THE IMPERIAL COGNAC GROUP
A collection of boutique private cognac houses
Imperial Cognac is a group of boutique cognac houses some of which date back to the early 1700s. Deep in South-western France within the highly regulated appellation controlee of the Pays du cognac are six different terroirs - domains - covering some 200,000 hectares of vines that centre around the towns of Cognac and Jarnac. Based on the characteristics of the soils defined in 1860, the 6 Cognac crus were delimited, before being ratified by decree in 1938.
Due to the chalk soil, exceptional light and a unique microclimate, it is these terroirs that produce the spirit known as cognac, a product of the vagaries of weather and climate and which, for sheer depth, intensity and complexity of flavour, remains incomparable. Each terroir has its specific characteristic, with Grande Champagne, Fin Bois and Petit Champagne the domains thought to produce the finest of all cognacs. For the past three centuries, cognac has been almost universally recognised as the finest of all the spirits that are distilled from grapes. It has many inimitable qualities: fruitiness, subtlety of bouquet, intensity, warmth and, above all, the complexity of the many thousands of styles and flavours from a (predominantly) single grape variety.
The production of Cognac is governed by extremely strict rules. The grapes are harvested in late October and pressed into wine which has then to be twice distilled to create an eau de vie with a maximum alcohol strength of 72%. After the second distillation, the precious “Liqueur des Dieu” as it is known is laid to rest to age slowly and silently in “Tiercons”, the traditional casks of Limousin oak whose proportions are ideal to allow Cognac to mature.
Each of the artisanal cognac houses within IMPERIAL strive to create a spirit that is unique and do not seek to compete in a market dominated by big brands. There blends of individual flavours are often lost and quality can - and often is - compromised by the demand for quantity. The artisanal cognac houses use their generations of knowledge to produce the very best, single-estate, vintage cognacs: so what should you choose ? Surely it must be cognac royalty – rare, elegantly presented and steeped in history. The houses of IMPERIAL lay down their eau de vie in oak casks for private clients and bottle only when the subtle nuances and perfumes declare it to be fully refined and to have matured into liquid history.
Cognac would never have achieved its fame had it not been situated downriver from and with easy access to the old oak woodlands of the Limousin. The lignum of these trees is relatively porous with far more tannin than trees planted close together in man-made forests. There, the trees grow tall and narrow resulting in tightly packed wood lacking in tannin. Cognac is a spirit that does not improve when bottled and the casks coopered from Limousin oak are essential to the taming of the raw eaux de vie.
