: it’s nonsense. Everyone seems to have a different definition and different grouping of flavors. There is no consistency whatsoever, and while the Cognac Expert blog recognizes that rancio is difficult to define, something so prevalent and widely used within the cognac industry shouldn’t be that difficult to describe to people. I think rancio has become a generic term that is liberally used as a vague description; it’s meant to pronounce quality while at the same time ascribe a particular uniqueness of flavors in cognac, that, in reality, are found in tons of other spirits. And I get it. It’s great for marketing. It’s meant to separate it from the rest of the pack of brown, bourgeois sprits. And it’s eloquent and ambiguous enough that you can throw it out there as a tasting note without getting funny looks from your drinking buddies.

So, there’s your answer. I told you it would be unsatisfying.

I’m sure I’ll catch some flak for this post, but if someone can come up with a clear explanation of rancio beyond some amorphous catchall, I’m all ears.

Links


http://drinks.seriouseats.com/2013/03/serious-eats-guide-to-cognac-cocktail-101-what-is-cognac-brandy-how-is-cognac-made.html


http://www.cognacpruniertravelretail.com/what-is-rancio.php


https://www.brandyclassics.com/news/2016/09/the-development-of-rancio-in-cognac/


https://blog.cognac-expert.com/the-rancio-charentais-what-does-this-cognac-term-mean/

Darroze "Domaine De Petit Lassis" 1987 29yr

Ryan's Review

House Darroze is a reputable label known for quality armagnac without diluting or blending vintages or estates. You'll notice when you peruse the various Darroze offerings that are available, and there are a lot of them, that the majority are single vintage, single estate. Another plus is that you can often find well-aged vintage Darroze at a reasonable price. They also have their Les Grands Assemblages (The Great Blends) line which is a series of blends noting the youngest age on the label.

Darroze got their start sourcing their armagnac by the bottle to sell and serve at their restaurant. In the late 1960's they eventually began to purchase whole casks to bottle under their own label and began to age the eaux-de-vie in their own cellar. Today they even distill their own spirit from the wine produced on various estates around the Bas-Armagnac. In fact, like other armagnac producers, they haul their traveling still from estate to estate and distill on site. Talk about art of the craft.  This bottle here is from their "Unique Collection" range and comes from the Bacheré family out of Domaine De Petit Lassis and is 100% Baco grapes. It's a 1987 vintage and bottled at 48%. Thank you Joe L. For the sample!

Darroze "Domaine De Petit Lassis" 1987 29yr 

N: Hazlenuts, walnuts, caramel, menthol, oak, tobacco
T: Leather, tobacco, a burst of sweet prunes and tart cherries. A nice juiciness that transitions into a rich caramel and some light spices.
F: Moderate length, with those juicy oak sugars, more leather, followed by a light nutty astringency.

B+

Very nice. A sugary oak driven armagnac with lots of earthy flavors to balance out the heavy fruits.  I'm a fan of this profile and wouldn't mind having a bottle open on the bar. Can be found for $122. Recommended.

L'encantada Lous Pibous 1993 23 year Barrel #124

Ryan's Review

Today we're looking at an Armagnac distilled by a very small and out-of-production house called Lous Pibous.  This Armagnac is distilled from 100% Folle Blanche and aged entirely in new oak barrels. It was bottled by L'Encantada, a small company still in their youth having only planted their roots in 2011. Young isn't always bad, though, especially when your main goal is to source excellent eaux-de-vie, age and bottle it unfiltered and at cask-strength. It's hard to argue with that. This particular bottle comes from a cask that was selected along with two other Lous Pibous' by a small group of cask-strength spirit lovers who have appropriately named themselves "The Brandy Brothers".  They were gracious enough to share the selections with a private group and so here we have cask #124, a 23 year old bottled at 52.5%.

L'encantada Lous Pibous 1993 23 year Barrel #124
52.5%

N: Caramel, stewed fruits, leather and fragrant oak
T: Sweet caramel, brown sugar, and milk chocolate up front.  Followed by some thick wine notes. Berries. Strawberry jam. Really full rich flavors. Followed by a wave of dense oak and drying spices.  Slightly syrupy mouthfeel. Swims well, brings the sweet fruits to the forefront.
F: Finishes on a spicy note, bitter orange peels, and some astringent oak notes.

