The Classicist: Keeping Warm With Pierre Ferrand

The Classicist: Keeping Warm With Pierre Ferrand

When fall and cooler weather arrive we look for something special to sip by the fire; this season we'll be reaching for a bottle of fine Cognac from Pierre Ferrand. Ferrand, considered "Premier Cru du Cognac", is lauded as a Grande Champagne specialist and is one of only a handful of Cognac houses in France that specializes in old Cognacs from the coveted Grande Champagne region that are not blended with lesser varieties. It is also quite a small house by most standards; as Ferrand President and Owner Alexandre Gabriel notes, "We are the jewelers of Cognac. It takes us a year to produce what the biggest company produces in a day." A core belief at Ferrand is the that to produce an exceptional Cognac you must first create an exceptional wine. To that end, Cognac Ferrand is perhaps the only house that has a full-time oenologist trained in making premium wine in Bordeaux. Cognac Ferrand is very vested in the vines and the vineyards and the wines used in the distillation of its Cognac come from the heart of the Grande Champagne, long considered the finest growing area. "To produce an exceptional Cognac, we treasure our grapes and treat the vineyard as a great vintner would," Gabriel says. "Then we distill it right, age it well and blend it with precision. Only then are we ready to bottle it. Quality cannot be rushed." The award-winning result is a complex, yet subtle, aromatic spirit reflecting a unique history and great attention to every detail of production. Pierre Ferrand Cognac is double distilled in small copper pot stills according to the traditional Cognac method – one cask at a time. It takes them 12 hours to produce just one cask with each pot still. At Ferrand's estate, dating from 1776, it then takes several years for the Cognac to reach perfection in Limousin oak barrels.

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