Lhearaud 1974/2005 31 Year Grande Champagne 49%

I stumbled on this bottle by pure chance. Apparently, it was lost in the distribution network and sat in a warehouse for 13 or so years before being found and shipped off to the shelf. It was priced lower than any other comparable Lherauds online so I pulled the trigger. I planned on taking it down to a bottle share event, so I cracked it early to let it breathe and open up a little. Of course I had to try it...just a nip. Two weeks later and the bottle is almost half gone. The bottle share is still a few weeks away and I honestly don’t know if I’ll be able to stop drinking this Lheraud until then…

Before the review, I want to address a unique aspect of Lheraud’s distillation process. General information about Lhearud was provided in previous reviews, but we left out that Lheraud distills “on the lees.” What does that mean? Well, essentially, when the distiller is crushing the grapes to extract the grape juice, if they distill on the lees, that means they extract some pulp along with the grape juice (no skin or sticks, though). There is a whole spectrum of extraction when it comes to lees, from extracting no lees (Martell), to some pulp or "fine lees" (Hennessy, Remy), to extracting heavy lees. According to Brandy Classics, distilling on the lees can be a touchy subject because there is a fear that cognac distilled on the lees, i.e. with pulp, is less pure than cognac distilled not on the lees, i.e. no pulp. The issue reminds me of the “non-chill filtered” debate in whisky circles revolving around purity and flavor.       

Anyways, with that out of the way, onto the review…

Lhearaud 1974/2005 31 Year Grande Champagne 49%

Nose: crème brulee, mint, toasted walnut, salt water taffy…some cherry and blueberry...It kind of smells somewhat like a good bottle of Madeira I recently put down, but more condensed

Palate: the crème brulee and toasted walnuts show up along with rice pudding, pecans, oolong tea, shitake mushrooms, coconut milk, and a little cake batter and mango tucked in there, too

Finish: long...the rich, decadent sweetness rests on the mid palate…whole experience tapers off slowly

Thoughts: this is a balanced beauty and I love every facet of the experience it provides. If we had to draw analogies to whisky, the 74 Lhearaud GC would be to cognac what 60s/early 70s Bowmore is to whisky. I’ve been targeting great cognac in my journey and been thoroughly impressed by what some of the small, independent houses have to offer. And considering all the great cognacs I’ve tried so far, this has to be up there as one of the best. The only improvement would be if the flavors were more concentrated.

Grade: A plus


Distilling on the lees:

https://www.brandyclassics.com/news/2018/02/2099/