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Fahrenheit 173 - Brandy
"I'm not an alcoholic, I'm an alcohologist"
XO Cognac tasting | 19 Apr 2009 | ||
Unfortunately, I've been neglecting the brandy category for a while now. So when a friend of mine repeatedly raved about how good Martell XO was I told him to bring his bottle so we could do a little tasting! We tried six Cognacs of the XO quality (or thereabouts). Here are my tasting notes:
Otard XO:
Mild, sweet and fairly light palate with a very nice fruitiness and a note of vanilla.
Smooth and balanced but a little spirity.
(87 p)
Delamain Christmas XO:
Rather nice nose with oak and a flowery note.
Mild palate, quite sweet and fruity with notes of raisins and plums,
also citrus fruit, vanilla and iced tea. Very nice and very nicely balanced.
(89 p)
Grönstedts Extra:
Very nice, fruity nose with a note of orange. There's also an unusual,
almost chemical note reminiscent of old Armagnac!
Rich, fruity, complex palate, wonderfully balanced with notes of vanilla,
plum compôte and dark chocolate.
(90 p)
Rémy Martin XO:
Wonderful nose with notes of prunes, figs and cinnamon.
Spicy, minty, fairly light palate with citrus fruit.
At first sweet but gets drier and develops oak and spices.
All in all complex, balanced and "elegant".
(91 p)
Martell Cordon Bleu:
Fragrant, fruity, complex nose with plum compôte, vanilla and oak. Slightly
spicy palate with wonderful notes of oak and vanilla. Wonderful finish...
(92 p)
Martell XO:
Wonderful nose - fresh and fruity with prunes and raisins and also lighter notes of citrus fruits.
Lighter, fresher and with less oak than "Cordon Bleu" (and seems younger).
Balanced, wonderfully smooth palate with notes of plums, oranges, spices and christmas cake.
It's sweet at first but drying, develops oak (finally).
(93 p)
To begin with, I wasn't particularly impressed by the Martell XO. I found it extremely mild, rather "shy" and hard to figure out. It needed a quite a while in the glass to open up and after warming the glass in my hand the aromas and flavours became clearer. In the end I loved it!
Actually, the Martell XO equals the score of my previous favourite, the Tesseron Lot 29, so (of course) I chose it as the new bottling of the month.
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More articles in this category:
Four Cognacs for Christmas
A review of Bache Gabrielsen Christmas XO, Braastad My Selection, Martell VSOP and Renault Carte Noire.
Five VSOP Cognacs
A review of VSOP Cognac from Croizet, Dupuy, Jarraud, Larsen and Meukow.
Four cognacs in the "XO" to "Extra" range
A review of Le Reviseur XO, Léopold Gourmel Age des Fleurs, Jean Fillioux Très Vieux and Delamain Vesper.
ABC - Armagnac, Brandy and Cognac
A review of seven brandies from Cognac, Armagnac and Spain.