Le Cognac de JEAN MICHEL L95 - Trésors de famille - Cognac PASQUET

Le Cognac de Jean-Michel seems to be a misnomer after having interviewed Jean-Michel and Annick, the loving couple behind this bottling.

Great-grandson of cognac-makers on the same property since about the middle of the 19th century, Jean-Michel began working with his father, Régis, back in 1970 and took over, at least on paper, in 1976. Between those two dates, he and Annick, wed and had their first two children.

Then, Annick was an elementary school teacher, taking care of children and harvest meals for the teams, hailing from Spain and France, to pick their 25 hectares of grapes. Today, they have grown their vineyards to 55 hectares in Grande and Petite Champagne, adding a vineyard near Annick’s native Archiac.

She has since retired, but was once the Pasquet children’s teacher. Later on, Jean-Michel and Annick’s son, Samuel, was studying viticulture and oenology and interned with Jean-Luc and Marie-Françoise. To thank them for having mentored their son, Jean-Michel and Annick invited the Pasquets to dinner, where they tasted what Jean-Luc remembers as the finest cognac he ever had, a 1914 distilled by Jean-Michel’s grandmother, Andréa. In search of the aromas that he savored, Jean-Luc decided to replant our heritage grape variety, the Folle Blanche.

Jean-Michel and Annick went on to have two more daughters. They have raised their four children long with their exceptional eaux-de-vie. When asked what cognac is to them, we obtained this poetic answer:

“Cognac grows like a child: we care for the vines for nine months full of hopeful anticipation, then the character of the wine with its body and aromas promise a future eau-de-vie. Cognac is finally enters the world in the sultry heat and calm of the distillery. Day by day, lovingly, we raise it with all the possible advantages we can give: an old-stone cellar as shelter, a new wooden cask as a cradle, attentive observation and a great deal of patience, so that its unique personality, rooted in its terroir, is revealed.”

Today, their son, Samuel, is at the head of the vineyards and two-pot-still distillery. They have remained family friends for years and we are so proud to present this Lot 95 single cask from their cellars, lovingly selected and reduced in our own cellars.