Happy Easter with more cognac


April 9, 2023

A word of caution
Let me please remind you that my humble assessments of any spirits are done from the point of view of a malt whisky enthusiast who, what's more, is aboslutely not an expert in rum, brandy, tequila, vodka, gin or any other spirits. Thank you – and peace!

Happy Easter with more cognac

This time again we'll kick this off with one or two apéritifs, then move towards old postprandial ones, as well as a few 'cognacs de dégustation' as they say in… Cognac.

At Laurichesse (picture Malternative Belgium).
All we'd need is giant corckscrew and pipette. And a small glass.

François Voyer 'Terre de Grande Champagne' (40%, OB, grande champagne, +/-2020)

Some rather entry-level Voyer at low strength. Not too sue this is own-estate grande champagne. This should still be good, let's see. Colour: deep gold, probably obscured. Nose: it's a rather fresh, honeyed, almost somewhat caney young cognac, slightly earthy (garden earth) and with notes of bananas flambéed. The usual stewed peaches are in ambush in the background. Mouth: sweet and honeyed, more on stewed peaches, with some caramel and fudge. I find it a little sweet, with notes of sweet vermouth. A little too sweet for me. Finish: medium and, indeed, sweet. Sugarcane syrup, touches of molasses, peach syrup, pancake sauce... Comments: possibly meant to be enjoyed in cocktails. The sweetish side doesn't work extremely well when you sip it – or at least when I try to sip it. The juice in the back is nice.
SGP: 740- 72 points.

Let's move to safe harbours…

Jean-Luc Pasquet 'L'Organic Folle Blanche L.X' (47.6%, OB, Grande Champagne, +/-2022)

We've already tried an earlier version at 48.2% and enjoyed it rather a lot (WF 85). Remember folle blanche is one of the original varietals, almost eradicated from Cognac by Phylloxera Vastatrix around 1875. Colour: gold. Nose: with this much herbal tea and peach peel, no wonder whisky lovers enjoy folle blanche. Some chamomile and lime tea, melons, yellow flowers (buttercups), rather a lot of fresh brioche and panettone, tiny whiffs of lilies of the valley, a little fresh bark… All is well in this very natural, untampered with cognac. Mouth: a slightly rustic and robust side, much pleasant and full of raisin rolls, sweet grasses, more panettone yet, honey, barley syrup. This one too is a little sweet, but it's also closer to malt, with some vanilla, liquorice, fudge, toffee, butterscotch… No, no deep-fried Mars bars. Finish: rather long, more on oriental patisserie, baklavas, orange blossom water, rosewater… Liquorice wood in the aftertaste. Comments: no need to change my little score. Excellent, pretty vigorous clean cognac al natural.
SGP:651 - 85 points.

Vallein Tercinier 'Lot 96' (49.7%, OB, grande champagne, single cask, 2023)

This one is brand new. It's always interesting to try younger spirits by our favourite houses (come on S., it's a 1996, it is almost 30!) Colour: pale gold. Nose: lovely style, close to the grape, with even notes of stalk and grape pips, otherwise melons (first) and peaches (second). Also old Sauternes and rhum agricole - Neisson, naturally – and honey drops. A huge pack of honey drops! Mouth: perfect, well-chiselled, as is customary at this house. Touches of violet, very welcome in this context, some soft liquorice, bananas flambéed, muscovado and mirabelles + peaches. Those honey drops are back too on your palate. A whole family pack, and the family is huge. Finish: pretty long, with dried longans and bruised apples, then golden syrup, sultanas, those violets, this liquorice… Comments: perfect balance, they are never unbalanced anyway. Top notch.
SGP:551 - 88 points.

Prunier 1989/2022 (58.9%, OB for The Purist Belgium, petite champagne, 582 bottles)

Colour: full gold. Nose: this one's much more on brown toasts, toasted brioche, figs, also varnish (but that may, or may not, be the higher strength), cellulose, dark tobacco (Gauloises, obviously), then roses, Turkish delights, lychees, old-school lady's perfume, jasmine, peonies, ylang-ylang, ambergris… This little 1989 is extremely aromatic, it seems. With water: roasted pistachios, sesame oil, coal tar, crushed slate… This baby's an excellent conversationalist and would keep you busy for hours. Mouth (neat): replicates the nose, with just as much rosewater, lychee, Turkish delights, gewurztraminer, orange essence and varnish… With water: back to normality, with some marmalade, dried figs, fruitcake, stewed peaches, raisins, honey and so on. Very funny two-step action with water. Finish: rather long. Gewurztraminer when neat, honey when reduced. Comments: some great, great fun to ne had with this one.
SGP:651 - 90 points.

