“Take a whiff, what do you get?” I am prodded and then prompted by 37-year-old Bapiste Loiseau, who urges me to dip my nose deeper into the snifter. I inhale long and deep, and am reminded of the fragrance of cloves, cinnamon and my grandfather’s leather diary, strangely followed by powdery, floral notes. The first neat sip of the cognac I am offered is pungent, but delightful.
Dressed in a blue suit and tie, Loiseau is a tall, lean figure even when seated. The glow of the countryside reflects on his face. We are at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel for a tasting of Louis XIII, that the youngest cellar master of The House of Remy has poured from the classic crystal decanter. We recognise the decanter from frequent sightings at airports and liquor stores, but always from a distance. It is noteworthy for its etching of the fleur-de-lis that recalls the French king who protected the Cognac region and whose name (Louis XIII) inspired the bottle created by Paul-Émile Rémy Martin in 1874.
A natural instinct
Loiseau, who was appointed cellar master three years ago, grew up close to the House of Remy in Cognac, where his father worked for a bottling plant for wines and cognacs. Most of Loiseau’s childhood memories revolve around his grandparents’ farm where they grew vegetables and flowers. “My mother was a nurse and she worked most weekends. On the farm, we grew potatoes, cauliflower, tomatoes and a lot of flowers. I used to go to the market with my granny and help her sell the produce,” recalls Loiseau. After finishing preliminary school, he moved to Paris to study biology and agronomy, following it up with a specialisation in wine making in the South of France.
“The idea was to go back and take over my grandparent’s farm,” he smiles, adding that he met with some wine growers on his return and went on to work in Bordeaux and other parts of the world. It was while making wine in New Zealand that the first wave of homesickness struck. “Their way of wine making was based more on technique than terroir. That’s when I decided to come back to Cognac,” he shares.
Cellar legacy
Loiseau met former cellar master Pierrette Trichet, the first lady to be appointed at the House of Remy in 2003, when she was on the jury that interviewed him for the job of advisor to wine growers for the House of Remy. “She found my profile interesting, but told me that they were looking at other candidates.
That day, she told me, ‘Even if you don’t get this job, I am sure you will do great things.’ Two days later, I got a call to be part of her team,” says Loiseau, who joined the team of 50 that looks after 29 cellars that hold thousands of casks.
His dual duties involved playing advisor to farmers and joining a core tasting team of 16. When he started as advisor, Trichet trained him to express his feelings. “She asked me to listen and observe for this knowledge of nosing and sharing cannot be found in any textbook,” he continues.
When he was selected as cellar master, it came as no surprise. “Trichet had been training me all along, and she saw the potential in me to take the legacy forward.”
Behind the scenes
Cognac, a by-product of wine making, is the concentration and of white grapes, which are harvested in September or October. After plucking, the grapes are crushed for their juice which is then fermented, ultimately yielding white wine. This goes into copper pots for double distillation on lees (the residual yeast that has already worked to ferment sugar into becoming alcohol). This resulting liquid is what they call eaux-de-vie (water of life), which then goes into aged barrels for a minimum of four years. “After distillation, we begin our tastings to select the water of life, that which corresponds to the style of the house,” he says.
Loiseau’s role as cellar master includes keeping in touch with 900 wine growers in the region, and observing the process of harvest to distillation. “One tasting session includes 35 to 30 eaux-de-vie from which we select those that make it to the casks. “I set aside our finest eaux-de-vie as a legacy to my successors for the coming century,” says Loiseau, who also makes it a point to visit one farmer a day, and the cask makers, to ensure quality.
Louis XIII cognac is priced between ₹2,05,220 and ₹2,75,000 for a 750ml decanter at luxury hotels across India.