The richest and most complex cognacs you are likely to come across. The world of Cognac is overwhelmingly dominated by four huge players. Hennessy, Remy Martin, Martell and Courvoisier. Yet peek over the shoulder of these giants and you will see a plethora of smaller houses and artisanal producers producing very fine spirit. Foremost among them is the house of Frapin.

Uniquely for a house of its size, Frapin owns all its own vines, and all in the Grande Champagne. It gives them a level of quality control beyond the reach of the bigger houses, and the ability to research and innovate. It was strangely fascinating to listen to Cellar Master Patrice Piveteau tell me about their research into the barely documented mites sometimes found on the vines here. “There are good ones, neutral ones and bad ones. Bad ones are red. They eat the leaves. The neutral ones are transparent. The good ones are also transparent, except when they eat the bad ones and become red for a day.” To complement their Ugni Blanc, 10% of their vineyards are now planted to Folignan, the rare variety that combines the high quality of Folle Blanche with the hardiness of Ugni Blanc.

But it is in the cellars that cognac truly comes into its own. At Frapin they are masters of the interplay of dry and humid cellars, and the blending (or not) of the different cognacs that come from these different cellars, each of which smells quite different. The result is a range of cognacs of such smoothness and complexity that few houses could hope to match. (NT 03/10/19)