Jean Grosperrin worked as a Cognac broker in France. A broker in eaux-de-vie plays a very discreet yet strategic role between the producer and the buyer. His job is to evaluate the quality of the eaux-de-vie and to introduce interested parties to each other. His profession takes him to many cellars to estimate the value of different batches, amongst which there are sometimes some very old Cognacs.
Practically all grape-growers distil their own harvest and they usually conserve, as former generations have done before them, some barrels of cognac in their cellars. These family treasures are very rarely up for sale and the transactions are very confidential. It is these Cognacs that Jean, and now his son Guilhem, have sought out and acquired to establish a truly exceptional collection of vintage Cognac.
"I am particularly attracted to these small batches of rare Cognacs which bear witness to an era now past, when vines were cultivated using horses and when the art of distillation made the vine grower spend all day and all night next to the still. Many of these oldest Cognacs have lost up to 80% of their initial volume as a result of natural evaporation. My philosophy is to keep these batches intact, without blending them with others. I leave them in their original barrels and the oldest ones in glass demi-johns. Our vintage Cognacs are stocked in a Government-controlled warehouse in Cognac and in our own cellars, where they are carefully supervised by officials. This allows us to guarantee their age. Even their preparation and bottling are carried out under the supervision of official bailiffs".
French law, as restrictive as it may be in matters of age and vintage, has allowed Grosperrin to acquire an incredible collection of exceptional products. This collection is currently the equivalent of more than 81,500 bottles, dating from 1991 all the way back to World War II. Each bottle has the requisite guarantees of quality and authenticity and each tells its own story; a story that will take you back to a place where time has stood still for decades.
Alongside the vintage library there also sits a 12 Year Old and XO Cognac. These "younger" Cognacs, although blended and having had their strength reduced, offer exceptional character and insight into the terroir of the Cognac region and truly represent the dedication to quality that Guilhem religiously pursues.
