FREE BOOK WITH ORDERS OVER €299 / $359 Le Cognac et la Pub: Icons and Legends, a 193-page survey of Cognac advertising history, is yours free at cart level 
CLAIM YOURS
 |
Maison Machenaud is a family-run Cognac estate based in Hiersac, in the Fins Bois cru, where the Machenaud family has been growing vines and producing Cognac for more than 200 years. Its Cognacs are made exclusively from eaux-de-vie distilled at the property, aged for many years in the estate's cellars, and bottled on site in small batches. The range consists of an over 35 year old XXO Cognac, an entry-level Cognac, and several unique fruit liqueurs. The result is a compact but distinctive range of authentic, naturally expressive spirits that reflect the character of the family estate and its terroir.
|
Brand
Price
Cognac age
Growth area
Bottle size
Availability
On this particular sun-drenched March day, we drove out to Hiersac, a quiet village right off the N141 in the Fins Bois cru. We were on our way to meet Henri, the vigneron and distiller behind Maison Machenaud, an estate whose roots trace back over two centuries with his 35 Years XXO Cognac.
35+ years old
Lot 88/89/90
20% ABV
Corsican lemon peel, lemon juice and an infusion of garden verbena
The prestigious Gold Medal at the 1889 Paris Universal Exhibition
Scene from the grape harvest - Beauchamp-Machenaud Vineyard
As we walked out into the vineyards beneath a brilliant blue Charente sky, Henri gestured across the shallow, clay-limestone terres de groies. His family has been making eau-de-vie here since at least 1806. In the mid-to-late 19th century, the Machenaud-Bauchant brand was a roaring success, exporting throughout Europe and winning a prestigious Gold Medal at the 1889 Paris Universal Exhibition, the same World’s Fair for which the Eiffel Tower was built. Then came the devastating double blow of the phylloxera epidemic and the First World War, which practically wiped the house off the map.
For decades, the estate functioned as a polyculture farm until Henri’s father, Bernard, bravely replanted the vines and restarted distillation in the late 1960s and ’70s, selling primarily to the major houses like Hennessy and Martell. Henri, meanwhile, was headed somewhere else entirely. He became a civil engineer in Bordeaux, designing energy-efficient buildings. But the family vines kept calling him back.
“I was in Bordeaux, and I would look out at the green grass outside,” Henri recalled with a nostalgic smile. “I have so many memories, we used to go play in the vines with the tractors and all that. I was very attached to this place. So I quickly told myself: I’m not going to abandon this property. Besides, I’m the only one who can take over.”
Returning in 2015 meant working alongside his 70-year-old father, which brought an inevitable clash of generations over modern investments and new techniques. Eventually, Bernard handed over the reins with a tough-love ultimatum. “He told me: ‘Listen, you wanted to come back, now you figure it out,’” Henri laughed.
XXO (Extra Extra Old) is the most prestigious official Cognac age category, introduced by the BNIC in 2018. An XXO must be aged for a minimum of 14 years. Machenaud's Cuvée de Bernard is aged 35 years — well beyond the minimum — making it an exceptional example of long-aged Fins Bois.
Fins Bois is the largest of the six official Cognac crus, surrounding the more celebrated Grande and Petite Champagne zones. Its clay-rich soils produce Cognacs with a characteristic roundness and relatively faster maturation. Fins Bois producers like Maison Machenaud are increasingly sought after by connoisseurs looking for terroir-driven, artisanal alternatives to the major houses.
Maison Machenaud is a family-owned Cognac estate in Hiersac, in the Fins Bois cru of Charente, France. The Machenaud family has been growing vines and distilling eau-de-vie since at least 1806. Today, fifth-generation distiller Henri Machenaud produces small-batch, estate-bottled Cognacs with no additives — distilled on the lees (sur lies) for maximum depth and character. The range is sold exclusively through specialist retailers.
The estate, known as Domaine Les Ormeaux, is located in Hiersac, a village just off the N141 road in Charente, France. It sits within the Fins Bois cru — one of the six official Cognac growing regions — and covers 30 hectares of Ugni Blanc vines planted on clay-limestone soils (terres de groies).
