NEW IDEAS IN COGNAC FROM LESSER KNOWN BRANDS

Cognac Abecassis, Bourgoin Cognac, Comandon Cognac, Cognac Marancheville, Cognac Philbert, and Cognac Pierre Ferrand.

What do these brands of cognac have in common?

Making cognac ... that is true!

But mostly bringing forward a wind of innovation in the cognac scene with different propositions perhaps with some "Trendy Exceptions". Here are a few examples from other brands than the big 4 brands of cognac.

===> Cognac Abecassis have not been the first putting forward the concept of Single Estate cognac. Other cognac Brands such as Cognac Menuet had used this concept a long time before. But Abecassis has contributed to growing the idea of Single Estate spirit concept in the world of cognac. Other more recent innovation includes making a liqueur from cognac and honey with ABK6 Honey, 87% of cognac and 13% of honey from chestnut trees sourced from the local region of Cognac.

Abk6 Honey Liqueur

===> Bourgoin Cognac is a rather large cognac supplier to the trade whose decided recently to offer cognacs aged in 50 liters casks and in small 325ml bottles, sort of micro-cognac distilling.

Cognac Bourgoin

===> Comandon Cognac is the pioneer of Single Batch and Single cask cognac, and a rather exclusive cognac independent bottler. A Single Batch cognac is a cognac that is a one-off cognac, where the cognac is not repeated and made the same evrytime but rather individualized unique batch. Single Cask cognac is a cognac which is made from one cask: for the most part these single casks will be vintages, with one specific region of Cognac.

In conclusion, a rather authentic crafted cognac with singular and unique characteristics. Here again these 2 concepts are both by definition one-off cognac lots which cannot be repeated.

Comandon Cognac Single Cask, Vintage 2012, Grande Champagne Cask #22

===> Cognac marancheville which consists in offering limited edition cognacs sort of like Cognac Grosperrin from a dedicated cellar.

Cognac Marancheville VSOP

===> Cognac Philbert's vision is sort mirroring the crafted scotch whisky with a rather 'single malt' type of philosophy. This is an intriguing new adventure for the two brothers in charge of the 208 years old family estate. They produce a single estate cognac through the classic line of VS, VSOP and XO, and vary the line depending on whether the products are made in their distillery in Grande Champagne versus their distillery in Petite Champagne. 

Each distillery has a unique style and terroir,  and it is attended by one of the two brothers in charge of the production: Xavier Precigout in Petite Champagne and Pierre-Olivier Precigout in Grande Champagne. They offer cognacs for the fanatic of authenticity. In addition, they were the first ever to offer vintage rare cask finish cognacs with a selection of cognacs finished either in Sauternes casks or Sherry Xeres casks for both the variations from Grande and Petite Champagne.

Cognac Philbert 2012 Grande Champagne, Sherry Cask Finish, Winner of 2016 World Best Cognac San Francisco

===> Cognac Pierre Ferrand is very innovative with a cognac selection away from the standard VS, VSOP ... denominations but rather using specific model ranges such as 1840 or Amber, and recently starting a cask finish re-using Sauternes casks.

Cognac Pierre Ferrand Barrel Sauternes

Cognac is stereotyped as being always the same but this is not true!