Petite Champagne 'Très Vieux' (52.2%, Cognac Sponge, from Grosperrin's cellars, #7, 224 bottles)

Did you notice that on the Sponge's labels, all Frenchmen were always sporting berets?! This is a multi-vintage vatting of 1988, 1975, 1973, 1971 and 1969, composed by the Sponge himself. Colour: rich gold. Nose: raisins of all kinds, coated with milk and white chocolates. I was about to mention croissants aux amandes/almonds too, but that would have been too 'French'. With water: roasted peanuts, macaroons and fern, moss and watercress. A tiny touch of balsamic vinegar and some damp earth/wood, old stump… One of the components may have been 'a little unusual'. Mouth (neat): orange blossom honey and peanut butter at first, then the expected peaches, plus a liquoricy leafiness that's a tad rough and rustic but that may get softened with water, let's see. With water: pretty old-school, it would remind us of some old bottles of cognac, with a faint dusty side, some mead, some sweet wines, rancios…Finish: medium, with indeed that charming feeling of 'old bottles'. Comments: didn't The Sponge manage to recreate cognac's pre-war style? Don't add too much water.
SGP:551 - 88 points.

Another petite champagne, this time by the house Vallein Tercinier via our neighbours in Germany.

Vallein Tercinier 'Lot n°84' (47.7%, OB, for Flickenschild, petite champagne, 2023)

This 1984 too is brand new. In Scotch malt whisky, those were the murky vintages, but I don't think that was the case in Cognac. Colour: deep gold. Nose: not a very complicated one, it's rather on honey, raisins, apricot and mirabelle jams, orange blossom, just a touch of metal polish, and there. Not complicated, but certainly perfect. Wait, there's some nougat too, and mead, and pinesap, and fresh mastic, and tiny whiffs of wisteria, and peach nectar, and woodruff, and elderflowers, and guavas… Just never rush them, always give them time. Mouth: firm, first with the usual liquorice, then with rather more citrus than usual, blood oranges, tangerines… A lovely tension/tightness here, and even a feeling of uncomplicated youth, reminiscent of all those casks of undisclosed Macallan from similar vintages currently on sale at the indies. Finish: rather long, still robust, feeling 20 rather than almost 40, but absolutely excellent, nevertheless. Comments: a full-bodied old petite champagne, possibly integrally matured in refill oak. Certainly a fan.
SGP:461 - 87 points.

Prunier 'Cuvée Claire' (43%, OB, fins bois, 500 bottles)

Some 35 years old cognac on average, lavishly offered in a classy decanter that would easily triple the prices for any liquids. But it's cool that they would put some rather humble fins bois in majesty like this. Colour: deep gold. Nose: honeys all over the place at first sniffs, plus apricot and orange liqueurs. Then maple syrup, the sweetest Tokaji (not obligatorily essenzia), madeleines, blueberry muffins (he thought he was a man but… oh forget), more honeys, old sweet chenin blanc (Chaume and such), old pineau, naturally… In short, we're really in sweet wine territory. Mouth: easy, sweet, rounded, very relatively light, honeyed, with some tea (five o'clock), maple syrup, chocolate spread, herbal teas… Finish: short to medium, more herbal, peely, grassy. Comments: excellent, it's just that they may have gone a little too low with the reduction, if I humbly may. But between us, the problem in France is that the public remains afraid of higher strengths and often won't buy them. My foolish compatriots!
SGP:540 - 86 points.

Down to the seventies, we'll have the older ones later.

Jean-Luc Pasquet 'Le Cognac de Jean-Pierre' (49.8%, OB, Grande Champagne, L.75, 2022)

One of those 'négociant' bottlings by the house Pasquet, that they started doing because their own stock of old cognacs had gone literally extinct. Now they remain fully transparent and will tell you much more about those casks than the distillers themselves. In a way, they are curators too. Colour: deep gold. Nose: elegant, very slightly roasted, toasted, nutty, then on many herbal teas sweetened with honey. It's a delicate, almost self-restrained nose, perhaps a little fragile. The palate will tell… Mouth: phew! In general, the noses of older spirits are brighter than the palates, but in this very case it is exactly the other way 'round. Mead, triple-sec, soft liquorice, light caramel sauce, cashew syrup (a sin, I tell you), dried dates and figs, dried longans and gojis, tea with milk (a cultural thing, really), vanilla tea… Finish: not very long but on nuts and cakes. Walnut tarte. Comments: this baby is almost 50 years old, it's normal that it got a little gracile and fragile. Had it been demijohnned?
SGP:551 - 87 points.

