Tesseron Cognac

Tesseron dates back to the 19th century when Abel Tesseron purchased vineyards in the Grand Champagne region of Cognac. Initially the business was based on distilling and ageing Cognac to sell on to the big house but began bottling under its own name in 2003. The business is still in family hands and also owns two classed growth Bordeaux Chateaux: Pontet Canet and Lafon Rochet. Tesseron is an unusual house in that it only releases XO Cognacs. This means a minimum age of 10 years but in practice much older. The great American wine writer Robert Parker caused a stir by awarding 100 points to Tesseron XO Lot 29. The Lot number refers to a vintage though these aren’t legally classed as vintage releases. Whereas almost all Cognac these days are made from ugni blanc, Tesseron still has plantings of two of the region’s traditional varieties, colombard and folle blanche.