Over a decade in French oak, in the blackest bottle on the shelf.
VSOP is the bottle that gets opened at the party. XO is the one that comes out after most people have gone home.
This is the top of the D’usse range, and it does not resemble the VSOP in look or in weight.
The bottle goes dark. Black glass with the gold Cross of Lorraine across the front. It reads as serious before a drop is poured.
Cellar master Michel Casavecchia hand selects the eaux-de-vie for it. He pulls from the rarest stock resting in the cellars of the Chateau de Cognac.
Some of it has been there for a very long time. XO requires a minimum of ten years, and this blend goes past it.
The result is ripe blackberry and apricot, layered with dark chocolate and walnut. The finish stays balanced the whole way through.
Drink it neat, at room temperature, in a glass with some shape to it. This is not a mixing bottle and it never was.
Give it fifteen minutes in the glass before you decide anything about it. The blackberry and chocolate need air to separate out.
The Jay-Z connection is real here too. He co-founded the brand in 2012 and still holds a significant stake, so the name carries weight beyond the liquid.
At this level, though, the cognac would stand on its own regardless of whose name is attached.
As a gift it does a specific job. It reaches the person who already owns the recognizable bottles and wants the next one.
The fortieth birthday. The partnership. The client who closed the year. The father-in-law who quietly knows exactly what everything costs.
We engrave this bottle too. On black glass, engraving comes up bright and sharp, and it turns a rare cognac into a permanent one.
Black glass is unusual in cognac for a reason. Most houses want you to see the color, and this one wants you to see the bottle.
Send it when the moment actually deserves it. This is not a bottle you send twice.
