More than human influence, more so than the terroir, the Louis XIII Rare Cask 42,6 is all about the unforeseen.
The Rare Cask is a marriage of over 1,200 eaux-de-vie (translated, literally, as waters of life’, cognacs that have been maturing in oak barrels for varying lengths of time, the oldest of them date a century). This delectable blend of the luxuriantly aged and bursting-with-ripeness recent vintage has uncovered a spirit of uncommon perfection, a brandy of extraordinary balance.
But how is such perfection reached? Is it down to what’s secreted in those tierçons (the ancient casks, no two of which, incidentally, are of the same size)? No one knows. There’s no rationale. It’s a mystery, and it’s perhaps best it remains that way. For it would be a pity if one of the world’s great unknowns, the provenance of the Louis XIII Rare Cask 42,6 (the comma’d number, a quirkily Gallic flourish, reflects the cognac’s alcohol content), became public knowledge.
The Rare Cask 42,6 is a series of exceptionalities, of a cask suddenly revealing its decades-old enigma; it is a sequence of molecular sleights of hand, and of air, eaux-de-vie, and oakwood indecipherably coming together. It is, above all, about the cellar master’s instinct and intuitiveness; she just knows that – voilà! – this tierçon is the one. “I will never forget the moment when I placed my chalk mark on the tierçon that was to become the first Rare Cask,” recalls Pierrette Trichet, the present Cellar Master of the House of Rémy Martin.
“At that time I had no way of knowing whether I would ever find another such cask again. But somehow in my heart I felt sure that I would. So from that point forward, I watched and tasted with this question always in my mind. From time to time I would mark a certain tierçon for special observation.”
The Rare Cask 42,6 (priced at 18,000 by the decanter) turned out to be a cornucopia of nuances that one’s senses found nigh-on-impossible to render. But, here goes: The colour whispered age, a gorgeously golden-brown; on the nose, it was oaky with just a whiff of tobacco, aromatic without the bouquet ever overwhelming. On the palate, there were flavours fruity and nutty; spicy too, cinnamon and nutmeg competing for attention. But it was elegant caramel that won the day.
Raise your glasses, then, to the next 100 years – in anticipation of an even more revelatory Rare Cask’ in 2113.
Text by Sharad Kohli