It smells really rich and woody with a dark cherry scent. The palate is surprisingly herbal and not as sweet as expected with a strong woodiness with cocoa powder and a redder ripe cherry flavor than expected. A fair amount of anise and some violet stand out, as does a bit of mint. It's fairly spicy, but not harsh. The long finish has a lot of cocoa with a hint of mint and some remnants of cherry. It's thoroughly drinkable and decently complex. A big success. It's packed full of flavor but it isn't as smooth and subtle or as quite as sweet as Delord 25. I prefer Delord 25, but not by a tremendous margin. This is definitely a 17 and it might be as high as a 19, but it probabaly isn't a 20. I think I'm going to land on 18 for now. Side by side, Delord 25 is a bit better, but I do love the variety of flavor here and bet is taste even more complexity with a fuller glass. Sadly, I only got to have about 7ml of a 30ml sample that had evaporated down to 21ml. Damn, it's really good though. Maybe I'll bump it to a 19. I think it deserves a 19.
About this bottle
From the House of Fussigny, which sits on the banks of the Charente River in the town of Cognac, this spirit is a blend of two eaux-de-vie distilled in the Cognac region of France: one from Grande Champagne and another from Petite Champagne. The distillate is aged at least 10 years in French oak casks to qualify as an XO, although most XO cognacs contain much older spirit.
Reviews
Showing the most detailed of 7 parsed reviews.
Nose - cherry, plum, raisin, grape, apple, mint, chocolate, sweet oak, cinnamon, allspice, toffee, sweet vanilla, leather, almond, orange zest, earthiness, mild to moderate ethanol burn. Taste - cherry, raisin, grape, apple tart, orange zest, spearmint, cocoa, sweet oak, toffee, leather, creamy vanilla, walnut, almond, cinnamon, allspice, clove, black pepper, ginger, mild alcohol bite, finishing long with mint, baking spice, chocolate, and dried fruit flavors. This cognac is deep and rich, with a nice long finish. It’s significantly better than their Sélection offering. While there is a bit of sourness of the palate and the mouthfeel seems a bit thin, this is a really nice sipper. Many thanks to @ContemplativeFox for providing the sample.
Nose is fantastic, caramelized peaches, dark dried fruits, subtle cinnamon. Taste is very good, syrupy and honey notes. The finish falls a bit flat for me though, could be more rounded and slight bitterness at times.
Yowza! Uber smooth and complex. Layer upon layer of flavor: candied nuts, caramel, butterscotch, figs, dates. The list goes on. I bought this for my barrel-aged Vieux Carré, but it’s best as a sipper.
Amazing value for the price! I certainly would get 2 bottles of this XO over 1 bottle of Hennessy XO!!!
Absolutely delicious and affordably priced compared to a lot of the other XO cognacs on the shelf
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Tastes like this
Same style and price bracket, best rated first.
