Maxime Trijol is an independent family firm originally based in St Martial Sur Né, in the heart of the Cognac region. While the first still was installed in the distillery the brand uses in November 1859, it wasn't until 1962 that Maxime Trijol actually became professional distillers, having previously become a broker in wines and Cognac eaux de vie in 1954. Now boasting twenty-two 2,500 litre Charente stills, Maxime Trijol can claim to be one of the largest distillers of Cognac.
78,000 hectares of vines covering two areas of Grande and Petite Champagne make up the Trijol family vineyard, approximately 95% of which is used for Cognac production. Trijol grapes are harvested usually at the end of September or early October and are pressed immediately after picking, and the obtained juice is immediately set to ferment.
Once the alcoholic fermentation has been completed, the white wines are distilled following a traditional two stage process. The first distillation, known as ‘la premier chauffe’ entails reducing the initial distillate to one-third from the original amount in a boiler, while the second distillation, ‘la bonne chauffe’ then returns the brouillis to the boiler for a second heating so the eaux de vie can finally be extracted from the liquid. In this procedure, the unpleasant tasting heads (le téte) are cut out, a difficult and precise method, which leaves just the heart (le broullis).
Following this, the production of the last 24 hours is tasted for quality control by Jean-Jacques Trijol and one or several members of his team every morning, to ensure that Maxime Trijol Cognacs such as Maxime Trijol VS, Maxime Trijol XO and Maxime Trijol VSOP Grande Champagne are of the highest standards. The distilled Cognacs are stored by Trijol exclusively in French oak barrels, predominantly from the Limousin and Tronçais forests, before they are bottled on site.