World’s oldest barrel-aged Cognac launched

Hermitage Cognac has launched what is believed to be the world’s oldest barrel-aged Cognac, a very limited-edition 100-years old brandy which will retail for nearly £25,000.  

The limited edition run comprises 68 of the Hermitage Siècle d’Or 100-Year-Old Cognac, which are available to collectors with deep pockets. The liquid is presented in one-litre Cumbrian crystal decanters, which are hand-blown and hand-cut in the UK, engraved with gold leaf and numbered individually. It also has a wooden presentation box and is sold with a letter from Hermitage Cognac’s founder and chairman David Baker and a leaflet giving information on the cognac.

Baker said he was delighted to offer this “priceless masterpiece of cognac history” to the global market, pointing out that “provenance and time are the very essence” of this limited-edition run.

It is believed that no other Premier Cru, Single Estate cognacs of this age have been bottled before.

“It is one of only a very small quantity of cognac aged in cellars in the heart of the Premier Cru of Cognac known as Grande Champagne,” he said.

The vintage cognac has lain “untouched and unblended” for 100 years as it aged  in Limousin oak barrels, which Baker said had created a wide complexity of rich flavours and aromas, “common only with the finest and oldest cognacs.”

“The balance and depth of flavour is a masterpiece of smoothness and quality. Flavours of cocoa, burnt toffee, mushroom, ginger, candied fruit and kumquat are all wrapped up in an intensely rich rancio found only in the rarest of cognacs.”

The Cognac is produced from Ugni Blanc grapes cultivated in the region of Liginères Sonneville, at the heart of Grande Champagne, which is renowned for its terroir and produces some of the purest cognacs. It is distilled in Segonzac using traditional copper Alembic Charentais stills