It’s a cognac kind of Sunday, taking us from 1993 back to 1946


September 21, 2025

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!

It’s a cognac kind of Sunday, taking us from 1993 back to 1946

We’ll start this little session with one or two old bottles as an apéritif, dating from a time when neither single cask releases nor bottling strengths above 40% ABV were the norm. That’s why, generally speaking — apart from very old vintages like those from the 19th century or the very early 20th — older bottles tend to be of limited interest when compared to some of the small or very small batch offerings produced by today’s artisanal Cognac houses. Progress isn’t always a bad thing…

Mid-1970s French advert for Camus Natoléon. 'Si l'on vous offre un Camus Napoléon, sachez qu'on vous honore.' (To be offered a Camus Napoléon is a mark of honour.)

Prince H. de Polignac ‘*** Prince Hubert’ (40%, OB, driven cork, +/-1960)

A rather recent marque, having been founded in 1947 by Prince Hubert de Polignac, a diplomat. These days they act as négociants and assemblers, working with over a hundred vine growers and some eighty distillers. So, what we have here is a cognac from the early days of the house. Colour: gold. Nose: immediately rather metallic, which isn’t unpleasant in the slightest, though it may point towards a problematic bottle, we shall see. See Angus’s article dated 13 September 2025 concerning OBE and glass or light taint… Beyond this metallic aspect, we find a simple yet utterly charming duet of stewed peaches and raisins. Mouth: it’s light but it’s good, thankfully free from metallic notes, rather a gentle touch of liquorice coating the aforementioned stewed peaches and sultanas. A shame it feels slightly tired on the alcohol front, one gets the impression it’s drifted down towards 35% vol. Worth noting the level was at high shoulder. Finish: short but pleasant. A lovely little trio of chartreuse, liquorice and pastis in the aftertaste. Comments: another bottle might well have been superior, who knows after more than sixty years in glass.
SGP:320 - 78 points.

Camus ‘Napoléon’ (40%, OB, La Grande Marque, +/-1975)

The designation ‘Napoléon’ is supposed to indicate older cognacs, though in this case the age seems to have been just six years or thereabouts, which did indeed match the legal requirements back then. Bottlings from the 1970s also tend to be regarded as a solid step down from those of the 1960s. Nowadays, Napoléons are usually younger than XOs and tend to be fresher and fruitier. Colour: amber. Nose: this is very toasted while remaining rather vinous, with walnut and pecan cakes, peach and melon skins, and a faintly grapey note. Mouth: quite rich, possibly with a fair bit of caramel, a light liqueur-like sweetness, always some baked peach and apricot, and a clearly postprandial profile that would have been familiar to every household at the time this little one was launched. It's really not unpleasant. Finish: not exactly short, with the toasted and caramelised sides lingering nicely. A little quince jelly and some orange marmalade. Comments: really not expensive at auction, and there’s plenty of it about. I find it very decent.
SGP:530 - 79 points.

Let’s turn to the independent malternatives…

Navarre 1993/2025 (48.4%, OB for Authentic Spirits, Grande Champagne)

The domaine Navarre isn’t located in Navarre (that wouldn’t be cognac, would it) but rather in Gondeville, Charente, just next to Jarnac. Colour: deep gold. Nose: very lively, fresh, fruity, and tremendously aromatic, unusually forward with citrus, and those liqueurs and cordials some people insist on making. Orange, citron, mandarin... A touch of fruity varnish, which only serves to bolster the very zesty character. Mouth: the oak gives a tiny little nip at first but it’s not the slightest bother, especially as an avalanche of plum, damson, mirabelle and apple tartlets follows swiftly, escorted by lemon and liquorice. Very good. After a few seconds, a pleasant rush of pepper, pipe tobacco and a teeny black olive shows up – always a jolly good sign. Finish: on liquorice and pipe tobacco, growing drier and even slightly salty. Comments: a rather captivating cognac to follow as it shifts about a lot, but do take care not to get lost in it.
SGP:661 - 90 points.

