Cadenhead’s Distillerie Charpentier Petite Champagne Cognac 30 year 55.3%

When it comes to independent bottlers, it feels like most bottle whatever casks they can get their hands on. Back in the day, more bad casks were blended away (I imagine some killer ones were, too). These days, there is no shame in bottling a crappy single cask.

I'm a spirits nerd that longs for whisky's yesteryear, and my kindred folk all agree: there's a lot of crappy single casks getting bottled these days. There are some exceptions, though, and Cadenhead’s is one of them. They are located in Cambeltown, Scotland, and owned by the J. & A. Mitchell and Company (which also owns Springbank). Their selections tend to be more than just bottled whisky – often their bottlings feel like a sophisticated curation of Scotland’s national spirit. Ok, that last sentence is somewhat embellished and a tad campy, but truly, they are one of the best indie Scotch bottlers out there. On top of that, they are amazing people. If you have a chance to visit them in Campbeltown, please do. In 2015, I took the Springbank tour and chased it with the Cadenhead’s warehouse tasting; it was one of the highlights of my trip – the moldy dunnage warehouses are like Whisky Narnia.

One of the cool things about Cadenhead’s is that they bottle other spirits, too, like rum, gin, and cognac! This is the review of the Cadenhead’s Distillerie Charpentier Petite Champagne Cognac 30 year 55.3%. A generous friend and Francophile sent it to me. There is not a ton of information floating around the web on Charpentier, but I did find this:

“Charpentier vineyard is 54 hectares in the heart of Petite Champagne cru. Since 1895 , Charpentier family has been producing wine dedicated to Cognac making and delivering the biggest cognac houses. Today we offer cognac in bulk as well as bottled and branded cognacs.”

So they are a producer that sells to large houses and bulk, presumably indie bottlers such as Cadenhead’s.

On to the review

Nose: spicy (like a smelling a spice cabinet) and floral up front, and then the fruits come out with some lemon and raspberries, caramel apple, too

Palate: fat, rich, oily…whatever you call it, its thick. Walnuts and pralines, fuji apples, and then the citrus I love kicks in on the back end, tangerine and orange zest…I also got a tiny note of Swedish fish (I know I’m weird)

Finish: nice length that just hangs onto the palate, with the citrus note dominating

Thoughts

This is good brandy, in fact I'd call it really good. Given the price point (I think it was around $100), it’s hard to find a better QPR. Why anyone would want to blend this is beyond me, perhaps to elevate other, less-talented cognac. But if that is the case, it really breaks my heart.

Charpentier would collect a fervent nerd fan base if they were personally bottling this, releasing single casks and such, as opposed to selling to large houses where its fate is only to be drowned out though blending. I searched around to see if there were any other reviews, and Serge gave this a 92, which I think is deserving for this bottle. I can’t get myself to rate the Charpentier higher than the LMDW Voyer, but it's getting close, so I’m giving this bottle…

Grade: A-