Making the experience of super-luxury spirits crazily affordable and accessible!
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- Suggested retail price: $120
- Thursday, June 18 (for as long as it lasts), we're pouring a one-ounce pour for $4
Since 1680, generations of the Lhéraud family have lived in the same 10th-century house in the small village of Lasdoux in the heart of the Petite Champagne region. The family’s first cognac was made in 1802 — a few bottles of this rare and precious cognac are still kept in the Lhérauds’ private cellar they call “Paradis.” Since that first bottling so many years ago, the Lhéraud family has passed down the traditions and knowledge that it takes to produce their exceptional cognacs and armagnacs.
When Andrée and Guy Lhéraud inherited the domaine in the 1960s, they experienced some difficult times, and yet they never gave up. In 1970, Guy decided to stop selling the family’s cognac to outside producers and started marketing it under Cognac Lhéraud. Today, all Lhéraud cognacs and armagnacs are made of grapes from their own vineyards.
The Lhéraud family does all of the winemaking, distillation, aging, bottling and labeling. When you listen to Guy Lhéraud speak, the subject is never “I” but “we.” “We make a good trio. We can’t do anything without each other. Without my wife and her packaging, my son and his blends, the company would not be where it is today,” says the patriarch. This is a family endeavor and the warmth shows through in the spirit.
Equally dedicated to the family’s heritage, Laurent Lhéraud studied oenology, working with his parents from an early age. “We worked hard, but it wasn’t a sacrifice. I never considered doing anything else.” He now manages the domaine (Domaine de Lasdoux), from vineyard to distillation, following the traditions that have been handed down in the family from generation to generation.
The Lhéraud's own 55 hectares vineyard, at the heart of the official Cognac region, in Petite Champagne. Lheraud cognac is double-distilled in a Charente still. It follows a slow maturation process in oak barrels, coopered from wood of the Tronçais forest. The barrels are assembled without the use of glue.
This week, at 6:30 precisely, we will open a bottle of the 10 Year Cognac. I have some older bottlings of Lhéraud in the coming weeks for comparison's sake. I look forward to sharing this adventure with you.