Great cognac

[DonCarlos]

Hi

I have a question for the cognac expert.

I want to buy a really good cognac, but cant decide wich. The thing I like about good cognac is the creamy smoothness. I hate most vs and vsop. Im considdering Curvoisieur XO or Hennessy XO..

Any good advice?

[scottw]

How much are you looking to spend? I my opinion, Martell Cordon Bleu is the best but you will be very lucky if you can find it under $100.

[DonCarlos]

my max is about 150usd. Wouldnt Martell XO be better?

[scottw]

I haven't had the XO yet but I must say the Cordon Bleu was wonderful.

[piperman]

I drink Hennessy

[Che]

IMHO he's right, the Cordon B is consistently a better buy.

I hope this won't come off as rolling one down my nose. If you are learning about Cognacs (particularly), I would caution you to resist the temptation to systematically fall prey to terminology such as X.O. etc.

Quite simplified but think of it this way, a poor blend (no matter the age & prestige of what brandies are in the blend) - is still a poor blend.

No. I'm not suggesting Martell's X.O. consists of a sub-standard blend but I am basically trying to emphasize the point that X.O. (as well as other terms of endearment) do not automatically translate to better, even factoring out the the "taste is subjective" notion.

Again - JMHO

[Neuromancer]

Remy XO...

[robofan]

[Neuromancer]

Originally Posted by robofan

Heyyyy...if you wanna get fancy and start posting pics...

[DonCarlos]

I think ill try the cordon bleu first, then buy a xo to see if its better, and later a hennessy xo. Its all about budget.

[scottw]

You will enjoy the Cordon Bleu. Keep us posted.

[Blueface]

Originally Posted by Neuromancer

Heyyyy...if you wanna get fancy and start posting pics...

Remy XO.
My favorite.
Love going on cruises.
You get them for $75 a bottle v. $150 in the states.

[Che]

Originally Posted by DonCarlos

I think ill try the cordon bleu first, then buy a xo to see if its better, and later a hennessy xo. Its all about budget.

Then, I'd also recommend looking at Cognac's older, often overlooked, relative - Armagnac. Your money could go a lot further.

[Cigary]

Cognac Pierre Ferrand, they have been making this since 1702 and is made in France where all good wines and cognacs are made. Not saying that the above are not good cognacs, but this one blows my dress up! Way Up!

[EastBay]

Avoid all the big houses, they are industrial producers.

Pierre Ferrand is a good start, as already pointed out. For the price you mentioned ($150 per) you can have pretty much any small house cognac made, and I can assure you that a "low end" small house bottle will easily beat any and all of the best big houses bottles (Martell, Remy, Hennesy, etc.).

Do a search for Leopold Gourmel cognacs, they are simply stupendous, even on the low end. Deret, another small house, is on par as well. If you spend $80-90 per bottle for a bottle of Gourmel or Deret I can assure you that no big house bottle will even come close at whatever price. Another old, small house producer is Delamaine, although pricier than these two based on the name recognition, but incredible as well.

The common theme in all the small houses is that they do not use the "dumbed down" marketing scheme of VS/VSOP/XO desigantions, ALL of their bottles easily bypass the XO designation (6 years of aging) and usually start at 10 years of aging to begin with and rapidly escalate to 30 years of AVERAGE blend components. Thus, they use their own desigantions to mark the blends. Also, pay close attention to the color of what's in the bottle, any red color hint indicates artificial coloring added (all the big houses do that) while a true barrel aged cognac shows a light brown tint and usually the pale light brown, which is the true color as it should be (slow oxidation does that).

I stopped drinking industrial cognacs long time ago, I am sure that once you taste one of the labels I listed you will not look back, either.

Let me know your impressions if you decide to follow my advise.

Happy New Year!