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The Frapin VSOP Grande Champagne Cognac is a blend created solely from eaux-de-vie from the premier cru of the region - Grande Champagne. A beautiful golden amber color, it delights with its complexity, yet is balanced with an exceedingly satisfying finish for a Cognac of this quality.
It's presented in a lovely new carafe. Naturally, such a Cognac has been highly decorated by experts around the world. These awards include:
is a Cognac from the Grande Champagne vineyards - Premier Cru de Cognac. The blend comes in a round 700 ml bottle.
Gold Medal in its category at the World Spirit Competition 2001 in San Francisco
Gold medal at the Prodexpo Wine Fair in Moscow in 2003.
Frapin VSOP received the acclaimed award World's Best VSOP Cognac 2016.
Gold medal in the VSOP Single Cru category at the 2017 Cognac Masters
Over the past several weeks, I've embarked on a tasting program of VSOP, Napoleon, and XO Cognacs. To that end, I have tasted 4 different VSOP Cognacs, 2 Napoleon, and 2 XO Cognac bottles. Of those tasted, the Frapin VSOP is in a virtual first place tie with the Daniel Boujou on a point basis. The Boujou may have a slight edge in nose, but the Frapin suits my palate a bit better. In reality it depends on an individual's personal preferences. I happen to enjoy the palate of the Frapin, as it has excellent nutty tones that I appreciate, with a very smooth initial taste when it hits my tongue. The flavors round out to a bit of nutmeg and cinnamon before swallowing. The finish is very smooth and enjoyable with a nutlike rather than vanilla finish. By way of comparison, I included Courvoisier and Hennessy in the VSOP tastings, both of which are also excellent. Of these 4, I would rate the Frapin as #1 on the palate, and in a virtual tie with any of the others w/r to value received.
The Frapin family has been around the Southwest of France since 1270. Always active in the domain of winegrowing, they specialized in distillation much later on and have since continued to stand strong throughout twenty generations! The estate owns 300 hectares of land entirely in the Grande Champagne area, of which 200 are planted with vines. Frapin’s home in the beautiful caste Fontpinot in the town of Segonzac. The most famous family member was the 16th century author Francois Rabelais, after whom a prestigious Frapin cognac bottle is named: The Cuvee Rabelais. Like some other cognac houses, Frapin needs to extend business through diversifying into other luxury products such as chocolate or coffee. Frapin was the first cognac producer to invent a multi-vintage blend, combining vintages of different years to create the perfect taste.
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