anybody ever tried this? I just got myself a bottle
:-)
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Unique 100% Grande Champagne, Premier Grand Cru
Why do cognac and cigars go so well together? Just smell the aromas and you will understand. The aromas of rancio in Frapin’s Vieux Cognac Grande Champagne are absolutely unique, just like those in cigars from Santo Domingo, Cuba, Honduras and Nicaragua.
Both of them hail from a land where the conditions for production are perfect and where the talent and expertise of the people who make them are essential to the production, ageing and final blending process.
The FRAPIN family vineyard now covers 315 hectares located solely in Grande Champagne, classed officially as Premier Cru du Cognac in 1904 (today designated Premier Grand Cru du Cognac). 215 hectares of the total area are planted with the region’s most prevalent grape variety, Ugni Blanc. FRAPIN’s vineyard stands out thanks to its size and location. “Cognac from the Grande Champagne area is the finest, the most intense and one of those that ages the best” (BNIC – Cognac Bureau)
The FRAPIN family’s time-honoured respect for tradition now combines with modern techniques for producing quality wines. Double distillation gives the young Cognac complex aromas, a highly concentrated bouquet and quite exceptional length on the palate. This produces a mettlesome Cognac that will then age in genuine oak barrels from the Limousin whose wood gives the Grande Champagne its golden hue and notes of vanilla.
FRAPIN’s single estate grapes are distilled and aged in oak barrels stored in traditional style cellars on our property. Our cellar master carefully checks each barrel, levels of humidity in each cellar and assesses the time necessary for the cognac to reach perfection, he then blends several different years of Grande Champagne Premier Grand Cru brandies to obtain the complex bouquet, incomparable length and superb balance of FRAPIN Cognac.
FRAPIN’s 100% Grande Champagne CIGAR BLEND
FRAPIN’s 100% Grande Champagne CIGAR BLEND has a mahogany colour with coppery tints. This very old brandy shows perfectly balanced, concentrated aromas and has the extremely soft, complex, subtle bouquet of old port combined with the scent of cigar box, both of which are so characteristic of Grande Champagne Premier Grand Cru Cognac. The flavours mingle in subtle, complex harmony on its exceptionally long aftertaste.
This marvellous Cognac comes from one single estate vineyard located in the Grande Champagne area, Premier Grand Cru. It shows discreet hints of vanilla that come from the wood tannin and a homogenous bouquet with persistent aromas. It undergoes prolonged ageing in new oak barrels and benefits from the FRAPIN family’s time-honoured expertise. Served on the rocks before dinner, its flavours blend harmoniously with its floral, fruity aromas and it shows the persistent taste that are a characteristic of Grande Champagne Cognacs. Absolutely superb with aromatic cigars such as those showing the creamy, floral and subtly spicy overtones so typical of the Dominican Republic and the tobacco grown in the Cibao valley.
Served at room temperature, it displays the famous “Rancio” (the special aroma of old Cognacs). Flavours of walnuts, hazelnuts and dried fruit combined with dried flowers are typical of this “rancio”. A complex, highly balanced bouquet (thanks to distillation on its lees) reaches the heights of perfection. This cognac should be enjoyed with fuller-flavoured cigars whose wide-ranging aromas harmonise perfectly with Cigar Blend Cognac. Rich, voluptuous havanas from the area around Vuelta Abajo make a superb choice. For a more unusual match, try areas like Copan and El Paraiso in Honduras whose flavours of liquorice and pepper or spice, wood and leather partner Cigar Bland’s rancio perfectly.
Like any cognac or cigar lover, swirl your Frapin Cigar Blend Cognac and smell your cigars first to select the one which suits the mood you are in at that precise moment: analyse their colour, harmonise their aromas such as wood and oak, spices (pepper, vanilla, nutmeg, gingerbread), fruit and tropical smells (hazelnuts, lychee, coconut, honey), animal scents (musk, leather), toasty smells (moka and toasted bread)…
Just as FRAPIN keeps only the “heart” of the distillate for its cognacs, retain only the essence of the cigar for your enjoyment.
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