The Brandy Bottle – Monteru Eau de Vie No1

During our travels in Cognac we often come across and taste new products, this time it’s with a difference. Monteru ‘Eau de Vie No 1 Original’ is double distilled in the traditional manner, but from specific grape varietal wines. Intended to be complementary to cognac rather than to compete, there are a number of grape varieties to choose from. We’ve sampled the Merlot and Chardonnay.

Light in colour and with a pleasant aroma that reflected the individual grape of the base wine, we were intrigued to see what flavours would be within. However, as sometimes happens, the anticipation was better than the event itself and they turned out to be rather disappointing. Their texture is a little thin and the flavour is all at the front of the palate. We prefer fruit based eau de vie and traditional cognac to this new enterprise. Our Score 2/10