Brillet Tres Rare "Heritage" Grande Champagne 45% Brut de Frut

Brillet is a small family-owned grower/producer located in Grande Champagne. Their vineyard is 150 acres and the property runs into the Petite Champagne growing region. They have been around since the 1600s and that is about it. Their website says “a refreshed website is coming” and has a picture of their estate (which looks gorgeous by the way). I wonder how long the refresh has been in the works, and given the patience of cognac producers, how long are we going to have to wait?

I found the Heritage for a little over $250 online so I gathered a couple friends and we did a bottle split. A 50-year-old cognac at (or near cask strength) for $250sh – sign me up! A few commercial reviewers gave the Heritage a little love…Paul Pacult gave it 5 stars…Wine Enthusiast gave it a 96-100pts and said it smelled of marzipan and tasted like dark caramel, vanilla, butter, and cream. I love marzipan, dark caramel, vanilla, butter, and cream! What could go wrong?

So on to the review…

Nose: musty oak, salt water taffy, blackberry jam, and some faint floral notes in the background

Taste: rich and dark, the caramel is definitely there but not intense, sweet crème, fudge, candied pecans, some of that dark chocolate bitterness, and some light earthen-like qualities (think leather but I really hate saying leather cause who eats leather?)

Finish: beautifully long

Thoughts
It’s good. I might have to snag one or two for the bunker. I used a Lheraud I gave an A minus for benchmarking and comparison. I slightly preferred the palate for the Lheraud but the finish on the Brillet is fantastic…and both are great overall. With that in mind, I’ll give this an…

Grade: A minus

Lhéraud 1974/2018 Grande Champagne 49% - 44 years old

Ryan's Notes

Ryan's Review

Well, here we have another Lhéraud. A continually impressive house, both in their stunning vintage bottles, as well as the excellent XO Charles VII blend. Price on these vintage selectiosn is high, but so far the quality has continued to match the price. When Justin shared the 1974 vintage he had open I was a big fan and so decided to seek out another '74. This one was bottled just in February of this year, making it about 44 years old. Bottled at 49%.

Nose: Immediately rich nose, almost port-like. We have honey and plums. There's some heavier notes of tobacco and coffee. Old books and a little bit of polished oak.

Taste: Quite like the nose. Peaches and plums. Blueberry. Sweet citrus. Cream. Moves into a heavy coffee liqueur. Thick wildflower honey seems to coat the whole palate.

Finish: Delicate herbal bitters - propolis stands out. Bee pollen. A resinous quality to the flavors, it's almost medicinal. But, this is good, it's very good. Smoked spices. Orange zest. Some wood polish.  Nectar-like sweetness lingers throughout the finish.

This is an impeccable spirit. Great balance of sweetness and all those complex herb and spice notes.  I'm showing my bias here, but I just love when an old spirit is able to showcase the cask without becoming astringent and woody.  Some of these older cognacs do it very well. Lively on the palate, and the finish is a highlight. It is not tired by any stretch, and tastes as if it could have spent another 40 years in the cask. 


A

L'Encantada Domaine "Le Freche" 1988 29 Year 52%

L’Encantada is sprawling right now, both in geographical distribution and producers bottled. Here’s a 29 year “Le Freche” that was bottled for Lincoln Road in Mississippi (great store and owner by the way). The label has the word "Domaine" before Le Freche – from my understanding Le Freche is an area located in the Armagnac region (wiki calls it a “commune” which is analogous to a township or municipality). SKU’s old site shows multiple producers producing in the “Le Freche” area (link below), so I guess when L’Encantada puts “Le Freche” on the bottle it could come from any one of several sources.

On to the review…

Nose: unmistakably Armagnac…ripe grapes and oak…hazelnut, cherry, and some baking spices

Palate: oak, caramel, grapes, and raisins…a little effervescent and cherry cola-like...then some light pink grapefruit and white chocolate in the background

Finish: great finish with great length…just lingers for minutes.

Thoughts

This is fantastic Armagnac. Everyone gets caught up with the Pibous, but I like this more than most of the Pibous I’ve had. It has one foot in bourbon and the other foot in heavily-sherried scotch (like a Glendronach single cask). Like I said before, it’s unmistakably Armagnac but I also feel like this one has mass appeal. Great job with this one L’Encantada (and Lincoln Road). This is an easy…

Grade: A minus

http://recenteats.blogspot.com/2016/01/armagnac-producers.html

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-