Tiffon 150th anniversary 44%

TIFFON 150th ANNIVERSARY 44%

From Tiffon’s museum

You have venerable blends. And you have venerable blends. See no difference? In one hand 30-40yo cognacs. On the other hand, 50-100yo+ cognacs. And as they’re celebrating their 150th anniversary, Tiffon has bottled the second kind of venerable blend. Multi-crus, minimum of 50yo and some of their cellars’ most prestigious demi-johns (100yo+) involved. 44%. Promising pedigree. Let’s go!

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

Nose: Stunning entrance, with elegant tannin shades, reminding me a bit of some very old left-bank Bordeaux wines. Vivid fruitiness on apple/tangerine juice mix. Precious wood scents, very typical of venerable eau-de-vie. Something a bit fragile. Cherry liquor. Walnut cream. Rich and elegant. Ample tea-ish notes. Impressive by the way it evolves.

Palate: Oily texture. Dusty rancio. It feels fragile on the palate too. Oxidized notes declinaison. Full of herbal and tea-ish shades again, with over-infused tea bitter aromas in the aftertaste. A tad austere, as it’s hard to perceive hints of fruitiness in this prehistoric blend.

Last Notes: The nose is a world apart. Blackberry jam, banana stew, and fresh kiwi juice. Lingering precious wood scents. Very old malt notes. Hints of white port notes too. Bourbon vanilla. The discrepancy between this obvious richness and the fragile profile of this cognac is disturbing. Stunning acidulous aromas with air. This venerable blend was only grasping for air. Great cherry sweets notes. Old Linkwood shades (tea-ish, waxy), as you still get beautiful malted notes in the background. Intense blueberry juice aromas in the mouth length.

It’s always a challenge to move pieces of history from a museum, as there’s an obvious risk for fragile things. But it seems that Jarnac’s crew is equipped with dainty gloves. Complex and fragile, this Tiffon cuvee is a good advert for “cognac can be aged for decades”.

My very subjective note: 90+/100

More info about this Tiffon 150th anniversary

Thanks to Alexis for this one!