Cognac is the world's most popular brandy, but of the hundreds of cognac brands, the well-known and regular consumption may be limited to four brands – Hennessy, Martell, Rémy Martin and Courvoisier. Despite the similarities, each cognac brand has its own unique style, and some brands are well worth trying.
Below, I will introduce you to which cognac brands deserve attention in addition to the above four brands.
- Augier
Dating back to 1643, Ogier is the oldest cognac brand. The biggest feature of the brand is the emphasis on a single variety of cognac.
Classics include Le Singulier, a top-of-the-line champagne cognac made from rare folle blanche grapes; Le Sauvage, a small Champagne cognac, made from the more common ugni blanc; and L'Océanique, made from white jade grown on the island of Oléron near the Atlantic Ocean.
- Camus
Established in 1863 by a group of wine producers led by Jean Baptiste Camus, the brand is the largest producer of family-owned cognac. All Camu Cognacs contain at least the water of life in the Borderies region. It is also one of the few brands that, in addition to using ugni blanc, also uses folle blanche grapes to make cognac.
Camus's distillation uses a patented "INSTENSITY" distillation process in which the oak barrels used are small, lightly baked oak barrels. Its VS-rated cognac is an excellent entry-level cognac, but the XO Borderies Single Estate is definitely not to be missed, made from grapes from the private vineyards of the Camo family.
- Frapin
Farabin is a single family estate brand with 240 hectares of vineyards, all located in the Grand Champagne region, belonging to Cru in Cognac. This means that Ferrabin Cognac is a Grand Champagne Cognac, and the distillation and maturation of its Cognac takes place on the estate, which is difficult to do for most Cognacs.
The winery uses Limousin oak barrels to mature, and after the new oak barrels have acquired enough color and aroma, they are transferred to old oak barrels called roux for long ages. Finally, it is transferred to the old barrel, which has been used for centuries, until it is bottled. Their vsOP and XO Fontpinot are unmissable wines.
- Ferrand
Located in the heart of the Grande Champagne region, Ferrand Cognac has been moving fast since 1989 under the leadership of master blender Alexander Gabriel. Its grape brands are mainly white jade and pigeon cage white (colombard). Unusually, the brand doesn't use VS, VSOP and XO to label its cognac, and its entry-level Ambre is 10 years old.
Its Gabriel style is aged in wine barrels. Double Cask Cognac Gabriel uses a Banyul sweetened barrel of wine, while 10 Générations is maturated in Sauternes casks. Other wines include Renegade Barrel No. 2, which is banned from being called cognac due to the use of chestnut casks.
- Hine
Thomas Hine came to France from England at the end of the 18th century to learn how to brew brandy. Later, he married the daughter of a local brandy family, then took over the cognac business, which in 1817 changed its name to Thomas Hine & Co. ）。 Royal Deer Cognac comes from two major Cru regions of Cognac: The Big and Small Champagne regions.
In addition to cognac, Oika also produces cognac models specially designed for cocktails. It is worth mentioning that Royal Deer also launched vintage cognacs from its own Domaine Bonneuil estate in its grand champagne region. Early Landed Cognac is matured in new French oak barrels for several months in the Jarnac region of France, before being transported to a UK bonded warehouse for further maturation.
- Pasquet
Pasquet has been family-owned since 1730. In 1995, Jean-Luc Pasquet and his wife Marie-Françoise decided to try to brew organic cognacs on a 7-hectare estate. Certified agricultural bio-organic in 1998, they launched every organic cognac 5 years later.
In addition to organic, Pasquet cognac, never condensed and filtered, nor added caramel. Recent products include L'Organic 04, a 4-5 year mixture of eaux-19 and L'Organic 07 from 7-8 years of eaux-10.
- Park
Park Cognac is the flagship brand of the Tessendier distillery, which was built in 1880. Their grapes come from four regions: Grande Champagne, Petite Champagne, Borderies and Fins Bois. They have a 25-hectare vineyard in the perimeter forest area.
In addition to regular cognac models, they also release single barrel and vintage wines. The latest cognac used Japanese water lintel barrels to finish the maturation, the first of its kind in cognac.
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