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Photo: Louis XIII Cognac
After a 10-year wait, cognac house Louis XIII unveiled its third edition of its Rare Cask collection, the Rare Cask 42.1 at a gala dinner last Thursday in Venice. The Rémy Martin company says this is the third cask to enter the echelons of its limited edition Rare Cask series, which is regarded as the epitome of its cognac collection.
A Rare Cask is a single barrel, which is selected by the cellar master among hundreds of century-old tiercons that houses blends of eaux-de-vies (clear fruit brandy) crafted by previous generations of cellar masters in the house’s 149-year history.
The by-invite Louis XIII Rare Cask 42.1 launch event was attended by more than 120 people spanning 22 nationalities, comprising honchos, entrepreneurs and media personalities, who are also cognac connoisseurs.
A total of 775 black crystal decanters will be made available globally. About 20 of them will be allocated to buyers from Singapore, which is one of the biggest markets in Asia in terms of direct-to-consumers sales over the past decade. The Louis XIII Rare Cask 42.1, which has an alcoholic strength of 42.1%, has a recommended retail price of $71,888.
Inspired by childhood memories of being in grandfather’s garden
Credit: Louis XIII cellar master Baptiste Loiseau (Photo: Louis XIII Cognac)
The Louis XIII Rare Cask 42.1 also marks the first time that the cognac house’s fifth generation cellar master Baptiste Loiseau is fronting a Rare Cask release.
Loiseau, who has been cellar master for the past nine years, says: “To discover Rare Cask 42.1, I listened to my instincts and favoured emotion to science. I call upon my memories.”
Speaking to The Peak in Venice, he shared the Eureka moment when he first discovered the singular barrel, which is made with oak from the Limousin forests in Southwest France, in the storied cellars of Domaine de Grollet in Cognac. He made the discovery two years ago and needed time to be sure that the cognac could be worthy of being anointed a ‘Rare Cask’.
He recalls: “It reminded me of spending time in my late grandfather’s garden when I was growing up in Cognac. I always remember the scent of the roses that he picked from the gardens on Sunday mornings.”
Floral notes and freshness at the fore
Credit: A lush table filled with flowers, fruit and spices, representing the tasting notes and aromas of the Rare Cask 42.1. (Photo: Kenneth SZ Goh)
He adds that this is the first Rare Cask that has “floral notes and freshness”, whereas the previous Rare Cask 42.6, which was released in 2013, focused on autumnal flavours that include stone fruit.
The Rare Cask 42.1 cognac has reached “a perfect balance point of having density and lightness” from its complex range of aromas and palate sensations.
According to Loiseau, the first wave of aroma has notes typical of a Louis XIII cognac that include nuts and candied fruit, but nosing it deeper gave him the sensation of being in a “magnificent garden filled with roses, peonies and lilacs”. The floral notes give way to freshness and fruitiness, with notes of mango, passionfruit, pineapple, and ending off with notes like chocolate and tobacco leaf.
Credit: Kenneth SZ Goh
The tasting of the Louis XIII 42.1 was the highlight at the gala dinner, which was held at the historic Scuola di Santa Maria della Misericordia, an events space, which was an important society space in the 1300s frequented by dignitaries in Venetian society.
The stunning dinner was presided by Marie-Amelie de Leusse, the chairman of the board of directors at Remy Cointreau, the French spirits group that runs Louis XIII Cognac, and Jean-Philippe Hecquet, CEO of the House of Remy Martin.
Credit: Black garlic and almond risotto with poached black fish. (Photo: Kenneth SZ Goh)
The three-course dinner was whipped up by chefs Chiara Pavan and Francesco Brutto of one-Michelin-starred Venetian restaurant Venissa, which also has a Michelin Green Star for its food sustainability practices. Dishes included a turbot-looking jelly sheet that blankets black chickpeas, green apples, chives-scented sour cream and a dollop of caviar, and a black garlic and almond risotto with poached black fish.
Credit: Guests from Singapore at the Louis XIII Rare Cask 42.1 launch event in Venice. (Photo: Kenneth SZ Goh)
The dinner capped off a day of activities centred around the launch event’s theme of ‘care for wonders’, which celebrates the rarity and sense of wonderment around the unveiling of the Rare Cask. Activities included visiting a gondola workshop that makes and repairs the Venetian boat, and visits to a carnival mask shop and the Marciana Library, one of the earliest surviving public libraries and repositories for manuscripts in Italy.
The launch event in Venice caps off the previous two launch events in Udaipur, India for the release of Rare Cask 42.6 in 2013 and in Guilin Caves in China for Rare Cask 43.8 in 2009.
Credit: Kenneth SZ Goh
Like the previous rare cask expression, the Louis XIII Rare Cask 42.1 decanter is crafted from black crystal by Baccarat. The decanter, which is the masterpiece of 20 craftsmen, is dressed in a gold and rhodium finished neck, while its ring is engraved with a quadrilobe, reminiscent of France’s fleur de lys.
A series of launch events for the Louis XIII Rare Cask 42.1 is slated in cities including Paris, London, New York and Kuala Lumpur in the coming months.
