Hennessy

Hennessy has been one of the dominant forces in Cognac since it was founded in 1756 by Richard Hennessy, an officer in the French army of Irish descent. Hennessy flourished during the French Revolution, emerging as 'Citizen Hennessy'.

In the last quarter of the nineteenth century, a widespread outbreak of phylloxera threatened Hennessy's future. Yet in only 15 years the company had overcome this obstacle by regenerating their vineyards and marketing their older eaux-de-vieux. The company also began bottling on a large scale, thus participating in the industrialisation of the cognac business.

The company has remained dominated by the Hennessy family even though it merged with Moët & Chandon in 1971 and became part of the giant LVMH group in the late 1980's. For the past 200 years the firm's cognacs have been blended by successive generations of the Fillioux family, who have maintained the same style, rounded and fruit driven, helped by the firm's tradition of owning the biggest stocks of aged cognacs in the business.

Hennessy VS is a blend of over 40 eaux-de-vie aged between 2.5 and 8 years from the four premier growing regions. Fine de Cognac is composed of 50-60 eaux-de-vie, sourced mainly from the Fine Bois region and aged up to 10 years in old oak barrels to retain its aromatic qualities. Created in 2000, to follow on from the original Hennessy VSOP, it exemplifies a modern floral, mellow style.

Hennessy XO Cognac is composed of around a hundred eaux-de-vie originating from the regions’ four 1er Crus; Grande Champagne, Petite Champagne, Borderies, and Fins Bois. It aged in mainly new Oak barrels for up to 30 years.

Paradis is Hennessy’s super-premium Cognac, composed of a blend of over 100 eaux de vie .

Richard Hennessy is the company's flagship Cognac, created from a blend of more than 100 exceptional cognacs, aged up to 200 years, and presented in a Baccarat Decanter.

France

Despite their own complacency, occasional arrogance and impressive challenges from all-comers, France is still far and away the finest wine-producing nation in the world and its famous regions – Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne, Loire, Rhône, Alsace and increasingly Languedoc Roussillon – read like a who’s who of all you could want from a wine. Full-bodied, light-bodied, still or fizzy, dry or sweet, simple or intellectual, weird and wonderful, for drinking now or for laying down, France’s infinitesimal variety of wines is one of its great attributes. And that’s without even mentioning Cognac and Armagnac.

France’s grape varieties are grown, and its wines emulated, throughout the world. It also brandishes with relish its trump card, the untranslatable terroir that shapes a wine’s character beyond the range of human knowledge and intervention. It is this terroir - a combination of soil and microclimate - that makes Vosne-Romanée taste different to Nuits-St Georges, Ch. Langoa Barton different to Ch. Léoville Barton.

France is a nation with over 2,000 years of winemaking, where the finest grapes and parcels of land have been selected through centuries of trial and error rather than market research. Its subtleties are never-ending and endlessly fascinating. Vintage variation is as great here as anywhere – rain, hail, frost and, occasionally, burning heat can ruin a vintage. Yet all this creates interest, giving the wines personality, and generating great excitement when everything does come together.

However, this is not to say that French wine is perfect. Its overall quality remains inconsistent and its intricate system of classification and Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée (AOC) based on geography as opposed to quality is clearly flawed, sometimes serving as a hindrance to experimentation and improvement.

Nevertheless, the future is bright for France: quality is better than ever before – driven by a young, well-travelled and ambitious generation of winemakers – while each year reveals new and exciting wines from this grand old dame.