Barrel of liquid gold yields very rare cognac
Source: Agencies |
March 11, 2010, Thursday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
FRENCH writer Victor Hugo once said: "Cognac is the liquor of the gods."
French wine maker Remy Martin is selling 786 bottles of a very special cognac called Louis XIII Rare Cask for the heavenly price of US$15,000 each. Thirty bottles will be sold in United States fine wine shops beginning in April.
Remy Martin has been producing Louis XIII cognac since 1874, or about 150 years after the company was founded in 1724.
A hand-blown Baccarat crystal decanter filled with 750ml of Louis XIII sells for US$2,500. It is a blend of 1,200 eaux-de-vie that have been aged for up to 100 years in special oak barrels called tiercons. The 786 bottles of the Rare Cask, which will be sold worldwide, are from a rare tiercon that the cellar master, the first and only woman to hold the post at a major cognac house, discovered.
Pierrette Trichet, 57, who assumed the role of cellar master in 2003, found it in 2004 during a periodic tasting of aging Louis XIII casks.
"The aromas were highly unusual though the process was completely natural and the alcohol was normal 40 percent," she explained during an interview in New York.
She has tasted it each year and decided in 2009 that the aromas were just right.
"It was in perfect balance and the alcohol was at 43.8 percent," Trichet said, describing it as an astounding number.
As she poured about US$200 worth of the amber liquid into a cut crystal glass, she described the vapors that filled the room as having the aromas of wild mushrooms, the forest after a rain, beeswax, prunes, ginger and even hints of fresh mint.
"This is a very special, very rare cognac," said Augustin Depardon, the brand's manager.
"You are tasting time in a bottle. The time of four generations who have looked after the cognac, the traditions of the family and the magic of nature are here," he said.
French wine maker Remy Martin is selling 786 bottles of a very special cognac called Louis XIII Rare Cask for the heavenly price of US$15,000 each. Thirty bottles will be sold in United States fine wine shops beginning in April.
Remy Martin has been producing Louis XIII cognac since 1874, or about 150 years after the company was founded in 1724.
A hand-blown Baccarat crystal decanter filled with 750ml of Louis XIII sells for US$2,500. It is a blend of 1,200 eaux-de-vie that have been aged for up to 100 years in special oak barrels called tiercons. The 786 bottles of the Rare Cask, which will be sold worldwide, are from a rare tiercon that the cellar master, the first and only woman to hold the post at a major cognac house, discovered.
Pierrette Trichet, 57, who assumed the role of cellar master in 2003, found it in 2004 during a periodic tasting of aging Louis XIII casks.
"The aromas were highly unusual though the process was completely natural and the alcohol was normal 40 percent," she explained during an interview in New York.
She has tasted it each year and decided in 2009 that the aromas were just right.
"It was in perfect balance and the alcohol was at 43.8 percent," Trichet said, describing it as an astounding number.
As she poured about US$200 worth of the amber liquid into a cut crystal glass, she described the vapors that filled the room as having the aromas of wild mushrooms, the forest after a rain, beeswax, prunes, ginger and even hints of fresh mint.
"This is a very special, very rare cognac," said Augustin Depardon, the brand's manager.
"You are tasting time in a bottle. The time of four generations who have looked after the cognac, the traditions of the family and the magic of nature are here," he said.
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