Le Tour de Cognac, Stage Two

This is the second installment of an entry detailing a visit to the Domaine de la Pouyade, the Cognac house of Pascal Fillioux. If you haven't yet caught it, you may want to begin with Stage One; otherwise, please read on....

The Proof is in the Tasting

Returning to the family residence, which was built in 1868, we gathered in M. Fillioux’s formal tasting room, ready to get down to the business of exploring what we’d been learning about.

Before proceeding too far, Pascal discoursed briefly on the proper tasting techniques for Cognac and other spirits. This part of our visit actually inspired one of my earlier posts, To Swirl or Not to Swirl. The preferred stemware for nosing and tasting Cognac is not, contrary to popular thought, the classic, large bowled brandy snifter but rather a small bowled, chimney-like glass. A small bowl combined with a narrow aperture allows the positive aromas of the spirit to concentrate while helping to suppress the volatile, alcoholic aromas which are more freely released in a large bowl. Taking that principle a step further, we learned that the positive aromas tend to be released at the lower lip of the glass, the alcoholic aromas from the upper lip. To test this at home, using a small stem with your spirit of choice, bring the glass down to your nose, inhaling gently as the lower lip comes into reach. Continue to lower the glass until the upper lip is in line and sniff again. The first whiff should give positive aromas; the second is likely to deliver heat. If you sniff too vigorously, the heat will actually burn, dulling your ability to experience subtler aromas. For similar reasons, we learned that it is important not to swirl Cognac too vigorously in the glass – something that’s tough to unlearn for a practiced wine taster – as overly enthusiastic swirling also releases alcoholic aromas which will overpower the beverage’s more delicate scents. Lastly, swishing and aeration in the mouth are to be avoided. Simply hold the spirit for a few moments, perhaps moving it gently across the tongue, before either spitting or swallowing. The same reasoning applies.

We were now fully prepped and ready to taste.

La Pouyade
A young, 8-year old Cognac named after the Fillioux estate, La Pouyade is aged in recently used casks and diluted to a final 42%. Though not vintage dated, it is always made from the fruit of a single harvest. Very ripe on the palate, it gave fruit forward flavors with hints of almond and praline on the nose. Pascal obviously considers it the casual Cognac in the line, as he prefers it served chilled with a splash of Pellegrino or Perrier. Though Fillioux produces an intermediate Cognac called Cep d’Or, aged in old cask for an average of 13 years, we skipped straight to…

Tres Vieux
Fillioux’s Tres Vieux bottling represents one of the greatest values in the world of Cognac. It spends approximately two years in new oak before being racked to older barrels for the remainder of its aging cycle. Averaging 25 years of age, the example we tasted that day was a blend of four vintages: 1974, 1976, 1978 and 1979. A beautiful amber orange color preceded a creamy texture, followed by vanilla, butterscotch and orange oil on the palate. Very good length. Pascal mentioned at this juncture that he believes that Cognac is driven by four basic, primary aromas – almond, clove, vanilla and coconut – all of them derived from wood. All other aromas, apparently, are more subtle, more subjective and hint at greater complexity.

XO Reserve
Until recently, the XO Reserve had been a style produced only for family consumption. Finished at a more powerful 44% and showing intense wood and vanillin aromas combined with a hint of bitterness from wood tannins, it represents a blend of vintages averaging 27 years, all spent in the original new barrels. Pascal considers it a cigar smoker’s cuvée. He should know as he enjoys it as such. Apparently, he was convinced to commercialize it at the behest of some fellow cigar aficionados in the Japanese and US markets; these remain the only countries where the XO is available.

Réserve Familiale
This is the tête de cuvée of the estate, a blend which averages 50 or more years of age. The bottling we sampled represented a blend of five casks: three from 1948, one from 1945 and one from 1937. Interestingly, Pascal commented that he does not enjoy the ’37 on its own but he feels that it adds tremendous complexity to the final blend. A silky, rich mouthfeel delivered peach, mango, baking spices, orange confit and vanilla but showed none of the heat or edginess of the XO Reserve. Again, purely new oak was chosen to fit the long aging regime. Pascal reiterated that he rarely produces vintage Cognacs, preferring to blend in order to marry the best aspects of multiple casks and multiple years. That said, we would finish the day’s dégustation with a trio of single year Cognacs.

“V” 1975
A non-commercialized single cask at 46.5% which, at the time, Pascal expected to eventually become a component of Tres Vieux. Its textures were thinner and leaner with more aggressive aromatics than in the finished Cognacs we’d tasted thus far. Loads of vanillin drove home its intense flavors.

“F” 1975
Another non-commercialized single cask, this one at 48%, selected from the same lot, year and row in the chais as the “V.” This spirit showed lighter color in the glass and was even leaner on the palate, yet its aromas were more high-toned and elegant. Very smoky, less vanillin, it was more complex but less powerful than its brother. The differences derived completely from the singular evolution in each barrel.

