Winegrowers’ Portraits Sireuil
Les Moisans is a hamlet crossed from one end to the other by a narrow winding lane, lined along its route by high walls, old buildings, dwellings and courtyards all built many years ago from carved, magnificent local Sireuil stones. This white limestone is to thank for the region's incredible light, casting a pure glow, and has been used to construct all of the distillery's buildings. But this celebrated limestone also provides the best soil for growing vines: in search of nutrition, the roots of vine shoots need to plunge very deep into the ground, in some cases exceeding 10 meters.
Inside the spacious, bright and comfortable cellar, twelve 2,500-liter Charente-style stills distill, between the end of the summer and March of the following year, wines kept in temperature-controlled vats. The distillation process runs continuously round the clock. To better oversee this delicate manual operation, the master distiller sleeps on-site and verifies its progress every hour. Two sequences are performed one after the next. Only the heart or middle portion of the second distillation (referred to as the “bonne chauffe”) will be selected to become cognac.
More than 2,000 barrels containing 350 liters each, nearly a hundred 350-hectoliter casks: such is the treasure of the Moisans estate. This vast reserve of cognac makes it possible to ensure constant quality, in addition to assembling well-aged cognacs and pleasing connoisseurs of this divine nectar in search of outstanding quality.
The Moisans Distillery has undertaken a major marketing investment in order to distinguish its products by a contemporary image. On January 30th 2012, in the elegant setting of Bar 8 at Paris' prestigious Mandarin Oriental Hotel, the company launched its new collection known as Deau. This XO (for extra old) trio is seeking out an elitist segment by virtue of the quality assembled by Master Distiller Philippe Fillon, eager to express his 35 years of experience with this house. His “Haute Couture” line of cognacs are presented one at a time in a 70-centiliter, attractive streamlined flask, designed by the Saverglass glassworks, featuring as an emblem a griffin beast, the stylized winged lion with an eagle's head.
Véronique Bru-Legaret, her son Roland and the entire team at Moisans Distillery can be proud of their accomplishments: in two years, they've catapulted the export share of sales from 2% to 40%, while creating in the process a line of exceptional products.