François Giboin Tres Vielles Borderies 43%

Ryan's Review

Today we’re tasting a coganc from François GIboin, a producer who is based in the Borderies region.  François is a producer grower, which means he doesn’t source his grapes, but picks from his own vineyards to go into his cognac production.  He has vineyards both in Borderies and Fins Bois, but his property, l’Hermitage, in Borderies is his home base, so to speak. L’Hermitage contains 13.5 hectares of vineyards and François is the sixth generation to be producing on the property.  11.5 hectares are reserved solely for Ugni Blanc growth.  He reserves the other 2 hectares for grapes used in pineau production.  He distills on lees in a copper pot still.  Only 20% of the production, about 7,000 bottles, is sold under the François Giboin label each year. The rest is reserved for further aging, pineau production, or is sold to Coirvoisier for blends. 

Much more can be read about his production here:

http://www.charlesnealselections.com/giboin.html

It’s a very informative and well-written post, and I recommend giving it a read.

The tasting notes below are for a 1974 Borderies. However, while this was distilled in 1974 and “bottled” in 2014, it was earlier moved from cask into demijohns where it sat for around a decade.  This bottle was purchased from Astor Wines, which states it is essentially 29 years old, an age that I’ve found to be a very nice sweet spot for many cognacs. There’s a label on the back of the bottle designating it as non-filtered. Always a good thing, right? This was bottled at 43%.

N: An immediately inviting nose. Oranges and cream.  Sweet honey, fruit juice.  There is some light oak there, as well.
T:  Immediately lively and juicy. Orange blossoms. Brown sugar. Thick honey.  Loads of sweet citrus. Nectarines and tangerines. Stone fruits, too. Plums. Some light florals. Buttery. Rich and fresh.
F: Cinnamon, some nuttiness, quite sweet still. Spiced cake comes to mind.  There’s also some oak pushing through in the very end. But it just balances out the whole package. This is an example of a cognac bottled at the right time, and at the right proof, I might add.

This cognac is like having a picnic in a meadow on a sunny day with a light breeze, a basket of fresh fruits and a jar of spiced honey to dip them in. Sorry, did you just groan a bit?  More to the point, it’s excellent cognac and highly drinkable. I think this bottle is no longer available from Astor Wines. I recall picking it up for around $130 when it was available. A zero regrets purchase.  There are other bottles of 1974 vintage floating around. I am not sure if there is much or any variation between them.

A-