Maison Machenaud holds HVE (High Environmental Value) certification — France's highest environmental farming standard — but is not fully organic. Distiller Henri Machenaud is candid about this: in the Charente climate, hail and drought risk make full organic viticulture financially untenable for a small independent estate. The domaine uses mechanical harvesting only, and applies a minimal, low-input approach to the vineyard.
The current range includes La Cuvée de Bernard (a 35-year XXO aged from lots 88/89/90), La Sélection de Henri (an entry-level Cognac from the Domaine Les Ormeaux Lot 72), and three fruit liqueurs — Le Cassis, L'Orange, and Le Citron — made from estate-grown or locally sourced fruit.
Henri uses two 25-hectolitre Charentais copper pot stills (alambics). Notably, one still has no chauffe-vin (wine pre-heater) — a deliberate choice to avoid the metallic "rimé" character that pre-heating can cause. All Cognacs destined for the Maison Machenaud label are distilled sur lies (on the lees), extracting greater body, roundness and aromatic complexity.
No. Henri Machenaud follows a strict no-additive philosophy: no caramel colouring (E150a), no boisé (oak extract additive), and no added sugar. The Cognacs are bottled as they come from the barrel, making them an authentic expression of the estate and its terroir.
Ugni Blanc grapes
Henri Machenaud
An old wooden sign of a grape
Machenaud XXO has similar DNA, but with more active wood and a more earthy profile.
Machenaud XXO has more Rustic charm and sincerity vs mainstream polish
Out among the 30 hectares of pure Ugni Blanc, Henri’s engineering background shows through in his pragmatic approach to viticulture. The estate is HVE (High Environmental Value) certified, but Henri is fiercely honest about why he hasn’t pursued full organic certification. With the climate risks that come with the Charente, from drought to hail, the margins for error are simply too thin. “I can’t afford to lose my harvest,” he said plainly. He also relies entirely on mechanical harvesting. In Cognac, speed is the ultimate weapon against oxidation, ensuring the freshest possible wine goes into the still.
Next, the distillery. While his father restarted the business with a modest 12-hectoliter still, Henri now works with two automated 25-hectoliter Charentais copper alambics.
He pointed out a deliberate technical anomaly on one of them: there is no chauffe-vin, no wine pre-heater. He avoids it intentionally, to prevent “cooking” the wine before it enters the boiler, which can produce a harsh, metallic, or burnt character known locally as rimé. And while he continues to distill volumes for the big houses to keep the estate financially viable, his own Maison Machenaud Cognacs are distilled rigorously on the lees, sur lies, to extract maximum body, roundness, and aromatic depth.
From the distillery, we moved into the chai sec, the dry cellar, where Henri laid out his approach to aging with the same lack of compromise. He favors coarse-grain oak from local cooperages Vicard and Doreau, opting for a heavy toast, chauffe forte, to draw out rich notes of vanilla, caramel, and chocolate.
But he is careful not to let the wood take over. Only 20 to 25% of his eaux-de-vie spend time in new oak, and never for more than two years before being transferred to older fûts roux. When it comes to blending, the engineer steps aside for the artisan. “Solely by nose, by feeling!” Henri exclaimed. “The big houses do lab analyses, but for us… imagine, you work with your hands all year long, and then at the end you pull out a machine that tells you: ‘5% of this, 10% of that’! No, no, no.”
He is equally uncompromising about what goes, or rather doesn’t go, into the bottle. “For our Cognacs, I try as much as possible to keep the authenticity of the product. So there are no additives. No caramel, no oak extract, no sugar. Nothing.”
Our tasting began with samples straight from the cask, fresh distillate from the current vintage and young eaux-de-vie carrying different oak signatures. From there we moved on to a beautifully structured, fruit-forward Cognac around four to five years old, and culminated in an exceptional XO dubbed the “Cuvée de Bernard,” named in honor of his father and blended from family stocks dating back to 1988, 1989, and 1990.
Ever the innovator, Henri has also built a line of natural fruit liqueurs, macerating whole fruit directly in his young eaux-de-vie. The range stopped us in our tracks: a deeply rich blackcurrant *cassis* with a touch of tonka bean, an Arancello-style bitter orange, and a truly stunning lemon liqueur made with Corsican lemons. 200 kilos of them, requiring two full days of hand-zesting.
