Get Your Hands On These Cognacs

Dating back to 1724, Rémy Martin has a long and storied history in Cognac. This marque, 1738 Royal Accord, pays tribute to one of Rémy Martin's earliest accolades when the French King Louis XV bestowed a reward of excellence on the distillery. A blend of various eaux-de-vie, this Fine Champagne Cognac is a step up from Rémy's flagship VSOP.

This VSOP from Courvoisier uses grapes grown in four of the allowable six regions in Cognac: Grande Champagne, Petite Champagne, Fin Bois, and Borderies. This VSOP is said to contain brandies ranging from 5 to 15 years of age. The bottle is specifically designed to be a better fit in bartenders' hands and the blend is suited for cocktail use.

The Reserve bottling from Pierre Ferrand has an average age of 20 year old cognac. Their eaux-de-vie are aged in 270 liter Limousin oak barrels. As with all of their products, the grapes were sourced only from the Grande Champagne region, the highest or 1er cru. Ferrand distills its eaux-de-vie on the lees, a choice the brands can make or not. The lees (after fermentation, the wine is unfiltered and so retains the skins, stems, etc.) will capture and retain more aromas than distilling without them will impart.

Pierre Ferrand doesn't classify their cognacs with the standard VS, VSOP, XO, etc. classifications. Using their own labeling, Ambre, their youngest standard expression, is an average of 10 years. Ferrand uses mostly ugni blanc grapes with a small portion of colombard grapes used and all were sourced from the Grande Champagne area.

Released in 2011,1840 Original Formula was created as a collaboration between Pierre Ferrand owner, Alexandre Gabriel, their cellar master, Christian Guerin, and cocktail historian, Dave Wondrich. Using a rare 19th century cognac, Pinet-Castillon Cognac from 1840 as a base, this product is designed to replicate what would have been used then in cocktails and punches. Its youthful fruity and floral character along with its higher proof for added oomph makes it stand out from other VS cognacs.

HINE is a cognac house which only uses eaux de vie from Grande and Petite Champagne growing regions. Their H by HINE is created using 20 different eaux de vie with a minimum aging of 4 years. HINE is a producer which distills its wine on the lees providing a roundness to their cognacs.

Maxime Trijol is a cognac house that has been growers and producers since the mid 1850's. They also purchase wine from other families in cognac to help supplement what they create. They have a Grande Champagne VSOP bottling as well, but this is their Classic VSOP bottling.

Amédée Edouard Dor established this cognac house back in 1858 when he began amassing a collection of fine vintage cognac. Their house collection includes cognacs that predate the phylloxera blight which destroyed most of the vineyards in France and other European countries. They were aged in wood for 70+ years before being carefully transferred into glass demi-johns. The house still has these cognacs stored as the pride of their collection. This cognac, however, is far from 70 years old. The cognacs, sourced from both Petite and Grande Champagne are aged at least four years in oak.

Daniel Bouju is an independent cognac house which dates back to 1805. The family's estate is in Saint-Preuil in the Charente in the Grande Champagne region. Ugni blanc is their grape of choice and they age in Limousin oak and refuse to use coloring or boisé (mix of sugar, oak chips, and lower proof brandy) to their products.

This expression is the youngest released from Courvoisier and uses eaux de vie that range in age from 4-7 years. The grapes are primarily sourced from the Fins Bois region with some Petite Champagne used as well.