Brandy Bottle Valuation
We often have requests to do a Brandy Bottle Valuation and whilst sometimes a bottle can have a high value, most brandy valuations will disappoint most people.
The term brandy is generic and covers any alcoholic drink reduced or distilled from a fruit. This includes Spanish brandies, grappa, marc and grape brandy (which can be used for semi-production purposes, for example fortifying port or sherry). This group of brandies will usually include the name brandy on the bottle but by law cannot include the names armagnac, calvados or cognac. If no identifying descriptions appear on the label we can assume it is a grape brandy which is not controlled by an authority and has minimal value.
The main French brandies have tight controls on their production and storage. For this reason, we know that if a bottle is labelled cognac, armagnac or calvados it will have been produced and aged in the approved manner.
Cognac ageing to its optimum quality in oak casks can take many years. In the case of cognacs from the top crus this can be up to 90 years. Armagnacs and calvados take rather less time. The requirement for this long barrel ageing increases its cost of production and therefore value. New oak casks cost around 700 euros each and storing the older casks, used for extensive ageing, requires sizeable, quality cellars. On the other hand, grape brandies may only be aged for a year and heavily diluted with water. Consequently, even quite good grape brandies only cost a couple of euros per litre to produce.
A highly valued cognac, armagnac or calvados will have one of these appellations named on the label together with an age statement or vintage. The level of the brandy in the bottle, the quality of the seal, the shape, size and type of bottle, the colour and the clarity of the spirit are also important. Then of course there is the name of the producer or negoçiant and the region where the brandy was produced. Much information about its value can be gained by knowing how it was distilled, the quality of the strata and sub-strata as well as the cellar in which it was aged. If the bottle owner can provide a provenance for it, that also helps.
If, on the other hand, your old bottle of brandy that has been stored for the last 50 years, does not mention cognac, armagnac or calvados on the label and does not provide an age statement of any sort, I am afraid that your bottle will be virtually worthless. It is also worth noting that retail values of old brandies are more than twice the trade or auction values since it can take many years to sell even a top quality bottle of fine cognac.
If you have a bottle of brandy that you would like valued, please refer to our Valuation Service which can be found on the home page of our website.
We have a fantastic range of 
We are delighted to announce that three of our 
Making sure that our customers really do get the best means that, after we have decided on a potential cognac, we still need to do several tests. The first is of course tasting. It is difficult to say how many cognacs we taste but on some days, it may be twenty or even thirty, others, maybe only one or two. One tends to gather considerable experience when tasting many different cognacs. Then we check the cognac for balance which means balancing the fieriness against flavour. Sometimes we need to reduce the cognac slightly which in some cases take quite a long time. We also check it for sediment as some distillers don’t filter their cognacs before we receive them at our bottling plant. The alcohol level is also tested as legally, this must be quoted on the label. This process also involves checking the level of obscuration (factors which mask the true alcohol content). There is always some natural obscuration which cannot be avoided but in modern blends, the addition of sugar and caramel increases the level considerably.
Not every cognac house has a Paradis – a designated area in the innermost recess of their cellar – but those that exist are steeped in history. Back in the early eighties, having discovered a cognac which I really liked, I went to the Charente to try and discover its origin. I ended up in Cognac’s twin town, Jarnac, standing in front of an elegant wrought iron gate with an imposing key. Behind it were about 100 very dusty bonbonnes, each with a chalk board describing what was in them. What an eye opener – they contained cognacs which dated from as early as 1805. Each bonbonne (a sort of demijohn in a basket), contained about 30 litres of prized spirits and was sealed with wax to maintain its superior qualities.
Many cognac families select a few of their finest cognacs for storage in the Paradis. The point when a cognac has gained all the benefit it can from the wood depends on many factors but ultimately, it is when the cellar master decides that it has reached its optimum quality. At this stage the cognac is put into glass bonbonnes and sealed so that the generations of gentle maturation in the barrel are preserved. A cognac that has lasted in oak without deterioration for perhaps 60, 70, 80 or even 90 years is going to be good, very good and will have developed the much sought after 
Sustainable and taint-free corks are the latest innovations to hit the ‘spirit stoppers’ market. Distillery by-products such as grape marc from cognac, barley malt from whisky and juniper from gin make up 50% of the raw materials used to produce ‘Abor’ corks. Manufacturers, the Tapi Group, are “seeking to create brand awareness in an eco-sustainable way” with their ‘green’ and sustainable new closures. Cork Supply, by contrast, have just released a range of ‘taint-free’ corks with a money-back guarantee. Their vision was to “produce quality closures that add value to the industry”; taint-free cork stoppers will surely have a place in the world of cognac. Unlike wine, 
Alexandre Bisquit established his famous cognac trading house in Jarnac in 1819. When his daughter married Adrien Dubouché in 
We were disappointed to read earlier this year that Cognac Renault has created ‘a new innovation – an expression specifically designed to pair with coffee’ – called Renault Avec. Quite simply this is not the case. Hermitage Cognac launched its 
Food pairing is all the rage right now, including with cognac. Hennessy have created a whole dining experience to enjoy their latest cognac blend with a 4-course meal. We never recommend doing this with vintage cognac but as a digestif, it does bring a special enjoyment. Some cognacs have complimentary flavours which go well with after dinner courses, such as 