1924 Vintage Cognac
Having been moved from barrel to glass demijohns in 1973, this single year Cognac represented approximately a 50-year barrel aging process. Once a Cognac is moved to demijohn, evolution and development are halted. Very dark amber in color, the nose gave rancio aromas of vanilla and nut oils. In the mouth, it was far less fruity than the younger and blended Cognacs, more smoky, earthy, woody and nutty. Its length, though, was incredible. At the time, this was one of only two vintage Cognacs ever commercialized by the estate, the other being a 1948.

As you may have gathered from the length and detail of this post, I’m not sure I’ve ever come away from a winery visit with so much new experience and gained knowledge. The tasting required serious patience, practice and endurance but also delivered some intense pleasures. Since our visit, Pascal has released a 1983 Vintage Cognac, representing his first complete year, from vineyard management to vinification and distillation, at the head of the firm. Like the 1924, it is not as balanced as the Tres Vieux or as nuanced as the Réserve Familiale but it is nonetheless a fantastic expression of nature combined with one man’s vision and skill. I expect Pascal’s son will soon be ready to take the helm. He’ll have some big shoes to fill.

Intro only...

Le Tour de Cognac, Stage One

The 94th edition of the Tour de France came to an end last weekend, its loop finishing, as always, with a grand procession into Paris for a final few laps round the Champs d’Elysées. This year’s race marked both the emergence of some bright new talent and the near submergence of the race in the face of yet more news of doping and scandal at the sport’s highest levels. Whether or not you care for the competitive aspects of the race, one can’t help but appreciate the beauty of the ritual and the beauty of the landscape through which it passes. As any circuit of France which does not limit itself to the extreme North must, Le Tour inexorably passes through – or at least by – many parts of French wine country. As this year’s penultimate stage, the final deciding time trial, began in the town of Cognac, I found myself inspired to go back to the archives and write up an afternoon I spent in Juillac-le-Coq, a town located in the heart of the Grande Champagne district of Cognac, in February 2004.

Pulling into the courtyard of Domaine de la Pouyade late in the afternoon, the winter sun already in decline after unexpected delays at the lunch table and on the autoroute, we were a bit afraid we’d missed our appointment. The imposing chateau and outbuildings were eerily quiet. Finally, a pair of shaggy dogs bound toward us, followed shortly thereafter by the son of the estate’s current patriarch, Pascal Fillioux. Pascal himself was not far behind. I would be remiss in not mentioning that this was a wine biz trip; our stop in Cognac was not only an added little bonus, it also put us all on a very steep learning curve.

Distillation

Our education commenced posthaste, as M. Fillioux led us through a quick tour of the estate’s distillation facilities. We learned that the onion-like shapes sprouting from the copper pot stills in the distillery are distinct to the better areas of Cognac – Grande Champagne and Petit Champagne – and are designed to extract a greater sense of terroir than are the olive shaped heads used in the outlying Fins and Bons Bois. Cognac always goes through two distillations. The first produces an end liquid of around 28-30% alcohol called the brouillis. During the second fermentation, a typical batch of 10 hectoliters is typically divided into three parts. The first hectoliter or so is the head, the last hectoliter the tail, in between is the coeur, the heart of the Cognac which will go on to the barrel aging caves. At la Pouyade, the head and tail are reused; one part is mixed with the wine for the primary distillation of the next batch, the other part is mixed with the brouillis prior to the secondary distillation. At the end of the second distillation – this must be completed by the end of March in the year following the harvest – the new Cognac averages 70% alcohol.

The Vineyards

The Fillioux family farms 25 hectares of estate based vineyards, located completely within the Premier Cru of Grande Champagne (there is no Grand Cru classification in the region). The fields are planted overwhelmingly to Ugni Blanc, which makes up 100% of the base wines used for distillation, supplemented by a small quantity of red Bordeaux varieties for the production of their Pineau des Charentes Rosé. Vineyard management in Grande Champagne runs contrary, in many ways, to the techniques and measures typical in quality wine growing areas. The primary objective is to grow healthy fruit that will produce a wine of high acidity and complex aromas. Alcohol and body are not sought. Fruit is typically harvested at a ripeness level of only 9% potential alcohol. To help accomplish these goals, yields are kept high – at around 70 hl/ha – by quality wine growing standards. As Cognac regulations allow for yields of up to 120 hl/ha, Fillioux’s yields are actually low relative to the region’s standards. The yields are thus high enough to avoid surpassing the desired degree of ripeness but low enough to allow the terroir of the estate’s dry, rocky and chalky soils to be present in the base wines and in the finished Cognacs.

The Chais

As we moved on to Pascal’s chais, the barrel aging rooms of the estate, I was struck with the same feeling I’d experienced earlier in the distillery. There was no ostentation, nothing overly shiny, nothing done to impress. But in all elements, I sensed cleanliness, importance of function and a tight organization. It is in the chais where the organizational control of Fillioux becomes most important, for all of his estate Cognacs start from the same base wine and the same base coeur. It is only through aging and blending that the differences are crafted from one cuvée to the next. Initial decisions regarding the type and age of barrel to be used will push each lot in the direction of a particular end point. M. Fillioux feels that the use of new oak, while giving dark, rapid coloration, is appropriate only for styles meant for long-term aging, as it takes at lest 15 years for the flavors imparted by the new barrels to move beyond, as he put it, “bad wood tastes.” He favors Limousin barrels but also includes about 10% of Troncais barrels in the overall mix as they can provide complexity in the final blend. To facilitate the overall needs of the estate, he purchases a mix each year of new barrels and once passed barrels and operates in five separate chais, each geared to a particular stylistic niche or likely aging regime. It is not uncommon for a barrel to be moved up or down the line as Pascal assesses its qualitative development over the years.