Prunier 1991/2025 (59.8%, Art Malts, Vintage Reserve, Petite Champagne)

Colour: full gold. Nose: this is much drier, earthier, more brutal even, though I’m always a touch wary of cognacs or armagnacs bottled at such high strengths – wine brandies tend to behave rather differently from malts, and under these conditions, can become much more closed. The only solution… With water: well, it remains a touch austere but also becomes rather elegant. Liquorice wood, acacia blossom, sandalwood, and perhaps a few tiny seaweed strands… Mouth (neat): knocks you out straight away, with a blast of eau de cologne loaded with lemon and vetiver, leaving you little choice but to… With water: there, we’ve cracked it open – it veers towards honey, mirabelle and apricot preserves, but also milk chocolate. Yuzu follows. Finish: long, slightly saline too, with liquorice and menthol, which is great fun. Comments: to dilute or not to dilute before bottling, the eternal dilemma. In short, this one demands some work but it’s well worth the effort.
SGP:551 - 88 points.

La Chaleur ‘Lot 79’ (54%, Malternative Belgium and Art Malts, Grande Champagne, 2022)

An old cognac from a bouilleur de cru in Angeac-Champagne. Colour: golden amber. Nose: very compact, very expressive, utterly splendid, and absolutely up my alley. Cross my heart, it really brings old-school Macallan to mind. Brioche, orange blossom, a touch of earth, light tobacco, leather, and a wee bit of menthol… In short, we’re smitten, even if it may not boast unfathomable complexity. With water: no evolution, forget the water. Mouth (neat): yo-ho-ho, rose petals, gewürztraminer, Turkish delights, tinned lychees… I’d say this would pair brilliantly with dim sum. With water: still rather extroverted, though remains compact in the end, perhaps a tad more rustic while staying composed, yet certainly handsome. Finish: rather long, on orange and a slightly earthy edge. Comments: in short, a cognac that tells you everything straight away, then wanders off into a bit of a ramble. Rather reminds us all of someone, doesn’t it. Still magnificent, of course. Oh, and like the cats at WF HQ, it’s not terribly fond of water.
SGP:651 - 88 points.

Laurichesse ‘Lot 75 - Le Lion Sage’ (50.4%, Malternative Belgium, Grande Champagne, 396 bottles)

Here we are in Segonzac, with a small but very well-regarded house. All this takes place in what’s really no more than a postage stamp of a region. And 1975, of course, is Physical Graffiti. Colour: full gold. Nose: yellow fruit jams and all sorts of honey, with soft spices carried by cinnamon. There we are… With water: out come very ripe mango and vineyard peaches. One bows. Mouth (neat): it’s embarrassing how good this is – so clear, so easy, fruity, spicy, rich, yet fresh, and fresh, yet rich. Shall I tell you a wee joke? Ever heard this definition? “Cognac is sunshine in a bottle, meant to be drunk in the shade.” Yes, yes, I know… With water: truly embarrassing. Finish: not massive, but dazzlingly fruity, with mangoes, peaches, apricots, blood oranges, and honey… The signature is a touch more rustic, fairly grapey in fact, but that only adds another dimension. Comments: simply and unquestionably perfect. Make no mistake, simplicity is a major strength. But take care, it slips down far too easily, and as people sometimes say, they really ought to print a warning on the label.
SGP:651 - 92 points.

François Voyer ‘Lot 46’ (48.3%, OB, Grande Champagne, 2025)

At the time of tasting this baby, I believe we’ve yet to see a photo of the label or the bottle, but that won’t stop us, will it. So instead, here’s a portrait of the extraordinary Stan Kenton who, in 1946, released his marvellous album Artistry in Rhythm. Narrow escape really, since 1946 was also the year Agent Orange was born... Colour: deep gold. Nose: of course, this baby spent its final years in demijohn, which no doubt helped preserve that sublime citrussy and floral freshness – it’s quite the stunner. Aromatic lacework, led by mandarin but branching out in fractal form into orange blossom and perhaps twenty different types of honey. Almost like a grand perfumer’s cognac, delicate and finely chiselled. Mouth: striking power, almost miraculous, with sweet wine notes, manseng, small muscat, sémillon... Then vanilla and liquorice, along with tiny brushstrokes of coffee and tobacco, nearly dotted in like pointillism. And let’s not forget those yellow peaches... Finish: fairly long, slightly jammier and more honeyed, yet always utterly elegant. Comments: inhabits the same Himalayan territory as that Laurichesse 1975.
SGP:651 - 92 points.

