The king of Cognacs is named after a cognac-loving king: Louis XIII, the 17th-century monarch who was the first to recognise just how unique the brandies from this area of southwest France were. He never got to try his namesake, which was first made by Paul-Emile Rémy Martin in 1874, but its present creator, the cellar master Baptiste Loiseau, works with as much care as if His Majesty may, at any point, require a snifter. As plenty of other royal cognac lovers have, including King George VI in 1938 and Queen Elizabeth II at a dinner in the Louvre in 1957.
Louis XIII is a blend of the finest brandies, made from grapes grown in the premium region of Grande Champagne, where the metres-deep chalk soil is ideal for vines. Picked at optimum aromatic maturity, the grapes are fermented to produce a wine low in alcohol but high in acidity, which will form the basis of the eau-de-vie that, through lengthy and careful ageing followed by expert blending, will become Louis XIII.
In the winter immediately after harvest, the grapes are distilled — twice. Cognac is made in a special copper still, invented in King Louis XIII’s time. The first distillation gives a liquid of about 30 per cent alcohol; the second, known as “la bonne chauffe”, results in a clear, pure, aromatic liquid, high in alcohol and fiery on the palate. To become great cognac, this powerful liquid must spend time mellowing in oak — and to become Louis XIII, that oak comes in the shape of giant barrels called tierçons, some over a century old. Even with perfect grapes, picked at the ideal moment, carefully distilled and aged for decades, not every eau-de-vie will merit inclusion in Louis XIII. Which ones do, and in what proportion, is the responsibility of the cellar master, who selects perhaps a dozen of every 1,000 samples submitted for his approval.
Each year, Loiseau tastes every cask, gauging the evolution of the contents to ensure he is able to recreate the distinctive, sensual combination of spice, cigar, honey, white flowers and dark chocolate that is fit for an especially discerning king. Once he decrees that the blend is ready, it is poured into the distinctive decanter of individually engraved handblown Baccarat crystal, its shape a replica of a 16th-century flask discovered on a battlefield near Cognac.
Loiseau is creating Louis XIII from the eau-de-vie overseen by his predecessors. In turn, the liquids that go into the tierçons under his supervision will not become finished brandy in his lifetime. Louis XIII is both entirely pure and a blend of about 1,200 carefully tended eaux-de-vie of different ages, none young and some more than a century old. Loiseau’s palate, his scrupulous care, is essential to the final product. Still, one of the most important ingredients in Louis XIII, without which even the cellar master cannot work his magic, is time.
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Director: Mona Tehrani
Director of photography: Jennifer Lafer
Edit: Mohsen Rasizadeh
Additional words: Nina Caplan
