Drinks
Like Pre-Prohibition Bourbon? Here Comes Pre-Phylloxera Cognac
Sazerac’s new bottle offers up a flavor profile similar to what Napoleon may have enjoyed.
In the whiskey world, “taste of history” bottles abound, whether made from heritage grains, distilled on antique-style stills, or blended to mimic pre-Prohibition flavors.
But in the world of cognac, not so much. Some eaux-de-vie may be very, very old, but “history” here hits a wall: Much as Prohibition decimated U.S. distillers and consolidated taste and style around a few key survivors, so did the Great French Wine Blight of the mid-1800s with cognac. In the region, a handful of houses endured—and just one vital grape variety.