One last one, and let’s stay in 1946 then…

Le Temps Retrouvé ‘Lot 46’ (49.5%, Passion for Whisky, Fins Bois, 252 bottles, 2025)

Ugni blanc and colombard from a bouilleur de cru. Let us recall that a bouilleur de cru is an individual in France permitted to distil their own fruit harvest, usually tax-free, grapes included, as was the case here. They’re often confused with travelling distillers, by the way. And of course, Le Temps Retrouvé is the final volume of A la Recherche du Temps Perdu (In Search of Lost Time) by Marcel Proust. Colour: full gold. Nose: frankly, this is extremely close to the François Voyer, just a little less exuberant, and therefore a touch more austere, and thus slightly more elegant, but the molecules are very much the same, both in their individual quality and overall structure. Quite. Mouth: I wouldn’t want to give the impression I’m neglecting this baby – really, we’re closer to the Voyer than Jagger to Richards. Perhaps just a tad more earthy and rooty? Finish: the finish is a little more ‘different’, with a touch more resin, more dryness, as if the demijohn stage had been a bit shorter here and the wood ageing slightly longer. But perhaps that’s just the imagination wandering... Comments: 1946 also saw the invention of the first electronic digital computer, a device that would slowly lead humanity to barbarism and ultimately its downfall, according to what’s being muttered here and there lately. Hmm, not so sure about that... But let’s not descend into pub-level philosophising, what splendid cognacs these are.
SGP:661 - 91 points.

Wait, we have a last-minute entry...

Famille Cabanne ‘Lot 79’ (62.5%, OB, Bons bois, 256 bottles, 2025)

Take note, it seems this 1979 baby spent its entire life in cask, most likely an ultra-refill one, in a hot and dry environment, judging by the astonishing bottling strength. And Bons Bois can be refreshingly unvarnished, so let’s not dally... Colour: golden amber. Nose: sacrebleu! My British friends love saying sacrebleu when trying to sound French and a bit cheeky, but psst – no one actually says sacrebleu in France. The last one who did was Captain Haddock, a... fictional character. Anyway, this Bons Bois is for now simple, direct, all on honey, stewed peaches, cinnamon and candied orange, almost nothing else. But don’t be misled, here we adore this kind of precise, flawless simplicity. With water: incredible in its simplicity, compactness, and what can only be described as seduction. Just toss in a small crate of fully ripe apricots. Mouth (neat): exactly the same glorious sense of simplicity, only now with quite a bit of liquorice joining in. So, honey, stewed peaches, ripe apricots, cinnamon, candied orange and liquorice. With water: takes water like Léon Marchand slicing through the pool but doesn’t develop any further. Nor does it ‘fall apart’. Finish: not especially long, always simple, almost easy – and utterly lovely. A touch more cinnamon and pepper in the aftertaste, and that’s it. Comments: amigos, this compact Bons Bois is an absolute belter and could seriously challenge a fair number of old malts. Who said all of them, who? Come forward!
SGP:651 - 91 points.

Wait, we also have a last second entry...

Le Cognac de Charles 'L.98' (52.7%, Jean-Luc Pasquet, Petite champagne, 648 bottles, 2025)

Here comes a fully organic Petite Champagne, which remains a rare thing indeed in vintages over twenty-five years old. Colour: golden amber. Nose: this is very different from the older Cognacs we’ve just been tasting, being both more floral and more herbaceous, with a livelier tension and perhaps even more of that... terroir. Admittedly it’s no greenhorn, but in contrast with the older ones, one could easily imagine having this Cognac de Charles as an apéritif and even, picture it now, as a fine à l’eau, in the manner of our good friends Hideo and Jon who sip their Port Ellen in highball form. Yes, really. In any case, on the nose, I like it a great deal, it’s very cheerful, frisky, lifted and aromatic in just the right measure. Of course, peaches remain at the heart of the show. With water: it tightens up just a little, with the emergence of a touch of menthol. No problemo. Mouth (neat): excellent! Adorably firm yet clearly fruity, compact, on peaches and apricots stewed in honey, with a touch of liquorice and a hint of pepper. The liquorice ensures that never, absolutely never, do we veer into anything remotely schmaltzy. With water: bingo on the palate, it’s a real liquid sweet, and one might even detect faint impressions of spirits from other lands, such as a little rum and a little mezcal. It recalls those Mexican mezcal lollies with a fat worm tucked inside. Rest assured, nothing of the sort in this magnificent Cognac. Finish: rather long, rather nervy, which almost makes it refreshing. That slightly herbaceous note from the nose returns here and, together with a bold liquorice, ensures everything stays perfectly in balance. Comments: incredible how this youngster stood up to a 1979, a 1975 and even two 1946s. That said, 1998 was also the year of Fantaisie Militaire by Alain Bashung. Incredible album, if you don’t already know it.
SGP:561 - 91 points.

Check the index of all cognacs we've tasted