Rémy Martin XO | Cognac Review | Tasting with Julien Episode #24

What is up guys? Julien Miquel here of Social Vignerons. Welcome back to another Cognac video. This is episode 24 of the Tasting with Julien series. Yes, you've heard it right. Today I'm not tasting wine, and usually I'm tasting distilled wine rather. In the most famous of all distilled wines, I'm tasting some Cognac. Because yes, Cognac is made out of grapes and it's made out of wine. If you're not familiar with how Cognac is made, I made a whole video about it. So I suggest you go and check this out somewhere here or here to learn more about Cognac. Today I'm tasting a premium Cognac from one of the very most famous of Cognac houses. Today I'm tasting Rémy Martin EXO. Rémy Martin is one of the oldest of Cognac houses, founded in 1724. It's also one of the most reputable ones and one of the largest. I was actually visiting Rémy Martin in the region of Cognac just a few months ago. I made a video also about touring and visiting the facilities of Rémy Martin. The specificity of Rémy Martin is that they only use wines, grapes produced in the Fin Champagne area. So that's the very very heart of the Cognac vineyard and production area. The Fin Champagne is called Fin Champagne because the terroir, the soils, very much resemble the ones found in Champagne. They are chalky, very limestone-rich soils. This gives the finest, the most refined, the most subtle eau-de-vis and the most subtle brandies. So this is why Rémy Martin really emphasizes on the Fin Cognac. It's everywhere on their website, it's everywhere on their labels, only Fin Cognac. EXO in particular has a majority of Grand Champagne, which is a bit of a larger area. About 80-85% Grand Champagne and 15% Petit Champagne. And obviously what is very very important is Cognac, is the blending. EXO is an extra old Cognac. Most of the eau-de-vis are very very old eau-de-vis. This is actually a blend of up to 400 different eau-de-vis, different batches from different vintages, different sub-areas of Cognac, different vineyards that are aged for different amount of times, different amount of years as well. In an EXO, the law, the legal requirements stipulate that the eau-de-vis in the blend, the youngest eau-de-vis in the blend, should be at least six years old. But Rémy Martin pushes the envelope much further. Most of the eau-de-vis in EXO Rémy Martin are way beyond 10 years old. And there's 400 different eau-de-vis blended in there. So it includes very very old, decades and decades old eau-de-vis. The whole expertise of blending is marrying the qualities of all these different eau-de-vis to assemble a harmonious, complex and deep blend. So let's find out how Rémy Martin EXO tastes like. It's always a very very special moment to be pouring one of those. You can see that the flask on this Rémy Martin is actually very very pretty, very very elegant. Just pouring it is a real pleasure. So Rémy Martin, on top of using only finned champagne, so very fine refined eau-de-vis, on top of using finned champagne, they also insist and emphasize on using small copper stills. Because they find that the expression and again the refinement of their eau-de-vis is better when using small traditional copper stills in Cognac. They also distill the wines on their lees. So this adds some depth and body and richness to the blend as well. So let's go and taste EXO Rémy Martin. So you can see that the color is very dense, quite dark, obviously for a spirit. And this comes from the aging in Limousin French oak barrels. A long aging that gives a beautiful, rather dark, amber-golden color to the blend. The aromas here are magnificent. They are captivating, they are enchanting. It's a lot of blonde raisins, sultanas, some white flowers, there's a bit of lily, elderflower in there, touches of orange peel, bergamot, like a bergamot tea, vanilla and caramel. It's all powerful, it's pungent, lots of flavors, but it's also very elegant. Everything is delivered with finesse and elegance, a touch of smokiness. It's a little oaky but it's harmoniously integrated. You could just spend minutes and minutes and minutes smelling the wine, analyzing all these different components, and just smelling it is just charming. It just transports you into a universe of fine, juicy grape berries, old oak, vanilla, Christmas pudding. There's a lot going on just smelling at it. It's a distinctive, dreamy experience just to smell at it. Let's give it a try. Wow! Tasting the spirit transports you into a different universe. There is so much going on. There's a big explosion of flavors on your palate. It's pretty smoky. You can sense that this wine has been distilled. The wine has been warmed up in those copper stills, warmed up pretty intensely, liberating a lot of smokiness. Obviously, the oak adds some smokiness as well. But there is also a coating and a harmonious feel and texture that coats your palate. A big, round, soft body, oily texture with a big burst of Christmas pudding, sweet spices, nutmeg, clove, vanilla, caramel, and a bit of coconut. It's all very smooth, very soft, very elegant. Loads of citrus and comfy citrus peel. It's like tasting the most enchanting, the most powerful, and pungent Christmas pudding that you've ever tasted, full of dried fruits, sultanas and figs. Lots and lots and lots going on. But it's dry and it's harmonious. It doesn't have any sweetness or the richness. It's all delivered with fantastic elegance. Really, the amount of flavors that is concentrating into this juice, because the cognacs, when they age in the barrel, some of the alcohol actually evaporates and it concentrates, and it concentrates the flavors more and more. And you can definitely sense this richness, this enormous concentration of flavors gathered into cognac, Rémy Martin Exo. It is and it feels very rare to be tasting such a smooth and concentrated spirit. It's really rare to have this impression that you're floating on a cloud of bursting, fantastic, oaky, rich flavors while tasting cognac. And I hardly find this in any other spirit, and maybe because it's made of wine, and I love wine so much as well. But also, there is this whole savoir-faire of gathering and blending old, old, old Eau de Vies, and selecting the best Eau de Vies from the best vineyard sites. And this is really unique to cognac, and Rémy Martin in particular does it extremely well. The Exo is a fantastic expression of the know-how and all the work, and the years, the many years of work by many vineyards, many wine growers from all around the region, and everything is gathered in one single bottle. You can sense this, you can feel this when you taste, it's just a fantastic harmony. Hundreds and hundreds of years of accumulating savoir-faire, and know-how to master the production of great brandy. Truly a unique, unique experience that I can only recommend. So I hope you enjoyed this cognac video. I will be back with more cognac tastings as much as possible. I welcome any opportunity to taste a refined, a fantastically refined spirit. Check out my various videos about tasting cognacs and visiting the cognac area. And I will see you soon in the wine and cognac world. Cheers!