Lheraud 1975 Petite Champagne 47% ~30 year

Here’s a 1975 Lheraud from Petite Champagne. It may seem like I am prone to hyperbole when it comes Lheraud, but I don’t think its hyperbole by any measure. Lheraud is some of, if not “the” best cognac producer. Arguably, of course. But I wouldn’t want to be the person arguing against Lheraud – it’d be like arguing the Beatles weren’t the greatest rock band of the 20th century. I'm all ears...

This guy is bottled at a respectable 47% and was bottled in 2005, so its around ~30 years old. I found it a while back with a cache of other older Lherauds that were lost in distro for years.

My notes

Nose: caramel, crème brulee, toasted marshmallow, figs, and a little chamomile tea in the background

Palate: silky, fat distillate where the crème brulee from the nose translates…It’s a little oaky but not over the top. There are also notes of brown sugar, (good) olive oil, raisins, and walnuts

Finish: nice medium length, not over or underwhelming.

Thoughts
Great stuff as usual. It doesn’t beat the 74 Lheraud from Grande Champagne but it’s still great cognac. If you are looking for a more rich, decadent profile cognac, Lheraud is your man.

Grade: A minus

A smattering of Château Pomès-Pébérère reviews...

Ryan's Review:

So a spread of samples from Château Pomès-Pébérère from the Ténarèze region in Gers en Gascogne.  A quick search online shows this is a small house with less than 100 acres of vineyard. Primarily growing Ugni-Blanc and Colombard, these two grapes make up 90% of their blends. Their eaux-de-vie is aged in 400 liter French oak. These are relatively available and priced well. Often times I find that I know my feelings on a dram well before I’ve reached the end of 2 ounces. It is interesting that I found myself pushing the end of each of these samples

1966, 42%

Nose: A surprisingly fresh aroma. A little juicy. Sweet honey. Dusty books.
Taste: It’s very clean. Dark honey upfront.  A nice spread of stewed fruit. Apples, orange marmalade, plums.  It does show its age, though. Tobacco, leather, light touch of lacquer and walnut bitters, a bit of spiciness pushing through in the finish.
Overall: A clean and dry armagnac, but the oak is surprisingly in check. What we have instead is a really nice mix of cooked fruits and denser oak notes. Really well done. This held up very nicely.

B+/A- territory. But let’s go with A-.

1968, 42%

Nose: Immediately dry and earthy on the nose. Old leather books. Plums. Szechuan and some dry spices from the oak.
Taste: Deep plum notes, but the fruit doesn’t really pop if you know what I mean. There’s more leather and a heavy minerality.  Chocolate and raisins. It’s a darker profile, for sure.
Finish: Sawdust, oak spices, tobacco. Polished oak. Finishes quite dry.
Overall: This one sticks to the trend of clean and tight, but it’s a bit more tired and heavy, and just a tad less fun. Still very enjoyable, though.

B

1975, 42%

Nose: Sweet florals. Tangerines, cherries. Caramel. Some wood varnish and dry spice.
Taste: A similar progression on the palate. A nice spread of fruits. Raisins, cherry, plum.  Honey dipped apples. Moving into the earthier notes of walnuts, gentian, wormwood. But mixed in with those herbal bitters we also have a buttery chocolate note. Spices push through. Mainly cinnamon. 
Overall: In an interesting way the highlight is the oak in all of its complexities. There is an almost herbal liqueur nature to this one with the balance of bitters and sweetness, chocolates and spices. It’s a dense armagnac, but also very refined. Lovely stuff.

Again B+/A- territory, with a nudge towards the A-.

St. Remy Authentic VSOP 40%

Ryan's Review

A couple things.  First, Justin and I consider this blog a journal of sorts. A written document on our path to discover what brandy is both in taste and in production. It shouldn’t be a secret that we don’t consider ourselves experts. If you see a piece of information that is incorrect please let us know. We also don’t expect our notes to be taken as gospel.  We occasionally will taste something expensive, and we may or may not love it.  Hopefully if you choose to purchase it based on our review it’s because you’ve found your palate seems to agree with ours more often than not.  In the end, we are just charting our own experiences in discovering what the world of brandy has to offer.  Second, it is probably a bit obvious by now that Justin and I have similar tastes and cherry pick the brandies that we have tasted and reviewed on this page.  We look for bottles, often from small production, family-run houses and producers who focus on letting the unadulterated spirit do the talking.   Most of what we have tasted so far we have enjoyed to varying degrees, even if it might not be a repeat purchase or a “wow” spirit. We assign grades because it’s part of the shtick, and I suppose it does help categorize in my own mental library what my overall impressions of the spirit are. With grades in mind, let’s remember even the bottles that we grade a B are still fine spirits. Maybe it doesn’t fall right in our wheelhouse, maybe not a “run out and tell the masses” bottle, but still, we can recognize there is quality.   So with all that said, here today is a bottle that was not cherry-picked. Instead, I found this bottle in a box in my basement collecting dust. I purchased it a couple years ago for a cooking recipe for no other reason than it was cheap. Cheap doesn’t always mean bad, though.

