Alain Gousseland

Cognac, Pineaux & Vins de Pays

Bons Bois

Torula‘zette

all about Cognac, brandy and more ...™

 

Felix Poussard

Cognac, Pineaux & Liquor Felixy

Borderies

Spring 2001

Broker

Jacques Boursaud is a highly respected broker (courtier) whose reputation comes primarily from transactions in aged Cognacs. He entered the trade as an employee just after the war and started in the brokerage business in 1951 before buying his company “Merinvil” in 1958. 50 years of brokerage later, he has no intention of retiring even if he admits to business having become more difficult in the past few years with the swing back to sales of younger blends. He seems confident that the reverse trend is not far away.

“Courtier assermenté” since 1967 he is a legally recognized expert, as are few other brokers in the region. This part of the job he views as something of a burden due to the paperwork attached, but he admits that evaluating stock sometimes brings pleasant surprises. Nosing young spirit is an inevitable part of a broker’s business but not something he enjoys; in short the older it is the better it may be, as only time and natural strength reduction via evaporation confer the complexity and concentration he admires.

He carries this taste for age over to wine, his private cellar being a reference for those lucky enough to have sampled some of what it contains.

During our conversation we tasted an 1875 Grande Champagne followed by an 1830 Fins Bois. Both command respect with the former being a superb example of the length, finesse and complexity which venerable Cognac can acquire.     continues Broker page 4

ORECO 1.0 continued from page 2

Here are opening and closing notes of an amateur (our Editor!) who participated in the ORECO Cognac tasting course:

It all started with lack of knowledge.  How to really taste a Cognac? Can we cross a big divide between professional and amateur tasting? Are there mysteries that separate an amateur and a professional? So many unknowns, so many challenges that I have decided to enroll in a professional cognac tasting course. 20 weeks duration, once a week for about 2 hours. Here are some notes and observations.

21/01/99 - 35 professionals (viticulteurs, employees of Cognac houses) and 1 amateur met at the offices of ORECO. We all paid F900 to learn tasting of Cognac. After warm welcome from the bosses of ORECO, we choose preferred time and day. I ended up in a group of 11. Most in their 20s, some a bit older, one woman and 10 men. Our teacher, Francis Audemard is a well-respected cognac broker but most importantly one of the best professional tasters in the business. A jovial, bearded man from a well-known family of tasters and brokers.

25/06/99 - A graduation day. In a two-part ceremony hosted by Martine Fourquet, Director of ORECO, ORECO chais (pictured here among the ORECO barrels) new crop of eaux-de-vie du Cognac tasters enjoyed themselves. First, we visited the vast chais (aging warehouses) of ORECO expertly guided by Mme Fourquet. In the second part, at the head office of ORECO, its President, Bernard de Mollosol welcomed us, we had a CognacTonic and received hard-earned diplomas.

Much is still to be asked and probed. Will ORECO take a lead and develop a base leading to a Cognac Futures Market? What role will they play in publishing Cognac (eaux-de-vie) spot prices? What is the future for ORECO?

In the ORECO cockpit are Martine Fourquet and an ex-jet fighter pilot Daniel de Saint Ours. Between them they share some 25 years of experience. They are dynamic and hard at work. Answers to the questions raised above and others will be forthcoming in the near future.

Simon Palmer  (Photo on this page by Torula News)

arrowleft.gif (142 bytes)

page 3

arrowright.gif (140 bytes)