Just after releasing the remarkable Cognac de Charles, the Cognac Pasquet house presents a Très Vieille Fine Champagne in their Confluences collection. But if Cognac de Charles was reviewed alone, we’ll review this brand new release with two older cognacs from their L’Esprit de Famille collection: the Cognac de Bernadette and Cognac de Jean, both Grande Champagne cognacs.
Jean-Luc Pasquet Très Vieille Fine Champagne Cognac Lot L54Y (2025) Review
We begin our Cognac Pasquet session with their brand new Très Vieille Fine Champagne L54Y cognac. The lot number hints at a 54-year-old blend and, in fact, it is made from two 1970 cognacs – one from Petite Champagne and one from Grande Champagne (19% of the total) – combined with some 1971 Grande Champagne (33% of the total). The Petite Champagne accounts for 48% of the total blend, qualifying it as a Fine Champagne cognac. The distillery filled 568 bottles at 46.6% ABV on the 26th of September 2025, avoiding chill filtration or added colour. You should be able to find it widely in the coming days, and on Jean-Luc Pasquet’s website for instance, for approximately €195 a bottle.
Colour:
Mahogany.
Nose:
Neat: The nose immediately presents a vibrant swirl of orange marmalade and exotic woods, evoking a sense of rich, mature cognac. Notes of aged teas, sandalwood, and cedar intertwine with candied tropical fruits and zesty oranges, complemented by dried apricots. Subtle herbal accents of Provence dried herbs, oregano, and fennel add a fresh herbaceous dimension. As the glass rests, hints of light smoke and pepper introduce a gentle complexity, accompanied by whispers of cigars and leather.
Palate:
Neat: The palate mirrors the nose with even more abundance of candied fruits, layered with warming spices like cloves, pepper, and chilli. Dried raisins coated in dark chocolate create a lovely sweetness, while a faint bitterness from varnished wood adds balance. Flavour notes of liquorice sticks, lemon albedo, and a touch of toasted oak accentuate further the richness of the palate.
Finish:
Long and complex, the finish reveals a lively dance of crepes Suzette flambées with triple sec, intertwined with cigar box earthiness and spent tea leaves. The lively orange-y bitterness persists, leaving a lingering warmth.
Comments:
Jean-Luc Pasquet shows stunning expertise once again. They demonstrate mastery beyond producing their organic single malts or bottling exceptional single casks from independent growers, like the two cognacs below. The Confluences collection proves they excel at blending too. This Très Vieille Fine Champagne exemplifies that blending skill perfectly. It’s a classic, delicious cognac. It may not break new ground or surprise, but it elevates traditional cognac characteristics to their highest form. Every element falls perfectly into place.
Rating: 8/10
Jean-Luc Pasquet Le Cognac de Bernadette L.74 Grande Champagne (2018) Review
Jean-Luc Pasquet’s Cognac de Bernadette comes from a single estate and single cask of Ugni Blanc grapes. The vineyard sits in the Grande Champagne cru. Bernadette Grimaud distilled this cognac in 1974—the year she inherited her family farm from her father, Gabriel. She was a winegrower and distiller from Bouteville in the Charente region. During her career, she expanded the vineyard. Upon retirement, she handed the domain to a young local winegrower, having no heir. Cognac Pasquet bottled this single cask in 2018 as part of their Esprit de Famille collection (now Trésors de Famille). The release produced 433 bottles of 500 ml at 44.8% ABV, without chill filtration or added colour. This release is now sold out.
Colour:
Tawny.
Nose:
Neat: The nose opens with a compelling mix of damp earth and varnished exotic woods, conjuring the atmosphere of a dunnage warehouse. Aromas of stewed apples, fresh figs, and dried dates appear alongside gentle, warming spices such as baking spices, cloves, and nutmeg. A subtle note of warm orange marmalade adds some brightness.
Palate:
Neat: On the palate, the relatively low ABV gives a lighter mouthfeel but a slight roughness contributes a raspy texture to the mouthfeel. The flavour closely follows the nose – warm spices and varnished exotic woods lead before fresh blood oranges, plums, figs, and stewed apples take centre stage. There is a faint astringency with hints of cocoa powder and delicate floral teas like rose and jasmine.
Finish:
The finish is of medium length, with soft, varnished woodiness persisting alongside lingering whispers of stewed fruits and tea.
Comments:
A very good cognac, showing its quality even after 42 or 43 years of maturation. However, it remains a little rough around the edges. Compared to the Très Vieille Fine Champagne, it struggles slightly in the shadow of that comparison – but this highlights the value of tasting multiple spirits together, as it allows these nuances and differences to emerge clearly.
Rating: 7/10
Jean-Luc Pasquet Le Cognac de Jean L69/77 Grande Champagne (2018) Review
This session concludes with Jean-Luc Pasquet’s Le Cognac de Jean, a blend of eaux-de-vie from the 1969 and 1977 harvests in Grande Champagne. Jean Biais, a winegrower and distiller based in Eraville just a few hundred metres from Pasquet’s domain, distilled these spirits. After Jean Biais passed away in 2005, his daughters inherited the estate. Clairette, one of those daughters, requested that Jean-Luc Pasquet blend these two vintages to create this cognac. The final product yielded 488 bottles at 49.6% ABV, bottled in Pasquet’s trademark 500 ml volume, without chill filtration or added colour. Like Cognac de Bernadette, Cognac de Jean has already sold out.
Colour:
Old oak.
Nose:
Neat: Warm spices greet the nose first – ginger, pepper, and cinnamon – followed by vanilla extract and exotic woods, including cedar and sandalwood. Fresh figs and dates mingle with candied orange, creating an inviting nose.
Palate:
Neat: The palate reveals light astringency and pepperiness, balanced by warmth. Flavours of vanilla pods, butterscotch, dried figs and dates unfold alongside walnuts, dark chocolate, mint, and eucalyptus. Soft wood supports dried lemon and orange slices, while notes of orange-flavoured tea add some fruity and lightly bitter depth.
Finish:
The finish lingers with dried citrus fruits, accompanied by black pepper, eucalyptus, mint, and a touch of exotic wood.
Comments:
This Cognac de Jean delivers more flavour and greater intensity than the Cognac de Bernadette, which explains its slightly higher rating. A subtle wood bitterness on the finish prevents it from scoring even better, but this blend of two vintages remains an impressively good expression.
Rating: 7.5/10
Samples provided by Cognac Pasquet, thank you, Amy! As usual, this won’t prevent me from writing what I really think about these.