So far my health is holding to the extent that I haven’t yet needed to give my G.P. a bottle of scotch. Scotch is a wonderful thing – a warming, rich spirit with character and flavour, ever changing from distillery to distillery, from mountain to island. It takes a very good cognac to be better than a good scotch, so I believe. Until you get to the older and unfortunately more pricey cognacs they tend to taste weedy and thin. But once we’re into XO territory, I am quite prepared to change my spiritous allegiances, that is until somebody pops open a 40 year-old Macallan in front of my nose. The Cognac area is certainly one of the very best of places to get lost in. Uncommonly picturesque, its richly verdant rolling hills and misty woods are punctuated with vineyards and pasture alike. Its villages are small and rustic, standing upon layers of history whose eroded shapes still retain a timeless presence. Ancient Moorish-like gates and Roman ruins remain as souvenirs of centuries of conquest, glory and decay. Cognac is then very un-suited to its situation as the source of the world’s most glamorous and heavily-promoted spirit. Its slow earthy atmosphere is light years from the ritzy restaurants where thimblefuls of Remy Martin Louis XIII change hands for a small fortune. One trusts that the modern cocktail hysteria, which sees splashes of this fine spirit uncaringly mingled with pineapples, paw-paws and Coke will never invade the uncluttered lives of the inhabitants of Cognac and Jarnac. A brandy par excellence, cognac is to grape spirit what Rolls Royce claims to be to motor cars. Brandy is distilled nearly wherever wine is made, but cognac only comes from Cognac, despite the efforts of generations of marketing pirates around the globe. Although they’re a step or two removed from the final product, grape quality has everything to do with the standard and style of the Cognac ultimately found in the bottle. The grapes used themselves are largely ugni blanc, although residual plantings of the older historic varieties of folle blanche and columbard still remain. However, it’s not so much the grape variety that’s important, it’s where it’s grown. Around the map of the town of Cognac, and almost situated in concentric circles in a target-like pattern, are rings delineating the different sub-regions of Cognac. Not surprisingly, those closest to Cognac itself are the areas regarded most highly. La Grande Champagne is the name of the best region, found just to the south and east of Cognac. It produces the finest eaux-de-vie (young spirit) in Cognac – delicate, with extraordinary bouquet. These are the spirits which improve best with age, becoming rich and powerful with the passage of time. The best and richest of these spirits may take decades to reach their peak. La Petite Champagne is the second region, half encircling La Grande Champagne to the south. The spirits made here show similar characters to La Grande Champagne, but just a little less pronounced. After around ten years they become beautifully flowery and fruity, before continuing to evolve for at least another thirty years. Surprisingly, the word ‘Champagne’ has nothing to do with the sparkling wine of the same name. It derives from the French term for countryside, ‘campagne’ (pronounced ‘campaign’), and is quite appropriate seeing that the ‘Champagne’ regions of Cognac are amongst the most beautiful of the entire French countryside. The two top regions are characterised by a thin layer of topsoil and fragile, chalky subsoils where the vines take root. Grande Champagne soil has more chalk, is softer and more crumbly than that of Petite Champagne. The more chalk, the better the Cognac. Of the other growths, the north-easterly Borderies district produces a spirit with a less refined taste. The Borderies are close to the centre of Cognac, but the soil surface is a thick mixture of clay and sand, and the chalk is too far from the vine roots. The spirits lack depth and richness, and develop to their peak much more quickly. The other regions are further away from the centre: the Fins Bois, the Bons Bois and the Bois Ordinaires. Their spirits have less elegance still than the Borderies, and they are only included in cheaper Cognacs. The two premium growths, La Grande Champagne and Petite Champagne, merit the appellation of ‘First Growth’. In addition to their superior soils, these two regions also have a climatic advantage over the others. Located in the heart of Cognac, they are protected from the extremes of the Atlantic climate to the west and the more continental climate to the east. The top grade of Cognac is ‘Grande Fine Champagne Cognac’, which is entirely made from the Grande Champagne district. ‘Fine Champagne Cognac’, is achieved when the products of the two premium regions are blended, to contain at least 50% of Grande Champagne Cognac. ‘Petite Champagne Cognac’ is 1005 from the Petite Champagne district. The benchmark cognac for most houses is their VSOP, which stands for Very Superior Old Pale. The law states that the youngest component of a VSOP cognac must be at least four years old, although many of the VSOP cognacs from the finer houses are considerably older than that, approaching ten or more years of age. Anyway, as I said earlier, I still find VSOPs inadequate next to a scotch of the same price. The next grade is Napoleon, of which the youngest cognac in its composition must have entered its seventh year. There is no statutory requirement for those labelled XO, but these cognacs are likely to be a minimum of ten years old. The Hine Antique Tres Vielle Fine Champagne is one of my favourite XO cognacs. It’s worth mentioning here not just because it’s such a fine drink, but because it illustrates to a tee what a good cognac base can do if left in the casks for even more time. The colour deepens, the palate softens and the flavours become more complex and voluminous. Nowhere are these effects seen to greater degree than in the remarkable Remy Martin range from XO upwards to the incredible Louis XIII, whose age is a minimum of 50 years.
