Jean-Luc Pasquet - L. 64 Claude - Cognac Grand Champagne - 2022 - 47.4%
"Cognac de Claude L64" is the result of the work of Marie-Rose and Claude DULUC, retired brokers in the commune of Touzac, in the heart of the Grande Champagne region.
Between 1961 and 1971, before becoming a broker, Claude worked as a sharecropper in a vineyard close to the family estate. This cognac comes from one of his first harvests and was distilled in the still installed in 1938 by his maternal grandfather Jérôme GLÉMET. He cultivated the vineyard for 10 years and had to hand it over to the owner family.
Afterwards, Claude became a bus driver, a chestnut producer and then a broker. He lived through the crises and the good times of cognac and became an inexhaustible source of tasty anecdotes about the history and people of the cognac region.
From a single cask, only 377 bottles of this "Cognac de Claude L64" were drawn on 04 August 2022.
Notes: Well defined and powerful aromatics that just keep unfolding - cherry, apricot, lightly toasted sugar, weathered oak, waxy strawberry chapstick, dark chocolate, graham cracker - it just keeps going. The palate is full and concentrated on entry - but not so concentrated it's asking for water. There's no heat. The rich entry pleasantly dries out in the finish with prominent, but balanced old oak. Strawberry, mandarin orange, medicinal roots, faint mentholation, weathered oak, coffee, pollens, florals.
Pour This For: Long, tropics aged Jamaican rum. The balance of bright fruit (albeit different fruits) and old oak is tough to pull off.
Score: 10 (Reevaluate The Budget) The fresh and old combo on display here is one of my favorite profiles and this structure is deep and intricate - not delicate. Notes are bold and sure of themselves. Utterly memorable.
Rating System
10 - Reevaluate The Budget
9 - Stash Two (If Able)
8 - Stash One (At The Right Price)
7 - Highly Recommend It To Strangers
6 - Solid - Above Average
5 - Acceptable For The Situation
4 - Not Vocally Complaining
3 - Anything Else To Drink?
2 - Nothing Nice To Say
1 - Drain Pour