By cognac-expert:
ABV: 46.3 %
Growth Area: Petite Champagne
Village: Nonaville
Grape Variety: Ugni Blanc
Bottle size: 70 cl
Lot: N°0822
Cask: N°49
Cask Volume: 400L
Cask Provenance: Tronçais
Natural: No additives, non-chill filtered
Date of last reduction: July 29, 2022
Limited Edition: 161 bottles
The third edition of L’ESSENTIEL Season 2 is here, this time in direct collaboration with our friends and neighbors Conte & Filles just up the road in Chillac.
This vibrant youthful Cognac comes from a single plot of vines situated in Nonaville, in the Petite Champagne cru, called Le Tas de Pierre - the pile of stone in English. Sisters Blandine and Anne-Laure Conte state that this particular name is undoubtedly due to the especially chalky subsoil. Furthermore, this unique vineyard is located completely on an east-facing hillside, which allows the vines to receive the day’s first rays of sun, but which protects the vines from the late afternoon and evening drying warm winds from the west. The vines are considerably old - roughly 40 years to be exact - so the roots are firmly established and pierce deep to seek freshness.
“The eaux-de-vie from this plot are for us the fruitiest of the estate. The limestone brings fruity and complex aromas to the Cognacs from this plot.”
-Blandine and Anne-Laure Conte
Conte et Filles was a major revelation for us during 2022! Not only did we fall in love with their range of honest authentic fruit-forward Cognacs, but their manner of working is decidedly close to the soil, to make what they call Cognac de Terroirs. They are grower-distillers that do everything at the domaine from a to z - everything! Since they took the helm of the estate, chemical weed killers have become a thing of the past, favoring organic fertilizer instead.
Additionally, they are committed to working the soil using the historical tools typically used to perform this ever-so-important work. This method of vineyard labor requires extreme precision and requires a very sound knowledge of the land to avoid soil erosion - not to mention a considerable amount of time out in the vines. All of this leads to healthier, cleaner, more lively soils - and of course, healthier vines and grapes.
What grabbed our attention about this particular Cognac to make it a must-bottle for L’ESSENTIEL? Some additional production information is needed to see the whole picture. This is an official 2010 vintage Cognac, bottled in August 2022. Hence, the A12 indication points to its 12 years of age. Interestingly, distillation took place without the lees. Anne-Laure and Blandine state that distilling with the lees typically gives a rounder eau-de-vie with a more exotic fruit aromatic profile, whereas distilling without the lees produces a finer eau-de-vie with a white-fruit aromatic profile. A common understanding is that distilling with the lees can lead to eaux-de-vie more apt for a long maturation - not something we sought with this 12 year old Cognac.
