Why single malt lovers should switch to Cognac

A look at one of the great characters of the drinks trade, David Baker, the man behind Hermitage Cognac. Plus a special bottle to buy for the Macallan lover in your life.

With his tweed jacket and sizeable frame David Baker looks like he could have stepped out of Jancis Robinson’s Vintners Tales (available on Youtube for anyone curious what the wine world was like until surprisingly recently). Baker’s job is finding and bottling rare cognac, mainly from the vineyards of Grand Champagne, which he bottles under the Hermitage brand. He’s been doing it since 1987 and his unrivalled contacts in the region means he’s able to unearth some miraculous liquids.

I’ve been lucky enough to have lunch with Baker, he’s a keen luncher, on three occasions. Most memorably in 2020 at the Draper’s Arms in Islington during a break from all those lockdowns. We shared an enormous meat pie and a bottle of Chateau Poujeaux 2010, among other things. After we had eaten Baker poured me a tiny measure of a deep brown liquid, a look of almost religious wonder came across his face and in his soft Sussex accent began to rhapsodise. It was a Grand Champagne from 1885 which had spent 100 years in wood and then decanted into a glass demi-john. Apparently it was showing its age but a further 10 years in a newish cask rejuvenated it. Baker described it as “beyond the quality of anything we have come across before.”

I had a little sniff and my senses were assaulted with heady aromas of furniture polish followed by overripe pineapples, apricots, dark chocolate and tobacco. Baker describes it as “double rancio”. Rancio refers to rich flavours of walnut, pineapple and dried apricot produced over time during the interaction between the cask, alcohol and oxygen which you find in old cognac, tawny port and malt whisky. What was remarkable about the palate was the sheer freshness of it after more than a century in oak.

£140? Bargain

Now obviously this was extremely expensive - around £5,000 a bottle. But Baker stocks affordable stuff like a multiple award-winning 1995 Grand Champagne (more about this below) which cost £140 from Brandy Classics. That’s a 30 year old vintage dated single cask spirit where there’s fewer than 250 bottles in existence for less than a bottle of Talisker 18 year old. Incidentally, a 30 year old Talisker will cost you around £1,000.

In my time writing about spirits and working for whisky retailer, Master of Malt, I watched the price of the most in-demand Scotch whisky go up and up, and then up some more. When you compare the price of single malt whisky with cognac even that 1885 Hermitage looks good value. I’ve never seen a whisky as old but the comparatively sprightly Macallan 50 year old is currently on sale at The Whisky Exchange for nearly 10 times - £55,000. I’ve tasted a lot of very old whisky and they’re often dusty and a bit faded, more curiosities than anything else.

When I met Baker again recently, over lunch, naturally, at Hide in Piccadilly, he explained that the best Grand Champagne cognac can easily age to 70 years or more: “We sell cognac when it’s aged to perfection” (though he had on three occasions left some brandy in a cask for too long and ended up with something that tasted of “water with an old pair of boots in”). To prove his point we started with his 50 year old Grand Champagne (superb value at £600), “to get your tastebuds going” and worked up from there to his jaw-dropping magnificence of the 100 year old Siècle d’Or.

Baker thinks the reason such rarities are affordable compared with whisky is that they lack brand recognition: “Nobody knows anything about them.” He buys from growers who usually supply the giant negociant houses like Martell, Hennessy, Courvoisier, and Remy Martin. These little producers keep particularly fine casks for family use which they sometimes sell when they need some money.

Baker visibly winced when he told me about a batch of pre-World War One Cognac he missed out on which ended up going into the blending vats of one of the big four. Don’t get him started on the large houses who dominate the industry: “the everyday stuff is rubbish, they put 500 Cognacs in a blend, all they are creating is neutrality.”

But there are others doing interesting things in the region. Take Delamain, for example. This house which celebrates its 200 anniversary this year has long been a favourite of the British wine trade. The firm is now owned by Bollinger so as you can imagine the quality is extremely high. Its classic XO Pale & Dry is better than ever but it’s the limited releases that really excite me.

I was particularly taken with the Collection Plénitude 1980 which from a single barrel matured in a cellar above a crypt. This lets in the sun so there are temperature fluctuations which affect the ageing process. This is expensive at around £600 but again compare it with what you’d pay for a 40 year old single malt Scotch. As for Japanese whisky, you’ll need to remortgage your house.

While most producers in Cognac act as negociants buying in wine or eaux-de-vie, there are also firms like Hine which have extensive vine holdings. This means it can release single vineyard spirits like its elegant, floral Hine Single Estate Bonneuil 2012. There’s a lot of waffle about terroir in the whisky world, most of it nonsense, yet here is a brandy that shows of the chalky soils of Grand Champagne. It’s a brandy for lovers of grower champagne.

Cognac is in a funny position in that it has a prestige image, and indeed you can pay a lot of money for lavishly packaged bottles that are drunk by oligarchs and hip hop types, but that the quality stuff without the bling isn’t silly money. In my time as editor of the Master of Malt blog, I’d try to persuade customers to make the move to cognac (or armagnac, even better value) but most stuck to what they knew. Well, their loss is your gain. At these prices, ask yourself, can you afford not to be drinking cognac?

Here’s one to buy for anyone who loves a sherried Speyside whisky like Macallan or Glenfarclas. A few people have asked about more affordable options so I have updated this with a sub-£50 one.

Hermitage 1995 Grand Champagne Cognac (Brandy Classics £140.76)

This won Gold Outstanding Medal at the International Wine & Spirit Competition (IWSC) in 2025 and was described by Will Lyons in The Sunday Times as “This is one to treasure and bring out on special occasions.” Here’s what I thought of it:

There’s honey on the nose with a little toffee, lots of spice, aniseed and cloves. It’s very aromatic and there’s peach fruit and freshness here. This is one of those spirits that you will want to smell for a long time before taking a sip. The palate is highly aromatic, spicy and floral with creamy almond going into marzipan notes. Very very smooth, perfect balance. Not flashy or sweet. Everything in the right place.

Merlet VSOP (Master of Malt £46.75)

From a small family producer which uses grapes from Grand Champagne and Fin Bois. Everything they produce is excellent, including a single malt called Coperies. This VSOP contains brandy between four and 12 years old.

I got a distinct whiff of ginger biscuits plus lots of stone fruity notes. It’s very fruit forward, fresh and peachy on the palate with a creamy finish. This would be excellent neat or in a brandy & soda. If you like Glenmorangie 12 year old, you’ll love this.