Some interesting details on the brand. St. Remy was formed in 1886 and is owned by the juggernaut company, Remy Cointreau.  It is not actually a cognac, as the grapes are not grown in the Cognac region. Instead, the grapes that are used are coming from some other areas very popular for their vineyards, such as Burgundy, Champagne, Bordeaux, and Rhone Valley.  So they refer to their end product as French Brandy, which is governed by the Federation of French Brandy. 

St. Remy Authentic VSOP
40%

Nose: A very light nose, with some hints of sweet fruits.

Taste: Quite sugary up front with honey, grapes, and strawberries. It is a bright profile, and just a tad spirity. 

Finish: Towards the finish is more light summer fruits and some spices. A hint of cocoa. It finishes with light menthol and oak.

Overall: This is a rather light brandy, and you get the sense that is exactly what they’re going for, both from the proof and also the overall blend. It is neither offensive nor complex, and the flavors come and go rather quickly. It is not an overly sweet presentation, however the sweetness it provides is simple and without much else to round it out and make it interesting. A good brandy perhaps to use in a cocktail or in cooking. 

C+

1986 L'Encantada Bas Armagnac 30 Year Old "Domaine Le Frêche" Cask #44

Ryan's Review

We’re tasting another bottling from L’Encantada today. This one is a 1986 vintage labeled as “Domaine Le Frêche”. Well, I know next to nothing about the origin of this armagnac, other than that it was produced in the domaine Le Frêche located in the Bas Armagnac region. It was brought in by K&L and this will actually be the first L’encantada bottling I’ve had the pleasure of tasting that is not a Lous Pibous. This one is 30 years old and bottled at a natural 47.9%.

1986 L'Encantada Bas Armagnac 30 Year Old "Domaine Le Frêche" Cask #44

Nose: On the nose it’s quite big. Caramel and dried fruits make up the sweetness. We’ve also got cinnamon oil, smoke and leather.  The oak is certainly present.

Taste: Upfront we have stewed fruits and berries. Some leather. Quickly moving into heavy oak, caramelized brown sugar.  The mouthfeel here is quite chewy. Finishes with spicy cinnamon and fragrant wood. I find the oak to be a bit dominating on the finish only in that it seems to be overshadowing the rest of the profile.

I decided to take it for a swim and see what happens. With water the fruit notes open up with big notes of mango, heavy tart rhubarb and overripe strawberries. These transition to brighter fruits, like pineapple and lime. Quite crisp.  The fruits are backed by some deeper caramel and dense oak notes.  Some milk chocolate. Cinnamon. More fruit, tangerine this time. Again, there’s that fragrant wood, which is very nice. Layers upon layers. Complex and delicious.

Overall: This armagnac settled at a natural 47.9% at time of bottling, and reminds me of the heaviness of a Lous Pibous, making me wonder if it was aged in new oak. I find that a little bit of water unwraps the whole package and reveals layers of flavors beyond the caramel and oak that dominate at cask strength.  That mango note is a highlight for me. This is an excellent armagnac and the quality is high. Can we expect more of the same from other “Le Frêche” bottlings?

A-

Chateau de Pellehaut 1983 30 Year Armagnac 47.8%

Here's a review of an older K&L Pellehaut pick I snagged years ago. It's long gone and probably difficult to track down, but I hope the review speaks to the overall quality of the Pellehaut releases, and especially the K&L Pellehaut picks. For as much fun as it is to joke about David Driscoll's silly wrestling analogies (like I should cast stones, amiright?), Driscoll and David OG at K&L tracked down some fantastic brandy before anyone else. I bought into the hype early, right when they first started selling store-exclusive Armagnac. I'm sure Charles Neal, the author and importer, had a heavy hand in what K&L brought Stateside, too.

Anyways, this is a 30 year, 1983 Chateau de Pellehaut, bottled in 2013 at 47.8%. It was ~$85 when it was first released...almost seems too soon to say "those were the days" when referring to 2013...

