*Nice R'n'B Music* *More cool music!* What is up guys!?
Not Jeremy Kyle but Julien Miquel here,
back with another wine video. Not exactly a wine video.
I am in Cognac today, I'm going to visit one of the most famous of Cognac houses. Today, this morning,
I'm visiting a unique, rare place in the world of spirits, I am at the distillery of Hennessy
(not Tennessee!), in the heart of Cognac. I am going to witness how they
distill the famous, super famous, Hennessy Cognac!
A rare, unique experience. I'm feelings so grateful, thrilled and excited right now!
This is a rare moment and I wanted to share it with you. Let's go! *music* So, here is one of three distilleries
owned by Hennessy it's a tiny, small distillery,
There's about 10 stills here, they're copper stills, It's a very artisanal, very handcrafted process.
You can see here, the stills in which... in which they distill the wine.
Cognac is made of wine.
And over there, is an operating still. I'm going to show you
where the eau-de-vie, the brandy comes out. It's a very special place around here.
You have to feel the warmth, from all those stills that are working,
you have to feel the smell. It's a very unique experience to enter this place.
It's in the heart of the vineyards, surrounded by the beautiful Cognac vineyards.
We are mid-November, it's the beginning of the distillation process,
we are in the middle of fall, so the leaves are yellow. It's a really excellent time to come here in Cognac
and witness the distillation. So, the distillation goes from around early November
to March. So, winter may not be the best season to be in Cognac,
to be outside in the vineyards and the under the Sun at least, But the great thing is you can be inside
in a warm distillery like here and experience the crafting,
the process of heating the wine, distilling the wine, crafting this so special brandy that is Cognac,
and especially here at Hennessy, where the experience is absolutely outstanding.
I think we are going to go and try the Cognacs now,
so that should be also very interesting. See you in a bit... *music* So here, I am tasting Cognac wine,
this is the wine that is made in October, they harvest around the end of September,
they ferment the wine in October, and this is what cognac wine looks like.
This is a 8% to 10% alcohol wine, so it's a relatively low alcohol white wine.
You can see that it's still on the lees, on the yeasts, and it's going to be distilled
with the lees in it which adds body, and complexity to the brandy.
*sniffing* So let's have a sniff into this.
It actually smells, quite citrusy, there's a bit of grapefruit,
there's a bit of lemon touches, touches of butter from the yeast, and it's very very acidic!
Loads and loads of acidity! *music* So here, I'm lucky enough to be tasting
what they call the brouillis, this is the result of the first distillation of Cognac.
Cognac knows two distillations, one after the other.
After the first distillation they get this juice, that is about 30% alcohol
and that they call the 'brouillis'. So if you come here for a special visit,
for the special premium, VIP visit of Hennessy, you get to taste all these different products
and you get to experience and sense the different phases of the elaboration of Cognac. *music* Here, This... is the result of the second fermentation, so this is pretty much the final product.
This is what is going to be set into barrels for aging for years and years and years!
This is about 70+% alcohol. I've tried it a bit before,
and it's super super strong! Oh god! This is so hot...
It's super super hot, but it's very delicate, it's very citrusy, lemony, apricot, extremely fruity, extremely pure, this is pretty much white Cognac at full strength,
full-proof, something really rare to experience It's so so hot...
but it's so so good! *music* Wow! So, a super interesting tasting
with all the different components that make Cognac. All the different phases of elaboration,
simply just a wonderful, wonderful place!
I'm feeling so so lucky right at the moment. This is just such an incredible experience! I think the next phase is going back to the shop
and going back to have a tasting of the finished products, of the products
that I've aged and evolved for years and years and years in oak barrels.
So let's go and check this out! Now we know a little bit more about
how Cognac is made... *music* Okay! So, after crossing the river on a little cruise,
a very very short cruise from where the Hennessy shop is,
we're going back into the distillery and going to visit something really really special
called Le Paradis or 'paradise', and that's where they age all their top... spirits. *squeaking gate* *music* Those barrels is part where the Cognac Hennessy is aged.
The smell here is absolutely incredible! It smells like oak, its smells like vanilla, it smells like caramel,
it smells like alcohol, it smells like orange peel, so sweet, like Christmas pudding.
It's enchanting! *Music*
look at these old barrels! The 'Paradis' is where the very very,
the super super old eaux-de-vies, the super old brandies at Hennessy are kept. I'm gonna show you
a few examples... a brandy from 1800! 1877! there's a whole of it. 1875! This is a fantastic place, full of super old,
century-old Brandy's.
There are barrels. There that are some demojohns, just a crazy fantastic place.
I can't wait to taste the brandies! *music* Now we're going to go and taste
some of the fine Hennessy Cognacs, the most exciting exciting part the visit I suppose,
even know everything before was so amazing! I can't wait to taste the final products. Let's go! *music* Thanks for watching :-) Check out the tasting video coming up next.
