SPIRIT JOURNAL COGNAC - FRANCE Guillon Painturaud VSOP Grande Champagne Cognac (France; USA Wine Imports, New York, NY); 40% abv, $50. Medium amber/straw color; some sediment seen. Comes out swinging with ripe yellow fruit, light baking spice, and candied (glazed) walnut aromas — no wallflower; the tropical fruit note becomes orchard. fruit, which emerges as the dominant aroma aspect as the acute fruitiness takes over and simply won't let go: nice Eniry is keenly fruity (apples, pears) and ripe, as well as spicy (cinnamon); Iidpalate is terrifically scrumptious, apple-like, baked, pasiry-like, and crisp. Finishes intensely spiced and apple tartike. Excellent Buy! Spirit Journal September 2009: Ie K/Highly Recommended Guillon Painturaud Hors d’Age Grande Champagne Cognac (France; USA Wine Imports, New York, NY}; 40% aby, $190. Lovely bronze/burnished orange ue; quite a lot of seciiment present. Bacon fat, rancio beginnings, margarine, and sautéed almonds take the aromatic lead right out of the gate; quite a lot of the opening fragrances blow aff dur ing the added seven minutes of aera tion, leaving behind a focused bouquet Cw Ce Loniage Hors d'Age Of dried fruit, especially prune, black raisins, and dates. Entry is tidy, crisp with acidity, and mildly oaky; mid- palate is borderline oily, medium ripe and fruity, vanilla-like, and woody / resiny. Concludes long, bittersweet, tannic, and like dates and figs Spirit Journal September 2009: ‘Highly Recommended Guillon Painturaud Renaissance Grande Champagne Cognac (France; USA Wine Imports, New York, NY) 40% abv, $380. Deep copper/henna color; sediment- free, Nutmeat, dried fruits, old leather, and toasted almond scents abound in the opening stages of the nosing phase; the mature bouquet tums deeper and fnuitier and confectionery-like in the second wave of sniffing after aeration; seductive. Entry is sweetish, caramel- like, full weighted, and chewy; mid- palate offers fathomless tastes of can- died walnut, brown sugar, fruit pastry, mince meat, and baked spiced pear. Ends up assertive and generously spiced. Spirit Journal September 2009: sox dOK/Highly Recommended Paul Beau VSOP Grande Champagne Cognac (France; USA Wine Imports, New York, NY); 40% abv, $60. Deep amber/old gold color; excellent clarity. Bakes! apple aroma leaps from the glass in the initial whiffs after the pour; further air contact brings out delicate scents of pastry dough, nut- meg, ancl light toffee. Entry offers suc culent tastes of caramel, toasted marshmallow, and candied apple; ‘midpalate stays the candied /earamel course, adding sweet, spicy traces of vanilla, maple, and oak. Ends on a sweet, confectioner’s note of brown sugar. Lovely. Spirit Journal September 2009: dekwe/Highly Recommended Paul Beau Hors d'Age Grande Champagne Cognac (France; USA Wine Imports, New York, NY); 40% abv, $110. Seriously gorgeous old coppercolor/ auburn color; sediment-free and pure. Prickly, assertively spirity opening nose of sawdust and dried yellow fruits; further aeration brings out more Of the spice aspect, leaving behind the ‘oakiness and a measure af the dried Sruits. Entry is fully integrated, resiny / woody, and dry; midpalate is peppery, meaty, charred, maple-like and_piny. Finishes in a flurry of high-toned spice and oak notes that are immensely charming. Harmonious and tightly- knit cognac splendor, Spicit Journal September 2009: deitotk Highest Recommendation Paul-Marie et Fils Grande Champagne Cognac Grance; USA Wine Imports, New York, NY); 51% abv, $600. Highly attractive henna/chestrut brown color; superb purity. Smells out of the gate like old leather/men’s club/library; additional time in the glass doesn’t expand the aromatic boundaries all that much, adding only treacle and marzipan. Entry is long, very complex, intensely oaky and spicy, and very much like dried red fruits, especially prunes and raisins; 1midpalate is sweet/sour, touched by rancio, cheese-like, and round andl oily acon fat). Concludes decadently hhoney-like, concentrated, oaky, spicy, and surprisingly austere and even a bit ‘minerally. Awesome taste experience after a s0-30 aroma. Spirit Journal September 2009: Se HMHighly Recommended 20 + SEPTEMBER 2000