This is certainly not lacking in flavor or mouthfeel. It hits the palate with waves of complex sweetness and that lovely array of thick chewy fruits on the mid-palate. That's the highlight for me, and it's a big highlight.  What follows is a bit more oak dominant then I prefer, with a rather spicy and dry finish, that must be the extended aging in new oak.  I think I prefer this one with a bit of water to bring out more of the fruits. All-in-all this is an interesting mix of complex elegance with big brutishness. It's a very tasty bourbon. I mean armagnac. I mean bourbognac. A great value at its original retail of $75.99.  Only available on the secondary market now, and it'll cost you.

B+

Lheraud 1966 Fins Bois 48%

Lheraud was a level-up cognac for me. I first started getting my feet wet in brandy with what I could find at Binnys and K&L (back when K&L shipped and Driscoll was hyping Armagnac with wrestling vignettes…you know, before Armagnac was cool). And then I started ordering from overseas…nothing extravagant at first, mostly $100sh European releases and Master of Malt samples. But when I realized I was kind of into brandy, I said screw it and bought two $500 bottles. I was clueless about the brands and they had no online profile whatsoever (aside from maybe a meaningless Wine Spectator review). Essentially no reviews, no ratings, no notes…just straight blind buys. This 1966 Fins Bois Lheraud is one of those two blind bottle purchases.

Ryan previously provided some information on Lheraud so I’ll just add a few extra relevant points. Lheraud is located in Petite Champagne and they are a grower / producer. They have vineyards in different regions within the cognac AOC and they also produce Armagnac. One thing I love about Lheraud is that they are purists and do not add color, boise, or sugar to their bottlings (at least the vintage bottles). You can see the absence of artificial coloring in this bottle because it’s nicely bronzed but not suspiciously dark.

Onto the review. Never mind the plastic cup...

Lheraud 1966 Fins Bois 48%

Nose: orange blossom, lemon, metallic-y (like iron), baking spices and little caramel in the background

Palate: fruits dominate the front wave, like passion fruit, mango, and pears, then there is a shift to cloves, leather, and tannins, but it’s not too woody. There are more flavors here than I can identify and definitely (maybe) some rancio (a topic that is fodder for another post - I really have no idea what rancio is)?

Finish: a nice warming length that never gets boring or hot, and a note of citrus pops as it fades away.

Thoughts:

Lheraud makes killer cognac. I’ve tried a few bottles and the worst of them was still really good. This bottle is fantastic. The price is intimidating but what’s in the bottle is persuasive if not completely convincing. Buy Lheraud with the of confidence knowing that it likely won’t suck.

Grade: A

Some more info on Lheraud:

https://www.wilsondaniels.com/winery/cognac-lheraud/

http://www.cognac-lheraud.com/index.php

Remi Landier "Lot 87" Fins Bois

Ryan's Review

Remi Landier
Lot 87
Fins Bois
55%
Through The Grapvine (LMDW)

Remi Landier. Another small house, with a small range of offerings, and relative youngsters in the cognac community.  Their land, Domaine De Cors, resides in the Fins Bois region and saw its first vines planted back in 1890. In 1973 the family began producing cognac under the Remi Landier label. They grow grapes on 110 hectares of vines and produce and bottle cognac for several ranges. The Classic range is younger affordable entry cognac, while the Artisinal range is well-aged, quite limited, and quite expensive. Most of their cognac is obviously colored, with the exception of their "Special Pale" range, which states on their website "unchillfiltered, uncoloured, no sugar added".  Does the absence of that statement for the other bottles suggest that their Classic and Artisanal ranges suffer from chill-filtering and added sugars? With that said, here we have a privately bottled Remi Landier by La Maison Du Whisky for their Through The Grapevine label, which is exclusively single cask and small batch cognacs. It's bottled at 55% and labeled as Lot 87, which in cognac-speak suggests it is a 1987 vintage. So we are looking at a 29 year old cognac at cask strength. No official word on whether this is unadulterated cognac, but let's just focus on how it tastes.

Nose: Lots of sweet caramel and pineapple up front. Some fresh herbs, perhaps eucalyptus. Some of that great polished oak you only get in a well aged spirit.
Taste: A sweet lush entry with tropical and citrus fruits. Mostly mango, pineapple syrup, maybe some guava, very juicy... also caramel, tobacco, milk chocolate. A thick mouthfeel.
Finish: Finishes on vanilla oak, fresh eucalyptus, some herbal bitters, and warming spices. The fruit still comes through under all of that.

It's no pushover at 55% and yet it's easy to drink.  Abundant in tropical fruits and caramel and chocolate.  A complex finish that shows off its age, with some warming oak spices and gentle herbal notes, but nowhere close to being old or tired. This could be found for $115 when it was still available. An excellent 29 year old cognac at an excellent price point.  Perhaps we should try one of their Special Pale's next time.

A-