Château de Beaulon XO Premier Single Estate Cognac 12 y/o

The small house of Château de Beaulon only use grapes from their own vineyards in the making of their cognacs. This, their XO is made using only Folle Blanche and Colombard grapes and is aged for 12 years in Limousin and Tronçais oak barrels before bottling. On the nose there's an awful lot going on; almonds and softly spicy cinnamon mingle with tangy peach aromas while on the palate it's rich and fruit laden with dark orange marmalade flavours which are well balanced with a sharper citrus hint. It all leads to a long, smooth finish with a pleasing freshness.

In 1965 Christian Thomas acquired the historic buildings of Château de Beaulon and it's from here that the family business is run. Their cognacs are distilled from the traditional grape varieties in four small copper pot stills, which generate a wealth of fruity aroma compounds compared to larger stills and at Beaulon they pride themselves on ageing their cognac well beyond the legal minimum for each level, resulting in a wonderful blend of aromatic spirit and smooth wood. They also produce excellent examples of the local speciality Pineau des Charentes in which year-old cognac is blended with freshly pressed grape juice before being matured for several years to make a mellow, fruity aperitif.