If this "WW2" cognac could talk........

....I would like to listen

The year is 1941. Europe is in the middle of World War II. France is occupied and the border between the occupied and free zones runs right through the Charente department. In the midst of all this, the Vallein family has been producing the finest cognac for connoisseurs all over the world since 1791. What times must those have been, and what adversities (and what kind of staff?) did they have to fight to be able to consistently produce top-class spirits?

From September 1942, the whole of France was occupied by the Germans, and Vallein continued to produce...

What the relationship was like between the cognac producers and the occupiers, whether they were involved in black market trading, bought peace, or whatever (I'm not interested in questions of guilt)... I can imagine it, and it would certainly make an exciting film. Who knows, maybe the rumors about the cognac bomber (or bombers) in Lake Constance originated right here...?

It is what it is.....in this bottle there is cognac from the years 1941-43 which was stored in French oak barrels until 2006 and then bottled in the "Dame Jeanne" glass balloon bottle. Despite the years, the alcohol content was still 48.2% vol. and a total of 78 bottles were bottled in 2021...and yes, I now own one of them (and will keep it).

It should also be mentioned that this is the very first single estate from Vallein.

It doesn't always have to be such spectacular bottlings to please me. It's the stories, no matter what form they take, that make up the true "spirit". Exactly... according to the bringts.ch motto "no standards!"