What We Know
- Average age of 20-29 years
- Fins Bois, blend
- Ugni Blanc
- Distilled on the lees
- Limousin oak
- Humid cellars
- 40% ABV
- Additives: Unknown
Nose
Caramel, allspice, roasted coffee, cedar, subtle smoke/ash, leather furniture polish, wet hay, roasted walnuts, blue cheese, burnt orange, cherry, plum, overripe papaya, quince, fig
Palate
Vanilla extract, butterscotch, black pepper, cinnamon, ginger, licorice, dark roast coffee, toffee, dark chocolate, cigar box, leather, port wine, pecan, mandarin orange, cherry, prune, blackberry
Finish
Candied walnuts, musty earth, and sandalwood
Overall Thoughts
Rust orange with mahogany around the edges. This is a rich cognac. The age doesn’t hide itself here. On the nose you’re immediately met with all kinds of earth tones. There’s wet hay and wood, ash, cedar, and leather. It almost smells like if you had a really old leather couch and tried to polish it to make it look new again. Quince, fig, and overripe papaya (more like borderline rotten) are the fruits that come to mind here. This is really a sensory explosion. If you’ve got this bottle, take your time.
On the palate, the experience continues with more earthy notes like cigars, licorice, and coffee. There’s a flash of really old port wine, too. More dark fruits like prune and cherries. The finish is long with candied walnuts and wet oak that hits the very back sides of your tongue. This is a weighty cognac with depth and how it coats the palate.
This bottle was my first exploration into a well aged Fins Bois. Usually, cognac from this region shows up much younger and are mostly used in blends. Despite that generalization, the Février Réserve Familiale offers something unique. It definitely has a wonderfully unique rancio to it with the wet, earthy tones. I even caught a bit of a blue cheese on the nose. During the holiday’s, my mom often bought those chocolate covered cherries in the foil boxes. That was a sensory memory that came out in this cognac for me. Chocolatey, kind of creamy, with lots of dark and overripe fruits.
As with any cognac that has Réserve or Familiale on the label, there is a percentage of some special eau-de-vie from the paradis cellar. This cognac has a lot to take in, sit with, and think about within this glass. It is a great after dinner special occasion sipper for sure. I would pair this cognac with something dairy based or rich for dessert like bread pudding or crème brûlée. The best way I could define this cognac would be “refined fortitude.”
