The tradition of Early Landed cognacs dates back to an age when wine and spirits were shipped to England in casks to be stored and bottled there under the watchful eye of the ordering merchants. It was soon discovered that storing the casks in the damp, cold conditions of the waterside warehouses of London, Bristol and Liverpool produced cognacs which matured with a lighter, softer style than those which matured back home in France. So even once it became the norm to ship bottled stocks, Delamain still chose to ship casks to England for this unique maturation.

This vintage 1999 Early Landed is an extremely unusual cognac. The years it has spent in British cellars have given it a unique flavour profile, but it remains very much a cognac in the style of Delamain. Originating from grapes harvested in 1999, the cognac was initially shipped to Bristol, England in 2000 to be aged in a damp underground warehouse. Eight years later it was transferred to a riverside warehouse in Liverpool for twelve years, until 2020 when Delamain’s Cellar Master was ecstatic to welcome the cask back to our Jarnac cellars.

This cognac has been aged in a small 270L cask, typical of those used for Early Landed cognacs. The cask was specially constructed with the staves from an old seasoned 350L cask. The use of old, seasoned oak reduces the influence of tannins, and allows the flavour of the vines and the terroir to pass into the cognac, resulting in a cognac of remarkable authenticity and elegance.

This cognac was aged several floors underground in the damp, cool conditions of a former brewery before being transferred to the underground of an old tea warehouse close to the banks of the River Mersey. The high humidity level, rarely below 95% and the low temperature (8-12°C) of these storage conditions enabled the strength of the spirit to fall more quickly than it would have back in France with very limited liquid evaporation or “the angel’s share”. As such only the subtlest oaky notes and palest golden colour were imparted to the cognac.