Learn more about the different Cognac ages
Learn more about the different Cognac growth areas
Guy Tanguidé et Fils is a 25-hectare family estate at Chez Réveillé, in Champagnac, on the southern edge of the Petite Champagne cru where the boundary follows the Seugne. The family grows Ugni Blanc on clay-limestone soils over chalk and has been bottling under its own name since the early 1980s. Jonas distils in the traditional Charentais manner, on the lees, charging them twice. Part of the crop goes to Rémy Martin and to Marnier-Lapostolle for Grand Marnier; the best parcels stay at home.
Vieille Réserve is the estate's twenty-year-old quality in a 50cl bottle. The producer is straightforward about it: this is the Napoléon in another presentation, the same cognac from the same parcels, in a smaller format. So you get the same profile, sweet and broad with the vanilla note the family keeps from the younger spirit, in a bottle that suits a shelf with less room or a first purchase from an unfamiliar grower. It sits in the same tier as our other Napoléon cognacs.
Twenty years is five times what the name requires, and the aging is not the interesting part on its own. What sets it apart is the lees distillation behind it. Jonas charges the lees twice and says that after twenty years in wood you can still tell. That claim is easier to credit once you know the same cellar sells eaux-de-vie to Rémy Martin and clear wines to Marnier-Lapostolle for Grand Marnier, two very different briefs worked side by side. Our piece on Charentais distillation covers the method.
A good choice if you want the house's twenty-year-old without committing to a full 70cl bottle.
The Sélection, the Vieille Réserve, the XO 50 cl and the brûlot Cognac are bottled in clear glass, which lets you see the colour of the eau-de-vie. The estate's Napoléon and VSOP keep the old Charentais bottle in dark green glass. The label follows the same register: cream paper, a flowing handwritten script, and the estate's stone pigeonnier drawn in ink in the corner. The labels were made in the family, and for years their edges were burned by hand. The pigeonnier is not a decorative invention, it still stands in the courtyard, lined with hundreds of stone nesting boxes.
Neat in a tulip glass, at room temperature, with a few minutes to open. Best after a meal. No ice and no water needed, though a drop will lift the vanilla if you prefer it softer.
