SAMPLES FOR TASTING DO NOT NEED TO BE IN CRYSTAL BOTTLES. I PROMISE!

When I taste spirits I am always interested in the tastes and not so much on the presentation, design, packaging and etc. I think of good spirits as good food or good wine and therefore I am not making evaluations for any other things that what I smell and taste, and see looking at what I am consuming.

I like a well designed car or suit but how it looks does not interest me much for good cognac or good rum etc. I know everyone should be this way, but from my experience I would say that the majority of people buy spirits with their eyes.

I am often asked for cognac samples by journalists and more recently by bloggers. If I know that they care for the intrinsic quality of the cognacs I am always thrilled to send them special samples, even samples for cognacs that we are working on.

Once I sent samples to this journalist who was working on a new book which was supposed to be the next break through in the cognac literature. He asked me for samples and some information on the company. I had never heard of the guy and I was travelling and sent samples in small standard bottles with handwritten information on what it was. Sort of “Comandon Cognac VS, batch 31, 2 blends from Fins Bois, 1 from Borderies and 1 from Bons Bois, 40% alc/vol, assembled in 2015”. Thus, I sent samples including samples of our XO which had just won World Best XO with 100 points at the World Spirits Competition in San Francisco, and some information on Comandon, its history and etc.

Later, I was surprised to find out that he made no mention of Comandon in his new book, did not taste the cognacs and essentially was offended that I did not ship him full bottles. I tell you many people complain about cognac producers being a pain, but I have a lot to say about these journalists that are not gracious!!!

However, I guess this is not always the case. I recently stumbled across a great article on cognac from Jason Wilson which gives a pretty straight forward view of what cognac is really about that I recommend. “…send a small sample for me to sip and spit alone in my dreary office, along with dozens of other, rival samples in tiny nondescript bottles…” says Jason. Cognac should all be about the cognac and not about the amount of gold on the bottle.

Unraveling the Secrets of Cognac by Jason Wilson

I do not know Jason Wilson, I have never heard of him and I do not think he tasted my cognacs ever. That is too bad as I think he would have like my non-poetic BS on cognac.