A few French brandies randomly


February 13, 2022

A few French brandies randomly
Sometimes we do only cognac, sometimes only armagnac, this time we may do both, let's see what we have… Starting with an apéritif…

Claude Thorin 'XO' (40%, OB, cognac, Grande Champagne, +/-2020)

From a well reputed estate located in Segonzac, capital city of Grande Champagne. Colour: deep gold. Nose: awesome, on apricot and peach tartes covered with caramel and honey. A little mocha as well, touches of tobacco, roasted raisins, roasted peanuts, chicory coffee… Awesome nose indeed, fresh and yet classic and even a tad rancioty, but at 40% vol. I fear for the palate… Dried litchis too, lovely too. Mouth: very good drop, rich, much honeyed and caramelly (in a good way), with many roasted nuts yet again, coffee liqueur, chocolate, rancio wine… It's just that it tends to lose tightness and coherence because of this low strength that gives a greater role to the tannicity and makes it lose balance and focus. Finish: happens all the time. Short, tea-ish, oaky and frustrating. Bitter chocolate in the aftertaste and retro-olfaction. Comments: superb juice that doesn't quite stand this low strength. Not quite murder, but there…
SGP:451 - 80 points.

Jean-Luc Pasquet 50 yo L.71 (52%, OB, for Passion For Whisky, Grande Champagne, 2021)

I already had the occasion to state what I think about the house Pasquet. Good things, not need to say. Colour: golden amber. Nose: stewed peaches and almonds at first, also old copper, old tools (grandma's old kettle and grandpa's old wrench), certainly some rancio and amontillado, roasted chestnuts, chestnut honey, black nougat, turon… Even a small maltiness hidden way in the back. With water: some tight green fruits and herbs. Sorrel reduction, green gooseberries, also a funny touch of pineau that would lead us back to those stewed peaches… Mouth (neat): some very tobacco-y oak, and we're talking menthol cigarettes. Bitter chocolate brittle (85% cocoa), Seville oranges, some bone-dry sherry (we've just tried a stunning PX seco that was displaying such notes)… With water: water bringing out the fruits, that's cool. Peaches and oranges covered with bitter chocolate, Jaffa cake and all that. Or what we call orangettes. Finish: long, as a well-steeped-high-quality-black-earl-grey. Comments: love all this chocolaty oak. Flirting with the limits at times, but should you enjoy proper chocolate, this is for you.
SGP:361 - 90 points.

Jean-Luc Pasquet 50 yo L.71 (51.9%, OB, for Spiritus, Half-Century Series, Grande Champagne, 150 bottles, 2021)

Jean-Luc Pasquet 50 yo L.71 (51.9%, OB, for Spiritus, Half-Century Series, Grande Champagne, 150 bottles, 2021)
I can't quite see how this would be very different. Colour: amber gold. Nose: extremely similar, as expected, but that's pretty good news. Perhaps is it a tad jammier, a tiny notch fresher too. A little more fresh peaches and small whiffs of broom. Very close, very awesome. With water: another tiny difference, wee touches of varnish and chen-pi here. Mouth (neat): once again, we're extremely close. Should we mention a tiny difference, we'd say that this one has got added notes of old calvados, beyond all the chocolate from the wood. With water: excellent and once more, totally close to the other one, even if we 'might' find more thin mints than Jaffa cakes. Finish: long, a tad more mentholy this time again. Some great black earl-grey with half a mint-leaf. Comments: not even really sure about all those 'very tiny differences', I may have overanalysed it. Typical.
SGP:361 - 90 points.

Louis Royer 'XO' (50.9%, Scotch Malt Whisky Society, Grande Champagne, #C3.1 'A Fragrant Ramble', 2021)

I believe it's going to be the first Cognac by the honourable SMWS that I'll ever have tasted. Now I've tried quite a few Louis Royer already. Colour: red amber. Nose: it's funny that I would find some pretty varnishy youngish calvados yet again in there, then rather 'whisky' notes, around vanilla and cakes. It's an intriguing, rather polite and gentle cognac this far. With water: it's not that I'm going to quote young bourbons… Probably the wood. Lovely oils, teak, leather polish, shoe polish, even a little tar. No wonder this has pleased whisky folks. Mouth (neat): oh good, oily and creamy, feeling rather young and pretty exotic, with some cedarwood, a touch of mango jam, then mint and clove. A tad simple but goody good. With water: not that simple, but clearly on the sweeter side after the dry 1971s. Marmalade and apricot jam, plus cinnamon and a bit of that classic combo, mint plus eucalyptus. Finish: long, very good, on a lovely mango and apricot jam plus chocolate and mint combination. Comments: perhaps not the most complex cognac ever, but I'd happily sip a few glasses.
SGP:561 - 85 points.

