Category Archives: Cognac

You have certainly never heard of Camus cognac. But what if I were to tell you it was a major worldwide brand, the fifth largest cognac house on the globe — with its major markets Asia and Eastern Europe.

Now Camus is coming to America at last, with retail in 15 states and more to come. Fifth-generation distiller Cyril Camus came to town this week to show off his wares, of which he is justly proud. I sampled them over lunch and again on my own at a later date.

The house style is evident in these spirits — light, fruity, and with minimal oak influence. In fact, Camus never uses new oak barrels to age its brandies, only well-aged ones that have lost a lot of their tannin. The result is more easy-drinking, less harsh cognac than you might be used to, even in the youngest bottlings.

If you’re a brandy lover, seek out a bottle of Camus as soon as you catch it on the shelf.

All spirits are 80 proof.

Camus VS is a very light cognac — Cyril says it is traditional to serve it on the rocks, and I’ve tried it both chilled and straight. Very simple, it expresses notes of butterscotch and fresh citrus fruit, with a light body. Smooth, with virtually no bite. An amazing bargain. A- / $25

Camus VSOP spends longer in cask, but sticks to the house style almost exactly. This is Camus’s best-selling cognac, equally light in flavor but a touch darker in color. Very similar to the VS, it’s difficult to tell apart, but a touch of wood in the finish gives it a somewhat different character. I think I prefer the VS’s fruitiness at the low end. B+ / $45

Camus XO Elegance moves up the ladder but continues to hang on to the Camus style, with fruit and sweetness up front. A touch more wood here adds balance vs. the VSOP, with the overall refinement of the spirit reaching a solid and sophisticated level. More dried fruit character in the body, but it’s still light enough (and affordable enough) to merit everday sampling. A- / $120

Camus XO Borderies is the world’s only nonvintage single estate cognac, using grapes exclusively from Camus’s vineyards located in the Borderies growing region in Cognac. The body here is wholly different from the other three cognacs in the portfolio, with a far more intense sweetness, a silky texture, and another step darker in color. Here the fruit takes on an orange peel character, and the finish exudes flowers. The quality here is remarkable for the price. A special cognac indeed. A / $140

camus.fr

All hail the House of Delamain.

I reviewed much of Delamain’s exceptional cognac line earlier in the summer. This week, the company’s Managing Director Charles Braastad took the time to guide me and a handful of other wine and spirits writers through his company’s offerings. This tiny cognac producer makes some amazing products: The youngest of its products are about 20 to 25 years old. Your typical XO cognac need only be six years old, and the vast majority of cognacs – VS and VSOP — are aged less than that. Delamain ignores at least 90 percent of the market and aims exclusively at the top tier.

We tasted six of Delamain’s products, including the four I wrote about earlier.

My notes and ratings were very similar as they we were back then, although this time we were tasting over lunch (and one wouldn’t normally drink cognac with a vinegar-laced salad dressing), and the presence of some 50 glasses of cognac around the room certainly led to some heady aromas in the air… all of which really made you want to drink cognac, immediately and often.

I rated the Pale & Dry XO an A- this time out, really enjoying its oily honey- and vanilla-laced flavors as an aperitif. Ditto the A- for the much different and far richer Vesper, which has more wood and smoke and is more of a bruiser than the XO. Again I felt the Tres Venerable (B+ this time) was potentially too long in the cask, with a pronounced bite and an intense woodiness that was almost overpowering in its earthiness. And, yes, once again Extra de Grande Champagne (pictured) was my runaway favorite (again an A), a candy-coated cognac full of gingerbread flavor, apples, cinnamon, and other complex spices. Extra reminds me of Christmas — like a movie Christmas, not the crappy one you really had as a kid.

Two cognacs I’d not yet tried were also on tap. The first is Delamain’s Reserve de la Famille, which had previously been held only for family members and visiting guests. Unlike the others in the line, it is not a blend, but a single-barrel cognac that has been aged (roughly 60 years) to the point where the alcohol has naturally dropped to 86 proof. (Diluted cognac is slowly added to all the other blends to bring them down to 80 proof.) As with many single-barrel spirits, the subtlety and smoothness is absent here, and the spirit is less balanced than Delamain’s blends. But it was surprisingly mellow considering its origins, though the higher alcohol level gave it a bit too much heat. At $599 it’s a bit hard to justify over the $399 Extra, but I liked it well enough to rate it a B+.

Last and certainly not least is Le Voyage, which is, hands down, the most expensive spirit I’ve ever sampled. One bottle (and only 500 were made) costs $7,000, which includes the Baccarat decanter and leather carrying case (see photo below). Braastad noted that most of the bottles sold to date (about 250) had been sent to Moscow and Dubai. How does it taste? Le Voyage is meant to inspire you to think of a voyage, “a series of global subtle sensations” that include Russian leather, tropical musk, American tobacco, African coffee, Far Eastern spices, and of course the Grande Champagne fruit. It is a complex blend (bottled at 84 proof) and, while I didn’t pick out any Russian leather, the notes of tobacco and smoke are palpable. There’s a little heat here again, and the spirit really packs a punch, but I’d certainly give a lot to sample the stuff one more time. Alas, three modest sips had drained it away. Sigh. For $7,000, you’d have to have mad oil money to afford it, of course. Putting the price aside (which you have to to even consider something at this level), I rate it a solid A-.

Thanks again to Delamain and Charles for an insightful, educational two hours.