Taylor C.

Reviews written: 41 (see reviews)

Average Score given: 86

Review Overview: Best & Most rated, All Reviewers & Reviews

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Bio:

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 !

Brut de Fut 1989 Single Cask

Exceptional 91 /100

Eye: Light and bright amber with orange tints and reflections. This is the lightest Cognac of the three bottles. Coating the glass’ walls leaves a film of Cognac that casts legs, but they are more hesitant to drip down the glass this time. This should be bigger and fuller.

Nose: The nose is immensely fruity. Imagine crystal clear, chiseled fresh, candied, and jammy fruits in all shapes and sizes. Apricots, spiced orange peel, tinned mandarins, tinned peaches, and fresh ripe mango. It smells so pure and clean. A Cognac with this nose tiptoes into the extreme finesse territory. With time in the glass, exotic spice notes from the oak make themselves apparent, but I just keep coming back to the fresh fruity nature of this one. A fine VSOP can be fresh and fruity too, but this one exudes a real sense of maturity. High level stuff.

Palate: The Cognac is mouth coating. It’s full, round, and yet in perfect balance. Nothing, and I mean nothing is off here. There’s the bags and bags of fruit: spiced orange citrus, apricot, tangerine, tinned peaches, and mangos. There’s the syrupy oily texture. There’s the intensity and grip. And despite the high abv, there is nothing edgy about swirling this one in the mouth. It’s as precise as a laser beam and is an all around complete Cognac. Earlier, I mentioned that writing a review is a subjective endeavor. Well, I’d venture to guess that if you lined up the three new Vallein Tercinier Single Cask Cognacs and asked 100 tasters which one is the most complete Cognac, 99 out of 100 would select this bottle. It might not be everyone’s most preferred - it’s not for me, more on that below - but there is no denying that this 1989 Grande Champagne has it all. There is nothing to take issue with. It flirts with Cognacs at the highest level.

Finish: The finish is memorable in that it just lingers, refusing to go away. In each of the tasting sessions I held for these three bottles, I tasted in ascending order of abv (the 1989 places second in that order). I had to force myself to slow down before moving on to the Lot 96 Fins Bois since this 1989 Grande Champagne was just so long. In reality, I just took a sip of water and moved on, but a taster that rushes through this one will miss out on the experience of the finish. It’s like a gift that keeps on giving. Lastly, this bottle is proof of the heights that can be reached when producers get it right with single cask brut de fût bottlings.

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Flavour

Wood 6/10

Spice 6/10

Fruit 9/10

Flower 5/10

Bottle / Package Design 4/5

Where is the Love? Ordinary Nice Beautiful A sight to be seen!

Value for Money 4/5

Overpriced Low Average Bargain Steal