Park
For many years Baur au Lac Wines has been Switzerland's exclusive importer of the sumptuous Cognacs created by Dominic Park. The story goes back to the 1990s when Dominic Park decided to leave his job as a wine trader in London to create his own cognac house with the style he wanted. This is summed up by a very clean vision of what cognac should be: insist on the best origins and a very precise distillation and ageing to give a high-class product in a modern, elegant bottle.
The colour of Park cognacs is natural and results from a patient ageing of the eaux-de-vie. No caramel colouring is permitted and no rectification with concentrated tannins. All cognacs undergo a longer ageing than that imposed by law. Even the VS, the simplest cognac, matures for three and half years instead of the required two. The VSOP is aged for eight years instead of four, twice the minimum. As for the XO, Park lets it acquire its fullness over twenty years where nine suffice under the rules. Finally, the eaux-de-vie that go into the Extra, the Vieille Fine Champagne, in the top Cigar Blend, and into the Vieille Grande Champagne aged for forty to sixty years.
Nowadays, the Cognac Park style is unrivalled thanks to the expertise of the Tessendier & Fils distillery which, under the watchful eyes of the fourth generation Jerôme and Lilian, can tap into special reserves. The treasures include barrels and canisters of eaux-de-vie, the oldest of which are 130 years old, waiting to be expertly blended. For the real connoisseurs, the rare vintage bottlings are particularly interesting.
The traditional cognac bottle with its understated label already foretells the pleasures of tasting. The 20cl bottles make a nice flask to offer as a gift or to take anywhere to learn the magic of cognac.
Producer
Maison Stéphan
Jean-Michel Stéphan has vinified more than 30 vintages of Côte-Rôtie and is one of the true masters of natural winemaking (vins naturels) in the northern Rhône region. His wines have a vibrant purity that makes them unmistakable, characterised by a balance of energy and transcendence that stems from his vision of making impeccable wines without any additives.
Weingut Nicolussi-Leck
The Kreithof, as the ancestral estate is known, is located near the idyllic Lake Caldaro in South Tyrol (Alto Adige) and has been cultivated by the Nicolussi-Leck family since 1915. Standing guard over it are the medieval ruins of Leuchtenburg Castle, which – like the estate – dates back to the 13th century and was presumably also associated with nearby Laimburg Castle in the Etsch Valley.
Rocche Costamagna / Alessandro Locatelli
The wines of Rocche-Costamagna are a result of the perfect interplay of geographical location, meticulous care both in the vineyard and in the cellar, and decades of experience.