By David Nathan-Maister, Director, Oracle Paradis Wine Fund
You’re in a fine Michelin–starred restaurant, you’ve just enjoyed a wonderful meal, and now the sommelier arrives with a digestif trolley stocked with many intriguing – not to say expensive – bottles of cognac. Choosing the right one can be a little intimidating, while choosing the wrong one can be an expensive disappointment. Which one to choose? Follow these three simple rules:
1. Choose smaller producers rather than the Big Four.
The Big Four cognac houses – Remy Martin, Martell, Hennessy and Courvoisier – have huge budgets for advertising and promotion. The cost of this is recouped in the price of their cognacs. In other words, order one of their cognacs and you’re paying not just for the liquid in the bottle, but for these expenses as well. Choosing one of the slightly smaller – but still famous – houses like Frapin, Hine, Delamain or Tesseron almost always means better value in the glass.
2. Choose a plain old-fashioned looking bottle over an exotic cut crystal decanter.
You want to pay for the cognac you drink, not the bottle it’s served from. Lalique or Baccarat decanters look beautiful, but don’t necessarily tell you anything useful about the quality of the cognac inside them. Some of the very finest producers like Tesseron use plain bottles with simple, elegant labels. Cognacs like this are made for true connoisseurs, not for those blinded by the bling of crystal and silver – and that means better value, more bang for the buck in each glass.
3. Choose a cognac from a named region, especially “Grande Champagne”.
The very best cognacs come from certain designated areas in the very heart of the Cognac region, the two most famous of these are “Grande Champagne” and its little sister “Petite Champagne”. “Champagne” here has nothing at all to do with the famous sparkling wine, it is rather a version of the old French word for “country”. Cognac from one of these regions will almost always be considerably better than one that lacks this sort of designation. You may come across a bottle that says “Fine Champagne” – this means it’s made from a blend of cognacs from the Grand AND Petite Champagne regions. The word “Fine” here is not the same as the English word “fine”, it is pronounced FEEN and is the French word for a brandy made from grape juice (a brandy made from grape skins only is called “marc”, or grappa in Italy).
Enjoy your glass!