Nose: grape mocha latte (I wish that was an actual thing), lots of oak, more oak, and citrus...some rose petals and a tinge of sea spray, too

Taste: fat and juicy AND rich, I told my buddy this tasted like Glendronach and dusty bourbon had a love child...the oak isn't as prevalent as it is on the nose, but its there...chocolate, backing/confectionery spices, and a light cheesecake note (I use that to describe a pleasant, subtle rich sourness)...citrus, cherry, caramel, and apricots

Finish: nice length, where the fruits and spices taper off slowly

Thoughts

I really like this, and I really really like this for ~$85. When I first opened the bottle, the 83 was good, but I wasn't a huge fan. Now, about halfway towards empty (around 4 months air time), it has has really opened up. While its a nice fat spirit, I do wish there was a little more oomph - that would drive it up another grade. Like I said at the beginning, while this bottle is gone, I think it's indicative of Pellehaut's overal quality.

Grade: A minus
  

Original Retail Linke

https://www.klwines.com/p/i?i=1137466

2004 L’Encantada Lous Pibous Cask 196 56%

Updated for your reading pleasure...

Here’s another L’Encantada review. There’s no shortage of these reviews because there is no shortage of L’Encantada in the States, or at least, that's how is appears to me. So far, L’Encantada has been the most reviewed bottler on this blog. There have only been a handful of selections by private groups and a few Stateside stores so far (around 7 or 8 barrel picks), but more bottles are slated for touchdown in various markets soon, and really, everyone in the American brandy nerd / community groups seems to be enjoying L’Encantada these days...just head over to the Facebook groups or google L’Encantada review...there's no dearth of coverage, discussion, or reviews.

Before I get to the review, I had a few thoughts I wanted to jot down. The first is that I think L’Encantada is taking advantage of the American brandy desert by selling unique, single cask brandies. Not many brandy producers are selling the same product Stateside and I think by and large, L’Encantada's popularity is the result of filling a gaping-wide hole in the American brandy market. There are some other bottlers on American shelves, but there are questions as to sources of distillate, whether its true cask strength, whether it's colored, etc...questions that make spirits geeks waffle on spending $100+ on a particular bottle. What L’Encantada brings to the table is the most transparent brandy available in America.

Which brings me to my second thought, which is that I think L’Encantada, a small, independent bottler, has taken the right approach to selling spirits in the US market, one that has allowed them to flourish and grow in popularity. I believe that L’Encantada's approach could serve as a model for other, small brandy bottlers and producers.

Now, let me elaborate on what I mean by "approach" and "model" because there was some confusion as to what I was trying to convey on my initial draft, likely as a result of trying to pound out a quick post and speaking too generally...After initially attempting to enter the American market with little to no interest, L’Encantada, was approached by a small group of whiskey geeks about purchasing a cask. The purchase was run through a boutique liquor store which also purchased some L’Encantada-bottled brandy. From there, other groups and stores have started working with L’Encantada, and more bottles are on the way (or at least in the works). L’Encantada is developing a great reputation by working with a private groups and boutique liquor stores - the nerds are getting their hands on good brandy and sharing it with people, which is drumming up more curiosity and interest in L’Encantada. It's a form of grassroots marketing that costs L’Encantada nothing, really…and now when a store gets a L’Encantada pick, it sells out instantly…if a group pick hits secondary, it flips for double the initial cost.

So when I talk about  L’Encantada's "approach," or their "model" (which appears to be more incidental than intentional based on conversations with people possessing intimate knowledge of L’Encantada's operations), what I am saying is that rather than spending a significant amount of money on marketing and focusing on portfolio-specific products, small brandy producers or bottlers could instead work with private spirits groups and boutique liquor stores, sell unique products (i.e single casks, special blends, etc.), and churn up demand for their products...if you have a good distillate, let the nerds be your marketing mouthpiece. Ultimately, I think  L’Encantada is showing that working with private groups and stores can be a successful approach to selling bottles in the American market as opposed to taking other, more traditional approaches to increasing demand.

One caveat I want to point out (which is purely subjective and solely based on my opinion) is that working with private groups before stores might be the best course of action. Aside from vetting the quality of a particular spirit before selecting it, the groups are entrenched in the spirits community and are in the best position to speak to the community about the spirit's quality. Surely there will always be bias, but people tend to lend more credibility to information from someone hyping something not for sale (i.e. private group picks) as opposed to someone hyping something they are trying to sell (i.e. store picks). I have seen more than a few store-picked brandies just languish on shelves. Plus, L’Encantada initially approached a store and was turned away...it was the nerds (also known as consumers) that got the ball rolling!

