Doussoux Bons Bois X.O N°89 43%

Doussoux Domaine du Chêne Bons Bois X.O N°89 43%

Beyond pineau with Baillif

Another Bons Bois on Hors d’Age. Domaine du Chêne is an old estate located in the south of Pons, one that used to be focused on producing pineau between 1947 and 1993. Since then, Jean Doussoux and Jean-Marie Baillif have been working hard to extract the best cognac possible from their 90 hectares of Bons Bois vines. This X.O isn’t an average one. It’s a limited edition single cask probably from 1989 (N°89 could be a solid clue) bottled at 43%. 

Colour: Dark amber, orange lights. Regular medium tears.

Nose: Nice fruity entrance. Intense wood notes on coconut powder. Resinous shades. Then you find back a kind of fruitiness on fresh peaches and plums. Heady kirsch scents in the background. There are a few spiced notes on black pepper and caraway too. 

Palate: Very oily texture. Smooth rancio on dark chocolate and maraschino cherry notes. Nice mouth length. Cherry monster. Damn, this rancio got me. Love this Bons Bois roundness. Very jammy too, especially on orange zest and tangerine aromas. There is this nice contrast between the darkness of the first notes (coffee, chocolate, tobacco) and the citruses fruitiness found in the aftertaste. 

Last Notes: Even more focused on citruses notes. It remains very heady. You also get tea-ish scents. Still some fresh resinous notes in the background. Back on the palate, you still find these particular jammy aromas, this time a bit more oaky than previously perceived. It ends with breakfast tea and fresh bread notes. 

A nice Bons Bois, rich and aromatic. Even with 43%, you get a round cognac, quite complex with a nice mouth length. A solid contender for this underrated cru.

My very subjective note: 87/100

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