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:
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