I hope that brings some clarity to what I was originally trying to say. With that in mind...

Here is a review of a 2004 L’Encantada Lous Pibous Cask 196 56%. The bottle was selected by the Brandy Brothers. I initially wrote that it was selected by 1789b but apparently it's a Brandy Brother's pick (its worth mentioning the selecting group was essentially all 1789b members and cask 196 was pretty much sold exclusively to 1789b members...take it for what it is). The label has “by Philippe” handwritten on it, and from the 1789b member who is responsible for initially bringing L'Encantada Stateside: "Pibous is the domain that grew the grapes, made the wine and aged the Armagnac. They did not do the distillation. They hired a travelling distiller/still from the town of Condom. 1993 and later Pibous was distilled by Philippe..."

On to the review...

Nose: strawberry jello and beef stock…apples, amaretto, and a little Robitussin cough syrup

Taste: this is meaty – is that you, Mortlach??? This really has a lot of sherried Mortlach qualities with plenty of beef bullion, brine/salt and a little sulfur…some mineral qualities (slate) and somewhat jammy, with some cherries in there...I also get some medicinal qualities – I’ll call it cough syrup

Finish: nice length with the finish…the Mortlachyness meaty/salty character dominates the end

Thoughts
When I first opened this I absolutely adored it (probably because I adore sherried Mortlach) and I embarked to get more. At that time it was a clear “A” to me. Then a week later I revisited the bottle for an official review and it was as if someone turned on the lights at the bar...at 2am – oh boy...with air and time the flavors amplified, and instead of working in harmony when I first opened it, they were in an ugly battle for palate domination. Cask 196 is not bad by any stretch, just to me, it’s not very balanced. I’ve heard that this is a polarizing pick, which makes sense. I also see why it was picked – it's very unique. So please remember this is just one man’s perspective and I’m sure there are many others. With that in mind, I’m giving this a…

Grade: B

Cognac Barrels

There are plenty of resources on the web about whisky barrels, but when it comes to cognac barrels, I couldn’t find a one-stop shop that provided all of the information I was looking for – even the BNIC website had some informational gaps. A lot of sites were pretty helpful, though, and this post is the result of cobbling together information from various sites and creating that one-stop shop for your cognac barrel information needs. I hope this post is an evolving piece since I don’t know everything about cognac barrels and more knowledgeable people will (hopefully) chime in to keep us informed and honest.

The Law
The AOC regulations and law regarding cognac can be found in the Decree n ° 2009-1146 of September 21st, 2009 relating to the controlled label of origin "Cognac" or "Brandy of Cognac" or "Brandy of the Charentes" (the link is provided below).

Article 3, Paragraph D, Subparagraph 9 of the regulations state that "spirits intended for direct human consumption shall be aged in an oak container for a minimum period of two years."

• The use of the term “oak” is a generic term. Article 3, Paragraph E, Subparagraph 4 ("Ageing") states that "the Tronçais or Limousin type oak ("oak" or "pedunculate" according to the uses) was chosen because of its capacity to allow for long periods the exchanges between brandy, the external environment and the wood. . The numerous cooperage companies that have developed in the geographical area have been able, in close relationship with Cognac winemakers, to build know-how in the development of the most suitable housing for the aging of Cognac. It is up to the cellar masters to select the most suitable dwellings, according to the initial characteristics of the new brandies, the aging stage and its qualitative objectives". When the regulations discuss Tronçais or Limousin type oak (along with some online articles), they indicate that cognac casks have traditionally made from French oak, but there is also no outright prohibition on using any type of oak, really, and the primary use of French oak appears to be more of a general trade practice. As proof, Bache Gabrielsen released a cognac aged in virgin Tennessee oak, which was allowed to be called cognac.

• In the past, the law may have prevented aging cognac in re-use casks, or at least it was frowned upon (?). Currently, the regulations do not address using re-use oak casks, and it appears that cognac can be aged in oak casks that previously held grape-based wines and spirits. On the web, there are several sites addressing Pierre Ferrand’s discovery of an early 20th century document showing cognac can be aged in wine casks (or at least that the practice used to be allowed). There are now several wine cask finished cognacs on the market, such as the Pierre Ferrand Renegade Barrel No. 1 which is finished in a Sauternes wine cask, as well as the Courvoisier’s Sherry Cask Finish Cognac, which was finished in a sherry wine cask.

