- A 100-year-old Grande Champagne cognac sourced from the Cabanne family estate, distilled in the early 1920s and bottled exclusively for Australia by Old Master Spirits.
- Released to mark the independent bottler’s fifth anniversary: a milestone drop and a statement of access to ultra-rare European stocks.
- With only 42 bottles at $1,399, this sits firmly in the collector space, offering a rare chance to experience pre-war cognac that will not be replicated.
The oldest spirit ever independently bottled exclusively for Australia drinks nothing like its age threatens.
Pour a century-old Grande Champagne cognac, and you brace yourself. This is a spirit that’s been sitting in French oak since the early 1920s – that’s two world wars, and a moon landing. You expect it to be serious and demanding. The kind of thing you respect more than you necessarily enjoy. But after having the chance to sample some of the A.100 Famille Cabanne from independent Melbourne bottler Old Master Spirits, we can confirm this centenarian is certainly not that drink.
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The spirit is the work of a distillery the Cabanne family has run since 1810 – now in its sixth generation, on the same stretch of the Charente river where it all began. The still that produced this cognac was decommissioned long ago, though it remains in the corner of the distillery, visible but retired, never to be used again.
For context: the most recognisable age classification in cognac is XO, which requires a minimum of 10 years in barrel. XXO, the highest official classification, requires 14. Hors d’âge – “beyond age,” the informal designation reserved for the very oldest expressions – typically refers to anything over 30 years old.
On the nose, it’s honest about its age: dried fruit, prunes, a certain chocolatey oak, and alcohol that pushes forward. Fair enough. Given that the Cognac Tiffon XO (tasted alongside) wasn’t afraid to pull some punches, I wasn’t expecting an easy ride. But then something unexpected happens on the palate.
The A.100 goes somewhere much warmer. Custard, vanilla, and caramel take over. You experience flavours much closer to a vanilla slice than a century in barrel at 46.6% ABV has any right to produce. For something this venerable, this rare, and this serious on paper, it’s disarmingly easy to drink.
The finish is where it really gets interesting. It’s long, but rather than fading, it evolves, getting progressively toastier as it develops. You get the sense of something slowly charring and caramelising in your mouth.
Part of what makes it drink this way comes down to the barrels. The A.100 spent its century in refill Seguin Moreau coarse-grained oak barrels that were already approximately 15 years old when the spirit went in. Coarse grain gives structure; refill casks, having already surrendered their aggressive tannins in a previous life, give structure gently over time. A century later, that balance shows in the glass.
Only 42 bottles exist, released to mark Old Master Spirits’ fifth anniversary. The only comparable 100-year-old cognac release in recent memory, the Hermitage Siècle d’Or, retailed at £24,900 a bottle. The A.100 is $1,399 for 500ml.
Visit Old Master Spirits to secure a bottle, and take your time exploring what else they’ve been sitting on. Because with a drop of this rarity arriving in Australia, once they’re gone, they’re gone.
