What It Takes To Perfect The Taste Of A Rare $52,500 Cognac

Cellar Master Baptiste Loiseau has precious few moments to make a new impression.

Having served in the role for a decade, Loiseau’s first mission is to honor the legacy of LOUIS XIII, a cognac that was created in 1874 and named after the 17th century French monarch.

As Cellar Master, a role he trained for over the course of seven years under the tutelage of his predecessor, Pierrette Trichet, Loiseau oversees the entire process from grape grown in Cognac vineyards to the glass, including harvesting, distillation, aging in French oak wooden barrels and the final step of blending.

“It’s much more the intuition and the emotion that you have to decide if it needs more time to evolve,” says Loiseau during a virtual interview with Forbes. “Or, if it’s the right moment, to take it from the cask, from the tierçons [wooden barrels], and put it into the decanter.”

When he was named Cellar Master of LOUIS XIII in 2014, he was the youngest to serve in that role in all of cognac’s history. It took another nine years before Loiseau released his first rare cask, the LOUIS XIII Cognac Rare Cask 42.1, which debuted in 2023 and sells at a suggested price of $52,500 in limited-edition black Baccarat crystal.

“It’s really the kind of treasure that I was looking for from the very beginning of me being appointed as the Cellar Master,” says Loiseau.

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So much of cognac’s prestige is a nod to the past and for Loiseau, what lured him to the single cask he pulled for Rare Cask 42.1 was that it evoked emotions from his childhood. He says it reminded him of his grandparents, who were horticulturists and grew flowers in the Cognac region. Rare Cask 42.1, Loiseau explains, is more floral than the nutty, autumn harvest flavors in the prior limited-edition LOUIS XIII, Rare Cask 42.6.

Loiseau says the liquid for Rare Cask 42.1 has aromatic waves of dried roses, lilac, peony, and a palate of orange and exotic fruits like pineapple, mango, lychee, and passion fruit.

Limited-Edition Rare Cask 42.1 Has Only A Few Units Remaining

With only 775 decanters made available for sale globally, Rare Cask 42.1 is a luxury offering that’s intended for a very narrow audience, including deep-pocketed collectors. “We have seen a strong demand for Rare Cask 42.1 since its release in 2023, and we only have a few units remaining,” says Anne-Laure Pressat, executive director of LOUIS XIII Cognac at Rémy Cointreau, in a written statement.

For the first time in a decade, the House of Rémy Martin is offering the broader public to taste Rare Cask 42.1 by the glass at some select high-end venues, including the Baccarat Hotel in New York City, Hotel Bel-Air in Los Angeles, and the Faena Hotel in Miami. Rare Cask 42.1 is also available for purchase at the LOUIS XIII pop-up boutique in the Wynn hotel in Las Vegas through the end of November.

“This has further fueled demand, with many clients seeking a second decanter – one to savor now and another to treasure for the future,” says Pressat, who added that the value of the predecessor limited edition offering, Rare Cask 42.6, has “almost doubled its value since its reveal in 2013.”

The sturdy demand for Rare Cask 42.1 runs counter to the downward trend for cognac more broadly, which has hurt sales at all of the “Big Four” cognac houses, which includes Rémy Martin, Hennessy, Martell and Courvoisier. After achieving record growth in 2021 and again in 2022, cognac shipments tumbled by 22% to 165.3 million bottles, according to the industry’s decision-making body the Bureau National Interprofessionnel du Cognac.

Two of the industry’s most vital markets have been facing distinct challenges. In China, a weaker economy has led to a poor performance for cognac, while in the U.S., demand was hot during the pandemic but that led to high stockpiles that consumers and retail accounts are still working through.

Remy Cointreau’s Sales Under Pressure, But Sustainability Persists

For House of Rémy Martin parent company Remy Cointreau, these tough industry trends led to lower sales and profit for the most recent annual results, as 65% of sales comes from the Rémy Martin, LOUIS XIII, and Brillet cognac brands. The smaller portion of the business comes from Cointreau liqueur, Mount Gay Rum, Westland whiskey and other liqueurs and spirits. In October, Remy Cointreau cut the company’s full-year guidance.

With sales recently under pressure, one area of focus that Remy Cointreau has continued to make progress on is the company’s sustainability initiatives, which includes regenerative agricultural methods that allow for soil to retain more water, the restoration of biodiversity, and capturing more carbon in the vineyards.

In the years since Loiseau took on the role of Cellar Master, his responsibilities have expanded to include overseeing production of the House of Rémy Martin’s vineyard estates and the team working in the cellar. While so much of his role is steeped in tradition and honoring LOUIS XIII’s 150 years of history, global warming represents a newer challenge and requires a fresh approach.

Loiseau says he is closely studying the effects of climate change, which has brought more intense heat during the summer. Already, the company tends to harvest a bit sooner than it would decades ago, to retain the proper balance of aromas and the right levels of acidity the cognac maker wants to extract from the grapes.

“We have to prepare the future and to give the keys to the next generation,” says Loiseau.