• An oak cask that previously held non-grape based wine or spirit, such as bourbon or scotch, cannot be used to age cognac. Again, there are no regulations addressing this and it appears to be a trade practice or tacit understanding among cognac makers. Martel recently released Blue Swift, which is a VSOP cognac that was finished in bourbon casks. If you look at the very bottom of the front label it states “Eau de Vie de Vin,” which is intended to mean it’s not technically cognac (even though it says cognac on the upper part of the label…I know). Deceptively clever labels aside, if a cognac is aged in a cask that contained non-grape aged wine or spirits, it cannot be called cognac.

I guess to distill down the law of cognac casks into one sentence, “cognac must be aged in oak casks, either new oak casks or oak casks previously containing only grape-based wine or spirits” (yes, I’m quoting myself here).

One takeaway regarding the law is that if there isn't a direct statement prohibiting a particular practice, it seems like trade norms dictate whether a practice is allowable (such as using re-use wine casks) or impermissible (such as using re-use bourbon/scotch casks). I think the use of re-use wine casks was able to sneak into permissible usage because (1) cognac is aged in both virgin oak and re-use barrels that previously held cognac, (2) a prohibition on all re-use casks would prevent cognac from being aged in second fill cognac casks, and (3) being a grape distillate, cognac and wine are in the same family, and I think some clever producers used similarities and semantics to their advantage.   

The Main Types of Oak
This is an area that has tripped me up for a while because people refer to geographical regions as if they are tree varietals, different scientific names are used for the same types of trees, etc. So hopefully this provides some clarity…

Even though the law allows for cognac to be aged in any variety of oak cask(s), cognac is traditionally a tale of two oaks: Tronçais and Limousin. When people talk about Tronçais and Limousin, they are technically not referring to a type of oak, but rather, the region from where the oak trees were sourced.

Region: Tronçais (pronounced “tron-say”)
The forest of Tronçais is a French national forest which is located in Allier - practically the center of France. In regard to oak trees, 73% of the forest is comprised of Sessile oak (Quercus Sessiliflora / Quercus Petraea) and 8% is comprised of Pedunculated oak (Quercus robur). The Office Nationale des Forets (“ONF”) manages the forest of Tronçais and also handles the sale of oak within the forest (along with replanting trees and addressing sustainability issues). The oak trees sold to coopers (both wine and cognac barrel coopers) tend to be very old, easily over 100 years in age. Coopers can bid on particular trees and usually purchase the oak trees several years before use. The ONF cuts and processes the oak trees and retains the timber on behalf of the coopers for several years to allow for sufficient air seasoning time (up to 3 years).

Region: Limousin (pronunciation “lee-mo-sen”)
The forests from several regions of western France are generally considered the Limousin region, to include the eastern part of the departments of Deux-Sevres, Vienne, Hautes de Vienne, the northern part of the Correze, the Creuze, the eastern part of the Charente and the southern part of the Indre; the area is pretty close in proximity to the Cognac region. A majority of the oak trees in this region are Pedunculated Oak (Quercus Robur) and many of the woods in this region are also managed by the ONF.

Actual types of oak used for cognac cask making

• Sessile Oak (Quercus Sessiliflora / Quercus petraea / Quercus Rouvre) – wood from this tree is generally tightly-grained and softer for an oak.

• Pedunculated Oak (Quercus Robur) - wood from this tree tends to have wider grain than Sessile Oak and it imparts more tannin into the spirit. According to some sites, these oak trees impart vanilla notes into the cognac.

Do the differences in species matter? That depends. What I’ve found is that coopers do not usually distinguish the two species of wood in their workshops and instead pay more attention to forest location and grain size than oak species. However; the forests of Tronçais and Limousin generally contain different types oak trees, so species overlap in cask making is likely not an issue. Further, most cognac producers prefer the use Limousin oak due to the heavier tannins imparted from the oak (it also probably helps, or at least plays a role, that Limousin is close to the Cognac region).

To summarize, Tronçais and Limousin are not oak types but regions where specific types of oak trees grow; Sessile Oak is the predominate oak in Tronçais and Pedunculated Oak is the predominate oak in Limousin. Sessile Oak is tight-grained and Pedunculated Oak is wide-grained and imparts more tannin into the spirit.

Cooperages and Barrel Details

Called the “tonnellerie” in French, there are a lot of cooperages that produce barrels for cognac producers. Wine and the use of French oak is big business so there is no shortage of barrel makers in France (some even have a footprint in the USA!). There are plenty of small and mid-size cooperages, and some of the big houses have their own cooperages, too. For example, Hennessy has a “barrel-making factory.” There are also barrel brokers where producers can purchase barrels made by different coopers.

