The nose is a study in aromas, loaded with raisins and dates. There are brief flashes of orange peel and sugar. After successive tipples, the nose turns to cinnamon-heavy orange candy. The palate begins without much sweetness, and reminds me of coffee, overly-diluted with milk. Oranges, honey, red grapes, and cinnamon appear on the mid-palate, before the heat delivers a finish of vermouth, bitter oranges, winter spices, and oak. The body here at 80 proof is a tad thin for my scotch and bourbon cask-strength conditioned palate. The nose reveals the 'Elegance' of this cognac's name, but the palate comes up a bit short. This is an example of a well-aged cognac - it's an XO afterall - where the length of maturation has blanched a degree of the fruitiness from it, a thing easily found in VS and VSOP stock (along with the ethanol rough notes). Still, the bottle design is attractive and accompanied by a thick screw cap made from dense glass (I mean, like David could've used it to defeat Goliath). I bought the gift box edition, where two copitas were included. Value wise, I don't begrudge this at all. But I may have to do a SBS with an XO from one of the big players (i.e. Courvoisier, Hennessy, Martell, or Rémy Martin) to know for certain.