Record Auction Price for 1762 Cognac
A bottle of 1762 Cognac by Gautier was sold at auction recently for a record breaking £118,580. Thought to be the world’s oldest cognac, only one other bottle of this vintage now exists. The bottles’ history can be traced back to the 1880s when they were acquired by the Donsir family. The family adopted a son, Alphonse, who in 1870, went to find work in the cognac vineyards. Over the next decade the Phylloxera outbreak decimated European vines so, when work dried up Alphonse returned home. As the vineyard was financially ruined, he was paid in cognac, including 3 bottles of the highly regarded Gautier 1762. The precious pre-Phylloxera bottles were stored in the family cellars until such time as each was sold. One has since been opened, one has pride of place in the Gautier Museum and now, the third one has become a world record breaker. Although described as a ‘large’ bottle the size of this 1762 is unknown so it is difficult to compare with our Massougnes 1801 (¾ imperial gallon) which sold through Hedonism Wines for £222,000!
‘What is the safe storage temperature for 
Our latest nineteenth century cognac, 
XO brandy, XO cognac. XO armagnac. Why is the term XO used so often when few of us actually know what it means? Originally, XO stood for Extra Old. In terms of age, up until 2018, an XO cognac had to be at least 6 years old but this was also the required minimum age of Napoleon Cognac. So, after decades of promising change, the controlling body of cognac, the BNIC, agreed to make the minimum barrel age of an XO cognac 10 years old. This is important because cognacs do not mature once they have been taken from their oak casks and placed in glass. Armagnac also stepped into line and now age their XO brandies for a minimum of ten years.
Around this time of the year (Summer 2020) we are anxiously looking at the weather to try and determine if we are going to have a good grape harvest in September. The vines are flowering well and every indication is that we will have a bumper harvest. But where are we going to store all the new cognacs when they are distilled? There is simply not enough room this year as coronavirus has dramatically reduced sales by the big houses. In an industry where America alone can take over a million cases a year, world sales so far in 2020 seem to have virtually halted, with a measly 1.5 – 2 million cases sold in the first quarter. According to one of our friends in Cognac, contract sales by the big houses have, over the years, spiralled up to around 90% of their output. This has enabled the large companies to place contract orders with producers for young cognacs which they buy and store in their own cellars. It now seems likely that some of the big names will have to renege on their contracts with the growers and producers due to lack of storage space. However, every cloud has a silver lining. The smaller, 
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Launched last year, Avallen Calvados has been hitting the headlines as a ‘product with a purpose’. Created by Healthy Hospo founder Tim Etherington-Judge and wine and spirits specialist Stephanie Jordan, they set out to make the most sustainable spirit possible and so chose 
The American Chemical Society has identified a few compounds, not previously known, which contribute to an 
Six months ago, the US imposed hefty tariffs on the import of some European wines, whiskies and liqueurs following a long running dispute over EU import tariffs and subsidies. Last December, the US government considered imposing similar US tariffs on other EU wines and spirits, including