Taylor C.

Avis écrits : 41 (see reviews)

Note moyenne attribuée : 86

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Biographie :

French wine, and the concept of terroir, captured my interest early on. Naturally, curiosity took me to spirits, in particular Cognac. Today I'm proud to be a member of the Cognac Expert team managing B2B projects, working on Cognac Expert Originals, and writing bottle reviews for the English Blog. I love to taste anything and everything - rum/rhum, whisky(ey), Armagnac, etc. - but no other spirit grabs my attention quite like Cognac, and all of its subtleties and nuance. Santé !

Chainier XO Grande Champagne

Recommended 82 /100

Nose: Nice nose here! It smells like there is a lovely alliance between fruit and spice. It does not have the age where a strong oak signature might stick out, and even though twenty years old is anything but young for a Cognac, it does not yet have the maturity to hit the wafty aroma profile like other more mature Grande Champagne Cognacs. From the first sniffs, it seems to do a good job straddling youthful bright fruit and spicy oak maturity. There is a pastry note as well. At the risk of sounding random, I also pick up a generic woodsy men’s perfume - Jovan Musk was the cheap men’s perfume I recall lying around the bathroom back in the day. Out of curiosity I looked up that perfume's base notes and they are as follows: lime, pepper, carnation, lemon, amber, lavender, spearmint, exotic spices, woods and musk. Not too surprisingly, with the exception of carnation (no idea what that smells like), those aroma notes are somewhat spot on for this Cognac. I find it funny how the mind can unknowingly wander when tasting and take me to a smell so random as Jovan Musk, a smell I haven't smelled in twenty years, easily.

Anyways, this is a very positive nose. This Chainier XO smells like a benchmark Cognac.

Palate: Yes. The first thing I notice is the freshness of the Cognac. There is zero ounce of heaviness. This is elegant and light on its feet. It has a round mouthfeel without being too high on the richness scale - so the richness does not compete with the feeling of freshness. As far as fruits go, imagine a fruit cup (Dole was my brand of choice as a youngster) with sweet pineapple, peaches, pears, and the stray grape or two. And let’s not forget the fruit juice/syrup in that cup as well. There is also a slight taste of vanilla and a more general feeling of tasting something dessert-y. But again, there is no feeling of sweetness or heaviness here. The Cognac is balanced and lively; each sip invites the next. I’m really enjoying this. It ticks all of the boxes for an XO quality Cognac, and more.

Finish: The finish is moderate at best, and the flavors and other sensations only linger for a short while before leaving entirely. But I keep coming back to this feeling of freshness. This Cognac, from the entry all the way through to the finish, feels so bright, so lively. The drinkability is off the charts here.

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Mots clés

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Saveur

Bois 6/10

Pimenter 5/10

Fruit 7/10

Fleur 4/10

Conception de bouteille / emballage 2/5

Où est l'amour? Ordinaire Joli Beau Un spectacle à voir !

Le rapport qualité prix 5/5

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