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| Hi, this is one of our (almost) daily tastings. Santé! |
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September 27, 2015 |
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Sunday malternatives,
hunting cognacs part deux |
You may remember that last Sunday, some Scots from a certain remote peninsula – who lives on a remote peninsula, I’m asking you - have taught some French a saddening lesson. Today we have to try to retaliate ‘over the Auld Alliance’! D’accord, mes amis? |
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Landy XO 'No. 1' (40%, OB, +/-2015)  Not too sure about the ‘LOL’ packaging, it’s a little fishy. And the prices are all over the place, 100€+ in the UK, 60€+ in continental Europe… I had found the VSOP okayish a while back (WF 76). Colour: amber. Nose: old style cognac, full of raisins, honey, and caramel, plus a little leather and tobacco. Light. Mouth: are we just trying some kind of spirit? Caramel, fudge, honey, liquorice allsorts, and the obligatory raisins. Thin body. Finish: short, caramely, raisiny, honeyish. Comments: very disappointing, there’s absolutely nothing happening in this one. Sure you can have this with food… SGP:331 - 60 points. |
Yeah, this doesn’t start too well… Let’s try another XO… |
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R. Delisle XO (40%, OB, cognac, grande champagne, +/-2014)  I don’t know who these people are, I’m sorry. Maybe just a brand. Colour: amber. Nose: ah, pretty nice. Sure there’s quite a lot of toasted bread and pastries, and this is very ‘old style’, but at least there are distinct fruity tones, such as raspberries (very vivid, very nice) and, just like almost always, ripe peaches. And williams pears. So, I’d call this ‘pleasant’. Mouth: it’s good, polished, easy, cake-y and tobacco-like, with some praline and honey. You’re feeling a little sugar, perhaps, but other than that, I do enjoy all this… chestnut honey. Really easy, smooth, and yet pretty characterful old-style cognac. Finish: not long, of course – let’s not exaggerate – but these notes of pastries, croissants, and brioche work well. Comments: it’s probably too smooth, light, and ‘commercial’, but honestly, it’s well made and you could quaff this while ready a book or watching TV. Something easy. SGP:431 - 78 points. |
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Frapin 20 yo 1991 ‘Château de Fontpinot’ ( 41.2%, OB, cognac, Grande Champagne, +/-2012)  I really like Frapin/Fontpinot’s XO, so our hopes are deep now. Fontpinot is the house’s own estate. Colour: deep gold. Nose: of course. Immediate complexity – quite an achievement – with many flowers and several herbal/oily touches, such as chlorophyll and menthol. Goes on with mirabelles, redcurrants – which is uncommon – and a touch of vanilla (but not vulgar whore-ish vanilla like can be seen somewhere else) and a blend of old papers and cinnamon. All good, all nice. Mouth: just the right balance between soft commercialness (!) and mindboggling ‘rough complexity’. Good, I may have to explain that. On the one hand, it’s soft, rounded, easy cognac, and on the other hand, as soon as you start digging, you’ll find many tiny flavours, around waxes, flowers, dried fruits, and herbs. Almost more a game than cognac. Finish: medium, rounded, honeyed and cake-y, with a roasted aftertaste. Toasts. Comments: someone clever must have been working on this cuvee. Some kind of master blender, perhaps. Right, that would rather be a maître assembleur. Perfect cognac. SGP:551 - 89 points. |
