Fanny Fougerat is a fourth generation distiller. Her family had been selling to the big houses that dominate Cognac; she is the first in her family to bottle her own cognac, and is currently the only woman doing so.
She and her partner farm 30 hectares of Ugni Blanc, primarily in Borderies but also in Fin Bois. For those Cognac nerds out there, Borderies needs no introduction: it is the smallest cru and highly sought after, a plateau of clay and limestone soil that offers ideal sun exposure, good drainage and allows for deep root development. The eaux-de-vie from Borderies is known to be floral and elegant and also to build complexity more quickly and show its many facets at a younger age. Aromatically, it is the Burgundy of Cognac.
Fanny’s philosophy takes the Burgundy comparison a step further: she is making terroir-driven Cognac. She understands the unique nature of her area and also the unique nature of each vineyard, each harvest, each distillation and each barrel. Her Cognac is never blended; every bottle from every release is labelled with barrel number and bottle number. To give you an idea of the scale of her production, each barrel has 450 bottles; the current release of Cèdre Blanc is from 2 barrels only, the Iris Poivré is from 12 barrels and the Petit Cigüe from 15 barrels. Every barrel is bottled on its own; each release has variation based on the life of each barrel. These are truly unique eaux-de-vies; Fanny Fougerat is to Cognac what grower-producers are to Champagne.
From the beginning, she kept it pure and simple, adding no sugar or caramel to her first cuvée unblended eponymous cognac. While she may have had a foot in the door being born into a family of winemakers and distillers, she’s stepped out on her own to create her own mark and is making some serious waves in the world of Cognac: everyone from bartenders to cognac aficionados are clamoring for her unique bottlings.
She and her partner farm 30 hectares of Ugni Blanc, primarily in Borderies but also in Fin Bois. For those Cognac nerds out there, Borderies needs no introduction: it is the smallest cru and highly sought after, a plateau of clay and limestone soil that offers ideal sun exposure, good drainage and allows for deep root development. The eaux-de-vie from Borderies is known to be floral and elegant and also to build complexity more quickly and show its many facets at a younger age. Aromatically, it is the Burgundy of Cognac.
Fanny’s philosophy takes the Burgundy comparison a step further: she is making terroir-driven Cognac. She understands the unique nature of her area and also the unique nature of each vineyard, each harvest, each distillation and each barrel. Her Cognac is never blended; every bottle from every release is labelled with barrel number and bottle number. To give you an idea of the scale of her production, each barrel has 450 bottles; the current release of Cèdre Blanc is from 2 barrels only, the Iris Poivré is from 12 barrels and the Petit Cigüe from 15 barrels. Every barrel is bottled on its own; each release has variation based on the life of each barrel. These are truly unique eaux-de-vies; Fanny Fougerat is to Cognac what grower-producers are to Champagne.
From the beginning, she kept it pure and simple, adding no sugar or caramel to her first cuvée unblended eponymous cognac. While she may have had a foot in the door being born into a family of winemakers and distillers, she’s stepped out on her own to create her own mark and is making some serious waves in the world of Cognac: everyone from bartenders to cognac aficionados are clamoring for her unique bottlings.
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Petit Cigüe VSOP
100% Ugni Blanc, harvested in 2010. Double-distilled in an alembic still; 15% of the batch is aged one year in new oak, the rest is aged in neutral oak. No filtration, no caramel, no sugar added. Sappy, lush fruit dominates here. Incredibly fine for the baby of the lineup. Everything is transparent: the grape, the distillation, the barrel. Fascinating Cognac. Laurier d’Apollon
LIMITED EDITION. Cru Petit Champagne, Double-distilled in an alembic still in 2010 on heavy lees, non chill filtered, no caramel, no sugar added. Young, masculine and ambitious, this cognac offers a virile aromatic palette in a rich and powerful style! |