December 25, 2015

These won’t be malternatives. Because after all, old Cognacs couldn’t really be malternatives, as it’s rather Scotch whisky that, initially, took off as an alternative to Cognac, a good 120 years ago. I’m sure you know the story, the gentry used to drink Cognac, especially in the UK, but the phylloxera destroyed Cognac’s vineyards from around 1875 on, and the Scots lost no time in stepping into the breach that disaster opened up. See, for example, this old back label from before WWII…

But which Cognacs shall we try today? Why not pre-phylloxeric ones? Or at least old Cognacs that do contain some pre-phylloxeric distillates? Because you see, this is well Christmas… But first things first, let’s prepare and calibrate our nose and palate with a little apéritif, because we need them to be rather finely tuned today…

Good, older Cognacs. I’m lucky enough to have the whole set of Courvoisier’s Erté Collection on the tasting table, thanks to a Venetian gentleman whose name I’ll mention a little later.  The Erté Collection gathers seven bottlings plus one, each containing Grande Champagne Cognacs of old age (said to be 60 years old on average), the oldest being from the 1892 vintage, so possibly from pre-phylloxeric vines. Courvoisier issued one decanter per year during the late 1980s and early 1990s, each one celebrating a further step in the Cognac-making process. What I don’t quite know yet is if they were all from the same vatting, kept in a vatting tank and partly bottled each year, or all bottled at the same time and issued gradually, or if they’re simply different vattings/blends. Please be sure that we’ll try to find out, but what’s sure is that the colours aren’t all exactly the same.

Now, provided they’re from the same batch, how come can they be so different (well, not earth-shatteringly different)? We have to remember one thing with old decanters that were sold in beautiful presentation cases, some buyers tended to keep them lying on their side for years and years. It’s true that some packagings did suggest that was the way to keep them. But we all now that’s a pretty disastrous way, and it’s not impossible, with this collection, that not all decanters had been kept the same way, which may have altered some of them. But let’s go on…

Once again, a great old Cognac, but I’m not totally sure they are spirits for people who, like me, enjoy they spirits punchy and well-chiselled. But let’s go on…

Oh by the way, Erté (1892-1990) was a Russian-born French designer, rather into art-déco. I think he’s a bit forgotten these days. But let’s move on…

Good, in 1994, the Collection was complete, but they decided to add a last one in 1995, called the ‘Inédit’. It’s not exactly part of the Collection, and yet it is, but not… I think it was a larger batch. And we’ve got it.

You’re right, not one single 90, that’s very frustrating. I’m feeling the same, but what was lacking from all of those was a little more freshness, and a little more complexity, perhaps. So let’s try another very old Cognac, and perhaps yet another one. But I promise, no more than two, because Santa’s waiting.

What the master blender has achieved, rather impressively, was to gather only very old Cognacs that had never gotten oaky as such. Impressive, this is more ‘a vibrant echo of the past’ than ‘a tired old thing’. And that’s an understatement. Finish: short to medium, which is normal. You can’t expect a massive and eternal finish from such an old Cognac. It would rather play on honeys and pollens, actually, always with this balsamic feeling in the background. And guess what we find in the aftertaste? That’s right, peaches! (in syrup). Comments: perhaps a little literary and shy at times, but to think that Louis the Sixteenth still had his head on his shoulders when a part of this was distilled 225 years ago is pretty… Mindboggling. Not only rare, also very superb. SGP:551 - 91 points.

A last one. A legendary one. Ever heard of the year of the comet? (not the year of the cat, Al Kooper fans!) I always wanted to try one, and now’s the time… Because this is Christmas!

But there are also many odd stories related to the 1811 vintage. Fakes, of course. Or even merchants who, already in the 19th century, were exploiting the very high reputation of the 1811 vintage and were labelling as ‘1811’ just any other vintage. What’s sure is that even in the early 20th century, some were still bottling some ‘1811’. So, is this a genuine bottle of 1811? We’ll simply never know, and it’s not the embossing in the neck (Roi de Rome 1811) that’ll make it 100% genuine. But this is a very old bottle for sure, possibly by Sazerac de Forge. The posh restaurant Louis XV in Monaco seem to still have a few of these and apparently, the last consumed bottle was drunk by Winston Churchill. I had thought he was only drinking Johnnie Walker Red! But it’s time to try it… (courtesy of a highly civilised Swiss gentleman – and dear friend).

Merry Christmas! (we’ve got more old stuff up our sleeves until new year’s eve, so stay tuned!)

(Happy holidays Diego, Michal, and Patrick!)