That daunting 15 year oak integration period started to sound like nothing when Pascal informed us that in a medium humidity cellar it takes 50-60 years in barrel for a Cognac to naturally reach the typical finished alcohol level of 40%. The evaporation rate of Cognac stored in barrels runs at approximately 5% per year, with 6% being the maximum allowed. To compensate for this evaporation, sometimes called the “angel’s share,” distilled water is added on an annual basis to top up the barrels. It is a delicate, time sensitive process, as adding too much liquid at a time can raise the temperature and speed of the chemical reactions caused by dilution and rob the end product of aromatic complexity. When the time for bottling arrives, reverse osmosis separated (as opposed to distilled) water is added to the spirit to bring the alcohol to the desired end level. What does this all mean? Among other things, older Cognacs will tend to have darker colors, richer textures and more evolved flavor components than their younger siblings, side effects both of longer periods spent in barrel and a lower proportion of dilution necessary during the final blending or bottling. Pascal was adamant, though, that older does not automatically mean better.

It is during the barrel aging period that the natural magic which results in the slow transformation of harsh young distillate to mellow old Cognac takes place. The real artistry, though, comes later. Pascal took the head position at the family estate upon the retirement of his father Jean (whose name still graces their bottles) not just because he was the next male in line but also because he had “the nose.” The ability literally to nose Cognac, to detect the subtle shades of its aromatic spectrum as well as any apparent flaws, is all important to the management of the aging process in the chais and ultimately to the final blending process. As interesting as vintage dated spirits Cognacs can be, it is in the blending of multiple barrels and multiple years that the best overall balance and qualities can emerge. Pascal was and remains the man for the job.

[Note to readers: This is a long one, folks. Stay tuned for Stage Two.]

Intro only...

To Swirl or Not to Swirl?

When conducting tutored wine seminars, I often demonstrate basic tasting techniques. Foremost among those techniques, I always stress the importance of sniffing. I see far too many people just grabbing a glass of wine and chugging away. Slow down folks! Taking a good whiff of a wine before sipping is a great way to preview what’s to come on the palate. And I always find it interesting to discover the similarities and the differences between aroma and flavor.

An easy way to enhance the sniffing experience and to increase one’s overall enjoyment of the wine experience is to master the art of the swirl. Whether on a table top or freeform, left-handed or right-handed, there’s a point to it beyond just trying to look like a member of the cognoscenti. The act of swirling coats a greater surface area of the glass with a thin layer of liquid, encouraging dispersal and evaporation of esters – the aromatic compounds in wine. By swirling, you’ll get a much more complete exposure to the range of smells, good or bad. And that should increase not just your overall enjoyment of imbibing but also your understanding of what differentiates one wine from the next.

An increasing number of restaurants, recognizing the importance of wine to the overall dining experience, have incorporated a form of the swirl called “seasoning” into their sommelier services. A small bit of the wine to be consumed is poured into your glass and swirled while tipping the glass, coating the entire inner surface before being poured into the next glass where the process is repeated. The idea is both to remove any remaining vestige of dish soap or lint from a polishing cloth and also to prepare the glass for receipt of the small test pour and, once the wine is accepted, a full pour. Think of it as full-service swirling. It takes only an ounce or so to season the stemware for the entire table. Babbo, Mario Batali’s flagship Manhattan restaurant, has developed a reputation for seasoning glasses. It’s the kind of practice that can lead to rather spirited discussions between admirers and detractors.

Of course, there are times when swirling can be a bit over the top. I occasionally find myself absentmindedly swirling a glass of water. A coworker’s boys grew up swirling their milk, a trick learned from their dad but a practice they quickly unlearned in the school cafeteria. For adults, the habit can be harder to break.

As important as swirling is to the wine experience, it is anathema to tasting and analyzing spirits. Swirling wine, remember, helps to release beneficial aromatic esters from the thin coating distributed inside the glass. Do the same with your favorite straight spirit, though, and you’ll quickly find yourself with a snoot full of little other than the burn of alcohol. When making the switch from fermented beverages to distillates, the rules change. Once the alcohol percentage crosses into the twenties and higher, the nature of the drink becomes more volatile. The higher rate of evaporation occurring in drinks of greater strength is enough, glass left still, to lift and release the full aromatic spectrum. Swirling will only intensify the perception of alcohol which will, in turn, obscure the more subtle and pleasing aromas of the libation itself. And sniff that after dinner grappa gently, my friend. Wine rewards deep breaths; spirits punish them.

* * *
If you're only going to own one glass...

Intro only...