Where some producers blend batches of different origins to create quality products, Grosperrin Cognac crafts intrinsically rare and unique cognacs, each with their own individual character.
We must never underestimate the merchant’s contribution to the collective richness of Cognac (…) The product, the focus of all his attention, connects him to the land with every fibre of his being, (…) a land which constantly draws him in by its very fragrance, so much so that it’s often difficult to tell whether he’s more merchant or grower. (Histoire du Cognac [History of Cognac], Robert Delamain, 1935).
The hallmark of a Grosperrin cognac is the orchestration of five elements – water, wood, fire, soil and metal – each playing a vital role in the production process.
- The cognacs are matured for lengthy periods in flood cellars on the banks of the Charente, which gives them a natural mellowness and dispenseswith the need for chilling.
- Cognacs aged in humid cellars, or cognacs over 50 years old are never reduced. Others are reduced slightly to achieve the “balance point”, generally several years before they are bottled.
- All the casks are made from soft-tannin wood in order to preserve the characteristics of the terroir and the grape varieties.
- “Folle Blanche” from Grande Champagne spend at least 24 months in casks made from very fine-grain oak from Tronçais Forest, which has been dried in the open air for over five years. All the coopers who make our casks have received the Meilleur Ouvrier de France (MOF) [Best artisan of France] accolade.
- Our casks never undergo heavy toasting because we do not wish the aromatic compounds to overpower the natural fruitiness of the eau-de-vie, or for the elegance to be lost to too much vanillin or caramel.
- Many cognacs have undergone wood fire distillation, either because they are old or because the small producers selected by Grosperrin have chosen to perpetuate this skill.
- Our cognacs are left to age with no intervention, thereby bringing out the qualities of a parcel, a hillside vineyard, a grape variety, a village, its traditions, the ingenuity of a terroir and the producers.
- Each Grosperrin cognac is crafted with great care and attention and matured with respect for its history and terroir.
- In a daily celebration of terroir, on the hour every hour a bronze bell in the maturation cellar strikes a perfect F. In alchemy this note symbolises copper, which occurs naturally in cognac. Each day every member of staff takes their turn to ring the bell, thereby keeping alive their connection with the cellars and reminding us that cognac is a living substance and we are merely the custodians of the stories it carries with it.
- The process applied to reduce some Grosperrin cognacs is unique. The water used is purified then made biodynamic using copper and silver electrodes. This very unique process is under study to be applied to all our cognacs.