The Most Collected Brandies From Last Week

The Davidoff Cognac brand was founded in 1986 by Zino Davidoff in his search for the perfect cognac to pair with cigars. This VS Cognac is made from a blend of 15 eaux-de-vie which were aged for at least 3 years in French Limousin oak.

Owned and operated by three generations of the Delord family, the House of Delord has been making armagnac since the 1890s when the patriarch of the family purchased a vineyard in Lannepax in Bas-Armagnac. Delord grows all four of the major armagnac varietals (ugni blanc, colombard, Baco blanc, and folle-blanche) without pesticides or fertilizers. They distill their eaux-de-vie on-site either in traditional continuous stills or in a double-distillation process. The new-make spirit of the former goes into older bottlings, whereas the double distilled new-make typically goes into younger bottlings. This armagnac is aged at least twenty-five years. Bottled at 40% ABV.

For their XO product, Drouin incorporates a portion of ex-cognac casks into the usual mix, otherwise dominated by ex-Bordeaux barrels. The youngest spirit in this bottle is eight years old, but it includes some far older stocks as well.

Hennessy uses grapes grown in four of the six sub-regions of Cognac: Grande Champagne, Petite Champagne, Borderies, and Fins Bois. Their Privilège VSOP is said to have been created in 1817 after the then Prince Regent of the UK and later King George IV requested a VSOP from Hennessy be created. This is a blend of up to 60 eaux de vie aged up to 15 years.

Yann Fillioux is the current Master Blender for Hennessy and in fact, the Fillioux family has been blending for Maison Hennessy for over 200 years. Hennessy VS was first introduced in 1865 by Maurice Hennessy, although the bottling was known as "Three Star" rather than VS at the time.

Cardenal Mendoza is distilled from mostly Airen grapes. The solera this is aged in is made up of barrels that previously held Pedro Ximenez sherry, a dessert-style fortified wine. The average age of the solera is 15 years.

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.

The term "VS" is meaningless to determine age with American brandy. The brandy does, however, have a small age statement: "aged three years in oak" listed on the front of the bottle. Paul Masson was one of the pioneers in the California wine making world back in the 1890's and created and popularized the first American sparkling wine. This brandy has Californian origins, but is bottled and blended in Bardstown, Kentucky.

Cordon Bleu is the shining star of Martell's core lineup, until you move your way up to the ultra-ultra premium offerings. Cordon Bleu first debuted in 1912, and incorporates eaux-de-vie aged between 10 and 25 years. While the cognac includes grapes from four regions, the majority is from Borderies. The Martell house maintains usage of roughly 50 percent of all grape production from that region.