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Château de Triac 'Reserve de la Famille' (40%, OB, Tiffon, cognac, single estate, +/-2014) Said to be a blend of own-estate 40 to 60 yo cognacs. If that is right – and sure it is – we should be in for a treat, especially since the reputation of the Tiffon/Braastad house is very high. Colour: bright amber. Nose: relatively light and unassuming at first nosing – this could be cider – but once you nose more deeply, many tiny earthy and herbal notes rise to your nostrils. Needs concentration and focus, but then it’s rewarding. Peonies, orange zests, mead, cigars, tinned apricots, a few drops of old Bourgogne, both white (Meursault) and red (Chambertin, or black cherries)… Almonds… This is very delicate old cognac. Mouth: oh goodness… Amazing profile, exactly between herbalness, fruitiness, and waxes. Sure it’s a little too light (40% vol. come on, that’s way too 1980!!) but the complexity is fabulous. Again, you have to concentrate on it (as Charlie Parker would have said) but then it does deliver. In fact, at this strength and power, we’re rather between a spirit and a wine. Praline, cashews, cherries in liqueur, candy sugar, chocolate, a few raisins… And apricots! Finish: a bit short, but clean, praline-ed, nutty, and honeyed. Comments: glorious old cognac, with an amazing complexity, but I’m about to start an online petition (oh no, not another one) titled ‘to hell with 40% vol.!’ Good idea or not? Okay, right, right… But some are getting away with murder… SGP:441 - 88 points. |
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Delamain 1963/1995 (40%, OB, cognac, Grande Champagne)  Delamain are the epitome of a no-BS, quality-only, highly reputed French house. It’s probably the brand that you’ll see the most in ** or *** Michelin restaurants. But does that mean something? Let’s see… Colour: dark amber. Nose: Vishnu Brahma and Shiva, what a nose! Adios easy fruits, welcome tiny and complex oils, greases, and essences. Old Partagas, leather saddles and bags (by some French supposedly artisan makers), old liqueurs, quinces, figs… And then strawberry wine from Pfalz, garden peat, glazed chestnuts… Wow wow wow, I’m sure Napoleon was drinking the same. Mouth: it got a little dry – but it’s an old bottle indeed – and perhaps did it lose a part of its brightness, but I enjoy this grapy, chestnutty, slightly smoky, and pretty tea-ish style. Nowhere to be found in contemporary cognac! Finish: drying, a little. Tobacco and toasts. Comments: again, it’s an old bottle. I adored the nose, and found the palate a little dry. Delamain’s one of the greatest names in Cognac anyway! SGP:461 - 85 points. |
Five is not enough, sic will be perfect. One last one… Let’s choose it carefully. Very, very carefully. And I mean, carefully… |
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Croizet 1914 'Bonaparte' (no A.B.V, OB, Fine Champagne, +/-1960)  Yeah, on the label, the B with wings, it’s well Bonaparte, not Bentley, even if this cognac house used to be extremely popular in Great Britain. I agree, Bonaparte himself has never been very popular over there. It’s said that Croizet had only one cask of this very famous and emblematic 1914 vintage. So, an historical bottling! Oh and have you noticed that while some Scots are busy with their last pre-WWII whiskies, we prefer to deal with pre-WWI cognacs and armagnacs? No half measures! One last thing, a 'fine champagne' is a blend of grande and petite champagne, with a minimum of 50% grande champagne. Colour: amber. Nose: same feeling as before with pre-WWI cognacs, those used to be sweeter and rounder than contemporary offerings. That may be bottle ageing, but I doubt that, because with Scotch, bottle ageing usually makes the spirits drier, not sweeter. So there’s a feeling of old PX and other sweeter wines, with a faint mustiness and some stale-ish dried fruits. Let’s be honest, even if this is historical, it’s not too great. Apologies to my grand-grand-grand-fathers. Mouth: good, sweet, rounded, slightly liqueury, but getting too syrupy. I mean, it’s a thrill to be able to taste these old vintages, but organoleptically speaking, they can be too monodimensional. Orange liqueur, raisins, more raisins, and perhaps raisins. Seriously, this is not very good, and it’s not a bottle that went flat, the spirit remained fresh and vibrant. It’s just pretty poor. Finish: shortish, very raisiny. Cheap pastries that you could buy anywhere in the middle-east these days. Comments: I could well sing you the Marseillaise or La Madelon, this will remain some pretty poor old cognac. And again, it was not bad OBE, I swear, croix de bois, croix de fer, si je mens, je vais en enfer. SGP:541 - 70 points. |
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