Learn more about the different Cognac ages
Learn more about the different Cognac growth areas
The Cuvée Abel is the bottling that carries the Mestreau revival story most directly. It is named for Abel Mestreau (1854-1939), the collector whose family cellar in Saintes led Guilhem Grosperrin to bring the dormant house back to life. A Extra class Cognac from Grande Champagne, bottled at 43% ABV in small numbered editions.
The producer describes the cuvée as built from eaux-de-vie of fifty to seventy years of age, with the youngest component, around a fifth of the blend, distilled in 1988. It carries real rancio, the savoury walnut-and-old-leather note that only long maturation in a humid cellar produces. There is no added sugar, no boisé, no caramel and no cold filtration. Nothing is added to flatter it and nothing is stripped out to tidy it up.
The Cuvée Abel is presented in a tall, clear decanter with a broad shoulder and a dark wooden stopper, so the colour of the cognac, a deep polished mahogany, is the first thing you see. A cream band around the neck carries the house crest in gold and the founding date. The main label is printed on heavy ivory paper: the gilded Mestreau crest at the top, the house signature in gold script beneath it, then the appellation, Cognac Grande Champagne, and below that the cuvée name and the edition. Every bottle is hand numbered in red ink. The bottle photographed for this page is number 171 of 173, from Limited Edition N°4.
Frédéric Mestreau & Cie was founded in 1830 on the île d’Oléron and established in Saintes from 1837, becoming one of the great Cognac houses of the town before trading ceased in 1911. The name was revived in 2012 in the Port-la-Rousselle quarter of Saintes.
Serve it neat and at room temperature, in a tulip glass or a copita rather than a balloon, so the aromatics gather instead of scattering. No ice, no water. A cognac of this age needs a few minutes in the glass before it gives its best, so pour a small measure and let the rancio open out. It belongs after dinner rather than before, and it holds its own beside a plate of walnuts, a mature hard cheese, or a cigar if that is your habit. Treat the first sip as a warm-up: the second and third are where a fifty to seventy year old Grande Champagne actually speaks.
Please note: this product image has been digitally adapted from our own photograph of the bottle and is shown for illustration only. It is not a 1:1 representation of the bottle you will receive. This is a limited edition bottled from a single cask, so the bottle number on the label will differ, and presentation may vary.