Another 1975… That's the main year of our dear Scotsmen the Average White Band by the way. Let's see if there are some more pieces to pick up…

Laurichesse 'Le Chef de Meute Lot 75' (50.3%, Malternative Belgium, grande champagne, 520 bottles, 2022)

We're back in Segonzac! Chef de Meute would mean Leader of the Pack, so I suppose this one was deemed the best cask at some point. Colour: amber. Nose: this one too is a tad fragile here and there, but as soon as I'm finding quince jelly, I just bow and keep quiet. So, quince jelly (and paste). With water: oh, furniture polish, citron liqueur, old pack of Camels, ointments, lady's hand cream, putty, lemon cordial… Incredible what water does to this one. Mouth (neat): and once again, there is more action on the palate. In truth this is magnificent, with sublime quinces, apricots, peaches and papayas. Flabbergasting. With just a drop of water: towards old malt whisky, early 1970s Clynelish, Balblair, Lochside, Benriach… Beeswax, apricots, mirabelles, acacia… Finish: not the longest but the same flavours are in majesty. Awesome honeyed aftertaste, with high-end Pinot Gris from Zind Humbrecht's. Only the aftertaste got a tad green and drying, which is totally normal. Comments: there isn't much you could do, especially if you're a whisky enthusiast. The Belgians!
SGP:641 - 92 points.

And guess what, they have another one…

Laurichesse 'Le Chef de Meute Lot 75' (50.3%, Malternative Belgium, grande champagne, 520 bottles, 2022)

Laurichesse 'Le Roi de l'Automne Lot 75' (50.4%, Malternative Belgium, grande champagne, 519 bottles, 2022)

King of Fall! Colour: reddish amber. Nose: very similar, just a tad fatter, a touch less complex, a notch jammier. Quinces keep running the show. With water: nuts, sesame, pine nuts, sunflower seeds, quinoa… nah, not quinoa. Fresh putty and almond milk for sure. Mouth (neat): brilliantly fruity, unvulgar, the pure production of time (and not of any lousy wood tekhnology). Peaches in total majesty. With water: a slightly tarter variant. Quality is similar, that s to say very high. Finish: mangos chiming in! Menthol and old sweet chenin blanc in the aftertaste. Comments: there's another track by The AWB which I always loved, it's called 'Stop the Rain' (how Scottish indeed), with a killer bass-line. Check it out. This little cognac too has a killer bass-line, by the way. Grand cognac.
SGP:651 - 91 points.

Vallein Tercinier 'Lot 73' (54.4%, OB, selected by Wu Dram Clan for Flickenschild, petite champagne, 102 bottles, 2022)

50 years old or almost 50 years old. That's £20,000 in whisky speak, £2,000 in cognac language. The world of spirits is wrecked, no further comments needed. Oh and 1973, that's Herbie Hancock's Head Hunters, the funkiest funk album of all funk albums. Let's see if this VT is funky too at almost 55% vol.… Colour: amber. Nose: tarte tatin, bananas flambéed, maple syrup, roasted peanuts, macadamia brittle ice cream, roasted raisins, kougelhopf, halva… Well it seems to be in full form, if a little more roasted than fruity. Would you find botrytis in cognac? Technically, that cannot be, but poetically… With water: chocolate all over the place; black tea, old copper… Mouth (neat): big, almost malty, sherried (what?), with some brown beer, walnuts, black nougat, stout, overripe bananas… This is malt whisky all right? With water: back to cognac, with raisins, stewed peaches, flowers and herbal teas, honeys… Finish: medium, chocolaty for sure, figs and chocolate, a metallic side in the aftertaste. Good old copper. Comments: got to love chocolate. As a matter of fact, I do.
SGP:451 - 90 points.

One little remark, these oldish cognacs are much more sensitive to water than their historical ersatz, our very rustic, plebeian, UMC-malt whiskies. So please, always do them slowly, drop-by-drop…

Last one please, we'll tackle the roaring 1960s and earlier vintages (including the century before, mind you) next time, life permitting.

Grande Champagne 'N°72' (50.2%, Jean Grosperrin, lot 983, 2022)

Two casks of 1972 from different estates, marriaged 'by chance' and matured for years in Grosperrin's all-magical cellars, where they even cure broken arms and legs (by appointment only). Of course, 1972, that's Miles Davis' On the Corner, a common reference at WF Towerz. Colour: full gold. Nose: fully on praline and mirabelles, Lindt's best milk chocolate (apologies), Nutella (apologies), and Bailey's and Irish coffee (apologies). With water: rooibos and, unapologetically, more milk chocolate made by any food Konzerns or cartel. Mouth (neat): drops of cider, then mead, then a lot of cocoa and black tea, with a drying side. With water: drying and even bitter for a while, extremely grassy and leafy, but some pears and apples are fighting back and keep it afloat. In fact, do not add any water, that would just make the tannicity stand out. Finish: medium, a little nutty, teaish, chocolaty, dry, a tad bitter, even when unreduced. Comments: rather rough cognac from the country. No top dresser in my mind, but it's got many charms, even if it'll fight you. Indeed, I think it's a fighter..
SGP:371 - 83 points.

Good, next time we'll travel through several wars, from 1968 to 1893. Stay tuned.

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