Vallein-Tercinier 'Small Batch 41/43' (48.2%, OB for Kirsch Import, Bons Bois, 2021)

I'll just say, because I fear no one, that I find it extraordinary, as an Alsatian, that I would be about to taste a cognac from the years 1941 to 1943 (cognac was in the free zone back then) that was selected by a German bottler eighty years later. As a convinced European, I'd bet this drop will reek of peace and friendship. Colour: deep gold. Nose: Vallein-Tercinier or Vallein Tercinier (you never know when or where to put that glittering hyphen) is a house that's about emotions, and that feels. I'm reminded of the 1965s. Astounding dried fruits just in every corner, also Spanish ham, walnuts, nougat, all flowers of the creation, a few small rooty touches (carrots) and some of those salty caramel sauces they have in Asia. They have many and I keep forgetting about the names. Mouth: this is a captivating conversation between the fruits and the wood. It is almost a precious blended herbal tea, in fact, with bits of everything, rather a lot of black bee's propolis (dry, extremely resinous), pipe tobacco (when a bit comes into your mouth through the stem), bits of dried fruits, etc. The great, great news is that those fruits would actually have the upper hand, which propels it into the higher quarters. Finish: very long, with some citrus chiming in. Old orange and tangerine liqueurs, plus cinnamon, cloves and hints of juniper. The aftertaste is incredibly fresh and curiously winey, we've known old Sauternes... Rather high-class coffee in the aftertaste. Comments: very good and very moving old Bons Bois. The quality is as high as it could have been and I'd even swear, after all those years, that the proverbial rusticity of the 'Bons Bois' is on full display here. Stunning – and indeed it reeks of peace and friendship.
SGP:661 - 93 points.

Time to have some armagnac, no? And please no small drop after that imposing V-T 41/43…

Armagnac 35 yo 1985-1963 (51%, Armagnac Sponge)

Let's just hope this drop will be faster than the 2CV on the label, and more elegant than that tartan beret. A tartan beret, really? Oh, yes, the proportions, that's 64% 1985 and 36% 1963. The address is Saintes, which lies in Cognac, which would suggest Grosperrin was involved. Pretty good news… Colour: amber. Nose: now I understand the tartan beret. A lot of fudge and butterscotch here, hazelnut liqueur, Nutella (apologies), amontillado, tarte tatin, milk chocolate, deep-fried Mars bars (not)… With water: same, with some added earthiness and a drop of miso. I find this extremely pleasant. Blueberry muffins, perhaps. Well, certainly. Malt whisky geeks should love this. Mouth (neat): this is a little meta, or 'world', with a varnishy side that makes you think of bourbon, certainly some nutty maltiness that makes you think of Scotch malt, and naturally, liquorice, raisins and prunes that remind you that this is armagnac. With water: same wonderful feeling of liquid metanoia. Zuckerberg is an amateur. Wonderful chocolates, may I suggest Jacques Genin in Paris? Finish: it holds. Black raisins, Gauloises (playing it 'touristy') and chocolate. Drop of plum sauce in the aftertaste, or 'vieille prune'. Totally armagnac now. Comments: more a trip than a drop. Très bon, Monsieur l'Eponge.
SGP:461 - 90 points.

Let's try to find another armagnac before we call this a tasting session…

Château de Ravignan 2003/2021 (44.7%, LMDW, Version Française, Bas-armagnac, 300 bottles)

LMDW the trailblazers. Never heard of Château de Ravignan before, but it looks like they would be located in the Landes, near Mont-de-Marsan. In rugby country, in other words. Colour: amber. Nose: rather resinous woods and varnishes at first, then a little charcoal and a rather phenolic side, between Barbour grease and Laphroaig. Don't get me wrong, we're extremely far from Laphroaig, Then stewed fruits including strawberries, ganaches, and a drop of benzine. This baby too should please any malt enthusiasts, it certainly does as far as this very one is concerned. Mouth: truly singular, with a little balsa wood, cough syrup, even toothpaste, plus blood oranges and juicy ripe nectarines. Some liquorice allsorts too, liquorice lozenges, then touches of pinewood. Good body, 44% vol. works very well. Finish: rather long, woodier and spicier as expected, and rather cinnamon-led. Good fun with the blood oranges that are back in the aftertaste. Comments: not a very common style; I find it excellent. Great fruity cinnamon.
SGP:551 - 87 points.

Check the index of all brandies we've tasted so far