De Charville Frères VSOP 40%

DE CHARVILLE FRERES VSOP 40%

New kid on the block

Founded in 1885 as one of J. Prunier’s brands for the Asian market, De Charville Frères was reborn a few years ago, represented nowadays by Thomas Forterrre. Their range is made of the following age statements: VS (2-5yo), VSOP(5-10yo), XO (15-25yo), XXO (30-40yo). They’re only using Grande Champagne cognacs and here is their VSOP! 

Colour: Gold, green lights. Light irregular tears.

Nose: Honey and cider apple at first. Bourbon vanilla then. Sweet sugariness. A little of pastry notes. Hints of caramelized fruits, mainly apple. A little on vanilla aroma and hazelnut cream. Light scents of dry apricots and quince jam. A shy nose but some interesting smells. Let’s see if the palate has much to say. 

Palate: Sweet texture.  Citruses and honey. Candied lemon. Pear juice. A pleasant bitterness on lemon zest. A little acidic on the aftertaste, but I think it’s only a matter of youngness. Ending on vanilla and prunes. There is definitely a lack of something. This De Charville Frères VSOP is too polite! 

Last Notes: A nice attack on peaches with more air. Some nutty scents, hints of walnut and almond oil, probably a bit of dry chestnut too. A delicate fruitiness on apricots and raisins. Still some bitterness on orange zest and lemon zest. It keeps candied lemon aromas on the palate. It ends on a generous pepperiness and a light apricots jam taste. 

This is a frustrating cognac. The reduction seems a bit brutal for this one. However this De Charville Frères VSOP remains a nice one as it’s a young cognac. But due to its lack of richness and complexity, I can’t rate it over the Vallein Tercinier V.S (7yo+) for example. I’ll review soon their XO and the XXO, hope they will be more talkative! 

My very subjective note: 81+/100

More info on De Charville website

(I do not own the rights for the bottle picture)

Thank you Thomas for this one!