Cognac de Joël L.82/88 - Trésors de Famille - Jean-Luc Pasquet

Sometimes, a simple cellar decision becomes a treasure Joël has always had a curious mind, one that must understand how everything works and how it might work even better. He was born in Malaville, where his parents farmed rented vineyards before deciding, in 1968, to purchase their own estate in nearby Nonaville. At the time, the family cultivated about four hectares of vines while continuing to work the parcels they rented. Over the years the vineyard gradually expanded, and today the family farms around twenty-five hectares in Grande and Petite Champagne.

When the property was purchased, Joël’s father installed a 25-hectoliter pot still that still runs each winter. Joël began working alongside him in the 1976/1977 growing season, learning the rhythms of the vineyard and the art of distillation. Today, it is Joël and Annie’s son, Cédric, who tends the vines and carries on the family’s distilling tradition.

Joël and Annie married in 1980. At a time when most vintners’ wives worked on the estate, Annie chose a different path and worked at the tutu factory in Barbezieux, making dance costumes while Joël continued toiling in the vineyards and at the still.

When his parents retired, Joël could not imagine a winter without the still running. His parents had slept at the distillery during the distillation season. Annie preferred not to. Joël therefore devised his own solution. Using three wind-up alarm clocks, he created a simple system that allowed him to run the still through the night. At the beginning of each campaign he would carefully set the still, and once everything was in place, the alarm clocks would not wake him but turn the valves of the still at night, letting the family sleep peacefully.