Bertrand and Sabine's journey to Raison Personelle wasn't an obvious one. In 1994, they took a leap of faith, leaving behind their comfortable but busy and often hectic lives in Paris to follow a calling. That calling pulled them to the Charente, where they set out to fulfill a desire to lead what to them was a more meaningful existence and embark on an adventure to become Cognac vignerons, distillers, and blenders. But making such a transition does not happen overnight. It takes time and patience, very much like the time and patience required to make a great Cognac.

As relative novices in the field, they had to learn everything from scratch - from vineyard work to distillation, from aging processes to mastering the administrative procedures involved with customs, the BNIC, and their own treasury. Funnily enough, we are now getting a taste of what Sabine and Betrand must have gone through since we have several hectares of young vines planted in and around Beaulieu. Even just a few hectares is not without stress - and we do not even make wine, distill, or age Cognac!

They leaned on Bertrand’s uncle, who already was part of the fabric of the region and had tremendous know-how with regards to distillation. But they also figured everything out for themselves by doing, diving straight into the deep end and learning by doing. They persevered and always aimed to move forward, never allowing the region’s challenging weather conditions; or the never ending tasks in the vines, distillery, and cellar, and around-the-clock distillation periods to dissuade them from their chosen path. A quarter of a century later, their conviction has borne fruit, and the de Witasse family has been successfully producing their own brand of niche small batch Cognac under the name Raison Personelle since 2014.