Cognac Tesseron Lot 90 XO Ovation 40%

Description

Cognac Tesseron Lot 90 XO Ovation is the youngest XO Cognac in Tesseron’s Classic range which also includes the Lot 53, Lot 76 and Lot 29. As of 2018 the youngest component in an XO blend must have a minimum age of 10 years old. Most small, quality producers XOs will be older than 10 years old.

Cognac Tesseron is a small, specialist producer of luxury, aged Cognacs, and all of their Cognacs are bottled as “XO or Beyond”. Tesseron have an amazing collection of old and rare brandies, their Cognacs are only made in extremely small quantities and are incredibly rare and desirable.

Maison Tesseron was founded by Abel Tesseron in 1905 and is located in the commune of in Châteauneuf-sur-Charente. Abel Tesseron was famous for building up legendary reserves of old Grande and Petite Champagne Cognac which would then sell to other larger Cognac Houses. Today the business is in the hands of the third generation, his grandsons, Alfred and Gérard, who founded Cognac Tesseron as a brand in 2003 and began marketing their fantastic, old brandy themselves. They are ably assisted by the fourth generation Justine and Noé Tesseron. The Tesseron family also own Chateau Pontet Canet in Pauillac, Chateau Lafon Rochet in St Estephe and a new project, Pym-Rae in the Napa Valley. They remain family owned.

Cognac Tesseron have vineyards in two regions of Cognac. They have 22.5 hectares of vineyards in Grande Champagne at Boneuil and 14.5 hectares in Petit Champagne at Saint-Surin. They are one of the few producers that still work with the three main Cognac grape varieties: Ugni Blanc, Folle Blanc and Colombard. Everything is double distilled in small alembic copper stills and all the “cuts” are made traditionally by nose and tasting – every part of the process is still done by hand. Tesseron’s ageing cellars, which were acquired by Abel Tesseron in the 19th century, are housed in a 13th century crypt. The cool, damp cellars are relatively humid compared to other cellars which results in a more rounded Cognac. It is here young ‘eaux-de-vie’ is laid to rest, to quietly to age and mature in old oak casks for many years. After about 75 years of age Cognac can begin to lose it’s desirable, aromatic qualities, old Cognac are then moved to 20 to 25 litre glass demi-johns.

The majority of the Tesseron range is labelled at “Lots”, a term rarely used in Charente. As Alfred Tesseron explains : “These ‘Lots’ are, in fact, blends taken from our reserve stocks.” The master blender (maitre de chai) is Romain Martial. Cognac Tesseron Lot 90 XO Ovation demonstrates freshness and purity, a balance of vigour, richness and complexity from a combination of older and young eaux-de-vies. It is a blend of Cognac from Grande Champagne, Petite Champagne and Fins Bois. 100% Ugni Blanc aged for a minimum of 10 years. Presented in Tesseron’s decanter style bottle.