John & Lynne's French odyssey. Day 3, A visit to Cognac producer Grosperrin in Saintes

We tasted Grosperrin Cognacs at the Fusion Brandy Festival at the CTICC in May and contacted Guilhem Grosperrin
to see if we could visit him when we came to the Cognac region before our visit to Vinexpo in Bordeaux
Guilhem took over his father’s business ten years ago when his father fell ill with MS. He was 23

      Ancient beams in the old warehouse building he has bought and renovated

Bottles of Cognac ready to be packed and shipped

Barrels of aged Cognac and Pineau de Charentes

New and old demijohns in the cellar

Prototype bottles and labels

and samples of bottles and decanters

A variety of different cognacs in the lab – we tasted several of them. Sadly, the driver, as usual, spat most of it out

A new label, aimed at the young market and designed by Guilhem’s sister

with a vintage single vineyard Cognac

The oldest we tasted, distilled in 1810

at that time other flavours were often blended in to suit the buyer’s taste and this had a trace of rum

Ancient bottles of Cognac and Pineau

and a sherry

1989 from the Petite Champagne region

Grande Champagne and Petite Champagne are regions of Cognac
and have no relation to the “other” Champagne, far to the north-east, famous for lovely fizz

A deluxe label of Petite Champagne Cognac

The 1820 was rich and amazingly fresh

A 1991 from l'Ile d’Oléron, our next destination

Two different labels for an XO Petite Champagne Cognac

Guilhem’s retail shop

where he sells natural and organic wines

He gave us a 2009 Côtes de Rhône from Faugères, which was soft and fruity with a mineral backbone

A window display of Grosperrin Cognacs

and shelves of Calvados and Pineaus

Guilhem using a pupitre (we call it a "wine thief") to give us a taste of aged Pineau from the barrel

2004 Grande Champagne Cognac in the barrel, made from Colombard, 

Every barrel produced has to be decanted and sealed by the bailiff before it can be bottled

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