The Society’s Cognac VSOP (£29, thewinesociety.com) When I think about cognac, I often find myself lapsing into a kind of free association of images from a very particular, very male fantasy of the good life. Walnut dashboards, infinitesimally complex Swiss watches, Savile Row suits, impossibly silky ties and, on a glass table by the arm of an Eames chair at midnight, a crystal decanter and handblown tumbler of glowing amber cognac. The whiff of luxury branding that trails cognac like those perfumed strips in a glossy magazine no doubt accounts for much of its resilient global popularity: after a brief pandemic dip, sales of the French brandy amounted to €3.8bn according to the cognac producers’ association, BNIC. I do sometimes wonder, however, if all the glossy deluxe business obscures what makes the best cognacs such a pleasure: the finickety level of craft that transforms neutral white grapes into suavely charming, intensely flavoured spirts such as the Wine Society’s bottling by the small family-owned producer, Château d’Orignac.
Hine Rare VSOP Cognac (£45, Waitrose) With sales that are twice the size of the nearest competitor, Rémy-Martin, Hennessy is by far the biggest brand in the Cognac region in the Charentes in southwest France. Part of the French luxury group LVMH, Hennessy is responsible for some of the more eye-popping examples of cognac’s 1%-targeting follies, such as the rippling gold decanter fashioned by architect Frank Gehry for a 150th-anniversary bottling of Hennessy XO a couple of years ago (yours for £15,000 on release). The bulk of its sales come from more everyday creations, however, such as the brightly fruited Hennessy VS (£35, Tesco), which, rather like LVMH stablemate Moët & Chandon Brut NV Champagne, is remarkably consistent in quality given the vast amount that is produced. For me, however, the sweetspot for cognac tends to be the VSOP (Very Special Old Pale) level: here the cognac must be aged in barrel for a minimum of four years (versus two years for a VS, or Very Special), which brings extra levels of smooth complexity such as you find in the fragrant, rather delicate VSOP, Hine Rare.
Janneau VSOP Armagnac (£34.99, masterofmalt.com) Other VSOPs that I think would make a fine beginning to any cognac collection include the wonderfully complex, cinnamon-scented Frapin VSOP Cognac (£53.95, thewhiskyexchange.com) and the rich, autumnal fruitiness of small family firm Château de Montifaud VSOP Cognac (£37, tanners-wines.co.uk). I am also partial to the elegant but intense, orange and fig richness of the VSOP made by Janneau in the smaller, southwestern French brandy-producing region of Armagnac. Once you’ve got a taste for VSOP, it’s hard not to be at least a little tempted by the next level up, however: the XO (Extra Old) category, which takes the minimum ageing requirement up to six years. One of the masters of longer-aged cognacs is Delamain, a house that was founded in 1762, and which makes nothing younger than XO. As a consequence, their creations aren’t cheap, but a bottle such as Delamain Pale & Dry XO Premier Cru Grande Champagne Cognac (£80, Waitrose) is a marvel of concentrated dried stone fruit, spice and silk-sheened texture.
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