There are no restrictions on barrel size for cognac, and the norms seem to be 350 liters or 500 liters. However, don’t be surprised by other barrel sizes if you come across them (unlike scotch, they don’t have goofy names for the different barrel sizes)…some cognacs spend time in gigantic vats, tuns, or whatever the producer decides to call it.

One of the big differences between cognac barrels and whisky barrels is that cognac barrels are “toasted” rather than charred. Just like charring, toasting is a process that burns the inside of a barrel to a desired point to mellow the wood tannins and raw oak flavors. Toasting is on the lighter end of the burning spectrum and helps release vanillin from the cellulose in the wood and imparts spicy, vanilla notes. There are degrees of toasting, from light to heavy, and the stronger the toast the more the barrel flavors are present. Separate from barrel charring, which further mellows interaction between tannins and the spirit, barrel toasting allows for more interaction between the wood tannin and spirit. Not all cognac producers use a toast; Daniel Bouju uses a char and it’s easy to see that use in the dark color of his cognac. If you’re more interesting in the science of toasting check out some of the cooperage sites I listed below (like Vicard Tonnelleries).

 (radiation toasting)

 (toasting vs. charring)

Effect of Wood on Cognac
Below is a chart on the coloring of cognac. Obviously it’s just a generalization because toast (or char) level as well as cask type are going to play a role in how quickly the cask affects the spirit. Surprisingly, it does not take very long to gain color which is mainly due to new oak casks being used for the first few years of cognac aging (I’ll dive into that topic on another post about aging).

Summary
This post is just about cognac barrels and I’ll write another piece about ageing in the future. The main takeaways that I think are important are: (1) cognac casks must be made from oak, (2) re-use casks can be used only if they held wine or grape-based spirits, (3) Tronçais and Limousin are regions where oak trees are sourced for cognac casks, (4) cognac casks are generally 350 or 500 liters in size, and (5) cognac barrels are generally toasted but not always.

There are some interesting topics of discussion (like the Blue Swift label) that I’ll leave for the discussion groups (like Serious Brandy on Facebook).

UPDATE: A buddy provided me with the link with the actual AOC law and regulations for cognac. The link is provided below and I've updated the law section of this post.

Sources

AOC Regs for cognac (google translate): https://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?depth=1&hl=en&prev=search&rurl=translate.google.com&sl=fr&sp=nmt4&u=https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/eli/decret/2009/9/21/AGRT0916772D/jo/texte/fr&xid=25657,15700022,15700124,15700149,15700168,15700186,15700189,15700190,15700201,15700205&usg=ALkJrhiwbtaibTcRKjLqxSsCohvBZJ_62w

The Law: http://www.cognac.fr/cognac/_ru/2_cognac/index.aspx?page=appellation

The Law: www.pediacognac.com

The Law (use of casks holding grape-based wines/spirits): https://troymedia.com/2018/05/07/understanding-cognac-global-market/

The Law (Blue Swift issue): https://blog.cognac-expert.com/martell-releases-blue-swift-vsop-bourbon-cask-finish/

Forrest of Tronçais: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forest_of_Tron%C3%A7ais

ONF Website: http://www.onf.fr/filiere_bois/@@index.html

Troncais Timber: http://seguinmoreaunapa.com/innovation/best-of-oak/

Limousin Oak (Germain-Robin): https://youtu.be/1xHWD45E6S4

More on wood: https://blog.cognac-expert.com/oak-barrel-cask-cognac-age-limousin/

More on wood: http://www.knoxbarrels.com/FAQ.html

Cooperages: http://www.alcademics.com/2009/10/a-cooperage-in-cognac.html

Cooperages (list of Coopers): http://www.bouchardcooperages.com/usa/products/products_intro.html

Cooperages: https://www.hennessy.com/en-gb/news/7842-barrel-making-factory

Toasting: http://seguinmoreaunapa.com/products/barrels/toast/

Toasting: http://www.bouchardcooperages.com/usa/products/vicard/vicard_intro.html

Toasting vs. Charring: http://www.winespectator.com/drvinny/show/id/52130

Charring: https://vinepair.com/wine-blog/what-are-barrel-char-levels-and-how-do-they-affect-the-way-my-whiskey-tastes/

BNIC Press Pack: http://www.cognac.fr/cognac/pdf/publications/dossier_en_07.pdf