In this year’s Best of the Best, we honour the brands and people behind the most covetable products. Here we have Louis XIII, a fine Cognac that we love
The story of this Cognac goes back to the early 1600s in France. King Louis XIII, who ruled from 1610 to 1643, was the first monarch who saw the good in a budding brandy industry. With his encouragement—and a shot of luck—it quickly developed into a major industry, and soon, the small town of Cognac gained recognition for the superior brandies that took its name. As tribute, his legacy lives on in the world’s most exclusive Cognac, Louis XIII (S$5,498). As the lifetime achievement of five generations of cellar masters, it has everything you’d want in any spirit: elegance, balance, finesse and harmony. Made purely with ugni blanc grapes from Grande Champagne (the most prestigious grand cru of all), Louis XIII requires a blend of individual eaux-de-vie aged in loose-grained Limousin oak barrels (they have the right balance of porosity, tannins, smokiness and acidity) for decades. This results in a liquid gold that’s widely adored for its floral bouquet and notes of honey, saffron, sandalwood and rose.
Photo by Louis XIII
