Cognac with Hine in pictures

As Hine Cognac reveals the next stage in its innovative, provenance-focused range, we take a look around the company’s beautiful estate in Grande Champagne.

Hine owns an estate in the prime Grande Champagne area of Cognac

Last week, The Spirits Business joined a group of writers on a trip to Hine House in Jarnac to peruse the group’s Cognac production sites in Grande Champagne, including its 120-hectare estate in the village of Bonneuil.

We were treated to a preview of Domaines Hine Bonneuil 2006 – the second release in Hine’s single estate, single harvest and single cask range.

The range focuses on terroir, rather than age, and consists of Cognacs crafted from a single Bonneuil harvest that are bottled and numbered as single casks without caramel colouring.

New bottlings will only be added to the range when cellar master Eric Forget deems the vintage worthy – as such, there will be no Domaines Hine Bonneuil 2007.

In addition to tastings and talks led by Hine founding family member and honorary chairman Bernard Hine and the brand’s sales director Per Even Allaire, we spent a glorious couple of days exploring Hine’s vineyards, distilleries and cellars.

Click through the following pages to view a selection of images of our trip to Cognac with Hine.

Picture credit: Colin Hampden-White

A group of lucky UK-based journalists and drinks writers ventured to the heart of Cognac country for a stay at Hine’s beautiful chateau on the banks of the River Charente last week. One of the oldest Cognac houses in Jarnac, Hine House has acted as the company’s headquarters since its inception 250 years ago, while the river itself was once the first export route for liquid unearthed from the company’s on-site cellars. The Hine family used to reside in this grand house, which is now predominantly used for hosting guests.

Picture credit: Colin Hampden-White

After winding through the country lanes of Grande Champagne, we took a tour of the family-run Distillerie de St Denis, which distills roughly half of its total eau de vie for Hine Cognac. The quaint distillery, which is not open to members of the public, operates independent of Hine, but the two companies have worked together for more than 30 years.

Picture credit: Colin Hampden-White

Quite different from distilleries in other spirits categories, Cognac undergoes a double distillation over an open flame, with each run lasting for 12 hours. While this is standard industry practice, Hine Cognac is distinctive in its conservation of the fine lees from the vinification process during distillation. According to Per Even Allaire, sales director for Hine, volumes of some of the largest Cognac brands mean that they adhere to a “standardised” practice, while the smaller production of Hine creates a more “bespoke” product.

We then headed on a short journey to Hine estate in the enclave of Bonneuil, in Grande Champagne. Stretching 120-hectares, 70 of which are used to grow vines, the estate provides grapes for about one third of Hine’s total eau de vie, with the rest sourced from contract growers and winemakers, some of which Hine has worked with for generations. Hine purchased the estate 15 years ago from Tesseron Cognac.

Picture credit: Colin Hampden-White

The estate sits on a landscape of chalky soil renowned for the production of highest quality grapes. Each vine has an average life span of 25 years, after when it is uprooted and the land rejuvenated for a period of about three years. The estate produces grapes for the single estate, single harvest, and single cask Domaines Hine range. “This estate allows us to talk in a distinctive way about Cognac in terms of vines and soil, which can be forgotten about in the category,” said Allaire. “We like to show what the vineyard itself is capable of.”

A historic farmhouse on the estate provided an atmospheric setting for a tasting of Hine’s range, including its new Domaines Hine Bonneuil 2006 – an expression of both vineyard and harvest.

Picture credit: Colin Hampden-White

We were joined by our generous host Bernard Hine, who joined his family business more than 50 years ago, for the tasting. He explained Hine’s reasoning behind its innovative Domaines range, and also shed some light in the house’s decision not to launch a VS expression. “We cannot compete with the big houses on price,” he said. “So we opted for the lower age of VSOP (H by Hine).”

Picture credit: Colin Hampden-White

On-site at Bonneuil, Hine ages all liquid earmarked for the single estate Domaines range. All Cognac is initially aged in new oak then usually bottled after three cask rotations.

Picture credit: Colin Hampden-White

Tucked in the corner of the cellar were a few bottles of liquid history. We discovered a dozen or so open bottles of Cognac that date back to the 1800s, and, to our surprise, a quick sniff showed they retained pertinent fresh and fruity notes through the ages.

We then headed further into the estate for a spot of lunch under glorious blue skies. Accompanying us was Hine’s signature stag, who always directs his gaze back to Dorset, England, where company founder Thomas Hine was born.

Picture credit: Colin Hampden-White

Bernard Hine showed the stag who’s boss.

Picture credit: Colin Hampden-White

Arriving back at Hine House and we took a short walk next door to the company’s cellars. Here, hundreds of barrels quietly wait until cellar master Eric Forget deems them suitable for bottling.

Once the Cognac has aged for around 50 or 60 years, the liquid is transferred to demijohns. Behind this locked gate, some of the house’s oldest vintages are kept under bond. Here, liquid dates back as far as 1850.

Picture credit: Colin Hampden-White

In another locked room, Hine keeps its vintage barrels – which can only be opened and checked with a member of the Bureau National Interprofessionnel du Cognac (BNIC) present. The bottles placed in front of the casks denote the age range of Hine’s vintage rcollection. Hine only bottles single vintage Cognacs when the Grande Champagne harvest proves “outstanding”. Some of the house’s vintage Cognacs are aged in Jarnac, while others are aged in Scotland – these are known as Early Landed expressions.

Hine also displays some of its shipping samples from the 1970s and 1980s.