Today I’m excited and delighted to be tasting a sample of Grosperrin N°28 Borderies Cognac which I received as part of a greater Grosperrin sample set.
Nose
Stone fruit, peaches, tangerines. A dash of model glue that subsides as things warm up. There is a super subtle and fleeting meaty note. I get sugared walnuts, Haribo grapefruit & gummy peach rings candy, loads of luscious plum and dates. As things warm up, we get into stewed apples and orange and apricot marmalade. A gorgeous nuttiness becomes present that brings me back to one of my favorite desserts, basque cake at Clark’s (If you are ever in Austin swing by, it’s worth it; served with cherry preserves and sour cream ice cream, heavenly).
Mouth
This is a grand entrance indeed. Plums, peaches, tangerines, the candy from the nose. Wood comes to party, it’s powerful, but also well integrated. As this warms up and the air starts to play with it, we get spices (anise, cloves, cinnamon). This morphs into cigar and pipe tobacco as well as 100% dark chocolate and raw cocoa powder. The texture and mouth feel are oily.
Finish
Whoa, ok, we descend further into a completely different realm here as we fade into earthy and savory goodness. I get mushrooms (cremini and porcini), hints of subtle creamy blue cheese which then morph into black tea and amaro. This has a nice long finish that hangs on those final earthy notes that are intermittently pierced by the plums and peaches, along with a wet cardboard and old broken in leather note. The texture and mouth feel end on the dry side.
Thoughts
Wow, there are so many layers and chapters to this book, it’s absurd. I feel like I was just served a 10 course tasting menu. A fascinating and fun journey. I’d love to have an entire bottle of this to sit with and ruminate over as I think you’d continue to peel back new layers over time. Drinking this was like shotgunning three different spirits one right after the other, and I mean that in the best possible way. The rancio here is present while being delightfully tempered, keeping it elegant and beautiful without getting too saucy. I want to give this and I think it is deserving of a higher score, but for some reason that I can’t quite put my finger on, I actually prefer the Grosperrin 1973 I previously reviewed a bit more. With that being said, this is not to be missed.
Rating: 8 / 10
Photo credit: respectfully borrowed from Cognac Expert