“I was looking for a way to stand out,” he admitted. “And I realized that when I do local trade shows, what I sell the best are my liqueurs.” They are made with nothing but natural fruit, alcohol, and sugar, with no added sulfites.
The VSOP “La Sélection de Henri” (blend of 2019, 2020, 2021): Vibrant and fruit-forward, remarkably round and well-balanced. The natural suppleness of the Fins Bois terroir comes through clearly, given a firm backbone by the brief passage through new oak. One of the best VSOPs we’ve tasted. True to its category, and full of finesse.
The XO “Cuvée de Bernard”: A tribute to Henri’s father and a blend drawn from the estate’s most precious reserves. Stocks from 1988, 1989, and 1990 come together in a Cognac of exceptional intensity, depth, and richness, a textbook expression of what aged Fins Bois can achieve.
Cassis: A rich blackcurrant liqueur from a neighboring grower, with a quiet hint of tonka bean woven through.
Bitter Orange: An Arancello-style liqueur with a sophisticated, lingering bitterness.
Corsican Lemon: Bright, fresh, and intensely aromatic, made from 200kg of hand-zested lemons sourced from a tiny producer in Corsica. The color alone, the most vivid and natural yellow we have ever seen in a glass, tells you everything about what’s inside.
From the distillery, we moved into the chai sec, the dry cellar, where Henri laid out his approach to aging with the same lack of compromise. He favors coarse-grain oak from local cooperages Vicard and Doreau, opting for a heavy toast, chauffe forte, to draw out rich notes of vanilla, caraAs we packed up bottles of the VSOP, the XO, and naturally the Corsican lemon liqueur, it struck us just how much of a family endeavor this remains. Henri’s wife designs all the labels. “We like to show pictures of the vines, the alambic. Nothing too ‘manufactured.’ We try to tell our story.”
Leaving Maison Machenaud, it was clear that Henri is doing exactly that. He has taken the historic foundation laid by his ancestors, run it through an engineer’s precision, and pushed it forward with a fearless, modern spirit. Exciting things lie ahead for this house, and we couldn’t be more glad to have met Henri, seen how he works, and tasted what he makes. Easily one of our most satisfying visits. Cheers.
Maison Machenaud represents a new chapter for a long-established family estate in the Cognac region. Located in Hiersac, on the historic site of La Pouyade, the house works with vineyard parcels grouped around the property on the groies soils typical of Fins Bois. The family oversees every stage of production on site, from viticulture and winemaking to distillation, ageing, blending, and bottling. This full estate approach allows Maison Machenaud to preserve the identity of its eaux-de-vie and to release Cognacs in small batches with depth, precision, and a clear sense of origin.
The Machenaud family’s roots in Hiersac go back more than two centuries. Official records cited by the estate show distilling activity in the village as early as 1807, when one of the family’s ancestors was granted a distiller’s license. Around 1850, Jean Machenaud began marketing his Cognac under the name Beauchamp Machenaud, and the house built a strong reputation in France and parts of Europe. According to the family history, Beauchamp Machenaud won several international awards, including first prize at the Paris Universal Exposition of 1889. The brand later faded in the early 20th century due to phylloxera, wars, and family succession, although the vineyard and buildings remained in the family.
In the 1960s, Bernard Machenaud restored the vineyard and estate buildings, continuing to sell the production to major Cognac houses. In 2014, Henri Machenaud took over the property and, in 2023, launched Maison Machenaud on the family’s historic estate. His aim was to present the quality of the family’s own production under its own name, with Cognacs made entirely at the property and bottled directly after cask ageing. This estate-led model highlights authenticity, traceability, and careful work at every step of production.
Maison Machenaud focuses on blends of eaux-de-vie from different plots and different years, all produced in the estate distillery and matured in the house cellars. This approach builds aromatic richness while staying true to the profile of the domaine. One of its standout releases is the Cognac XXO “La Cuvée de Bernard,” made from eaux-de-vie distilled in 1988, 1989, and 1990 and aged for more than 30 years in cask. The official tasting description highlights candied fruit, cocoa, wood, and rancio, together with smoky and spicy notes, showing the depth and personality of very old estate Cognac.
