Spirits / Cognac / Dudognon

Maison Dudognon - Grande Champagne

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Lignières-Sonneville, Charente
​The Dudognon family has grown grapes in the small village of Lignières-Sonneville since 1776. This village is about 11 miles southeast of the town Cognac in the heart of the famed Grande Champagne zone, Cognac’s most hallowed ground. The soil here is largely composed of Campanian chalk, and spirits from this cru are especially renowned for their tremendous length.
video: Oscar Beckmann and Michael Housewright
"These Cognacs can hold their own against those of the great houses but have preserved a closeness to their origins, their goût de terroir."
— Axel and Bibiana Behrendt's Guide to Cognac

The Dudognon family history in Grande Champagne can be traced back to 1776; succeeding generations were polyculturalists who sold small amounts of distilled spirits to the négociant houses.  In 1898, Paulin Dudognon presented a cognac at an International Spirits Show in Paris and took home a Medaille d’Or (gold medal).  
Born in 1927, Raymond Dudognon learned from his grandfather Paulin and father Gaston, continuing to distill small amounts of eau de vie in the chai behind their stone house.  In 1946, Raymond took over from Gaston and distilled by himself for the first time, using a small wood-fired still.  The following year, he began replanting some of his sunflower and corn crops with grapes.  In 1948, he married Pierrette and over the next decade they had three daughters.  During this time Raymond continued to replant his land with grapes, reaching just under 35 hectares in the 1960s. 
Raymond worked his vines and continued to distill in the winter.  He also began to bottle a little bit of his production but, like most growers, sold most of his cognac to the large houses (Hennessey and Rémy Martin, primarily) while setting aside several barrels a year to age in one of his chais in the village.   
In 1990, Raymond entered his Reserve des Ancetres (made from a blend of his first two vintages, 1946 and 1947, that had been blended decades before) in The International Spirits Tasting Show. He took home another Medaille d’Or, echoing a gold his great-grandfather Paulin had won at the competition in 1898.
Raymond was well loved within the Cognac community  and  was  a member  of  many  of the local committees and tasting panels. He loved experimenting with rarely  used  grape  varietals  like montils and folle blanche, and experimenting with distillation methods.  The complete antithesis to the suit-and-tie image of Cognac, Raymond remained humble in both his appearance and opinions. Instead, he let his cognac do the talking.
In the late nineties, perhaps because of his humility and authenticity, an article was published in Revue des Vins de France in which they cited the discovery of Dudognon’s cognacs as being a revelation for spirit’s lovers.  His new fame was short-lived, however, as in 2001 he developed cancer, eventually submitting to the disease in 2002. 
Afterwards, the property was divided between his three daughters.  One, married to a nearby producer, incorporated her share of the vines into their production.  Another sold her part of the inheritance and, the third, Claudine, who had worked as a nurse while also assisting her father with his production during his later years, took the distillery, some stock, and the vines surrounding the chai on the property La Davore. 
Her husband, Gerald Buraud, owned a trucking company that mostly transported young cognacs between properties of the producers and warehouses of the large houses. In 2005, he sold his company and devoted himself to cognac production full time along with Claudine, who had given up her nursing job several years before.
The Dudes, as they are referred to by many in the US, purchase staves for the barrels from a local cooper in Bonneuil, then air dry them on their own property for three years so that the bitter tannin has a chance to naturally seep out of the oak.  The staves are then brought back to the cooper who fashions their 350-liter barrels.  Computers are not to be found in the distillery, and all the cuts are still made through observation and tasting.  It is not uncommon to see a mattress on the floor in front of the still during the winter distillation months.
In 2016, son Pierre, after working in an unrelated field, decided to return to the property and join his parents.  Since then, they have worked parts of their vineyards organically and have also installed a second still, slightly smaller at 9 hectoliters, also heated by firewood and charcoal. 

The Dudognon cognacs are housed in two different chai in Lignières, one in a newer building built into a small hillside next to the distillery, and a more rustic chai next to their small bottling area that contains some of their older spirits.  As the Dudognons eschew any permitted additives apart from water, the colors of their cognacs are pale, their sweetness comes from only naturally concentrated fruit, while their length, like the finest spirits from the Grand Champagne, is counted in minutes.
They have just 10 hectares of vines, planted with 88% ugni blanc, 9% folle blanche, and 3% montils. They vinify the wine and distill sur lie, running it through the small 14 hectoliters still of Raymond, heated with charcoal and firewood.  The young eau de vie goes into new barrels where it rests for about 8 months before being transferred to older barrels that gave less tannin.  As they found themselves without much stock, they decided to stop selling their young distillates to the large houses so that they could develop more inventory of their own.
In 2008, the family unexpectedly gained renown in the region as their Heritage cognac became the most expensive cognac in the world, thanks to a Mexican businessman who housed the cognac in a one-liter bottle made of 24 K gold and sterling platinum and set with 6,500 brilliant cut diamonds. The one-liter bottle, weighing some 8 kilos, had a value of a million pounds sterling.
Another big fan of Dudognon’s cognacs is Michel Chasseuil, owner of the largest and most beautiful cellar in the world that contains over 41,000 bottles of inestimable value.  Tucked within the cellar next to jeroboams of Petrus, magnums of Y’Quem, and sealed cases of Romanée-Conti are some 400 bottles of Dudognon Heritage, closed with full-sized corks.
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Maison Dudognon Cognac Sélection NV: 5 years old. The youngest of the range, showcasing the bright, fruit-forward style Dudognon is known for. It's an ideal cocktail cognac with juicy pear, lemon and orange zest, soft tea-like notes, and a light elegant body. Other sources describe notes of green apple, pear and vanilla, and on the palate light, caramel, fruit notes, with a long, delicate finish carrying a touch of spice. Bottled at a higher-than-average ABV (around 44%), which makes it especially suited to mixing.
Maison Dudognon Cognac Réserve NV: 10 years old. Pale straw color with aromas of apple, lemon skin,  floral tones, and spice, with a palate that includes develop greater texture, highlighted by fresh apricot, plum, honeyed clover, vanilla, sea salt, and toffee on the finish.  
Maison Dudognon Cognac Vieille Réserve NV: 20 years old. A big step up from the younger bottlings — the oak has integrated nicely around a core of violets and honey, with a straw-gold color streaked with amber, and aromas of spring flowers, orange pith, and lemon custard, The palate shows apricot, apple, plum, honey, and leather flavors, with more detailed notes of honey, apples and pears. This cognac finishes long with rancio and a touch of savory spice. 
Maison Dudognon “Heritage” NV: Aged 40 years in Limousin oak, remaining relatively translucent since nothing is added for color. Aromas of French vanilla, dried violets, and exotic marmalade joined by rich toffee and spice, with a deep, savory rancio character. The silky, creamy palate shows notes of dried fruits (caramelized pear, orange peel) along with leather, cigar box, and warm spices. While nutty rancio is highly evident, this cognac maintains its fruit without succumbing to a dry or bitter aftertaste.  
Maison Dudognon “Paulin” NV: More than 60 years old.  The oldest and rarest Dudognon expression — an eau-de-vie preserved in the house's cellars across three generations, originally distilled by Raymond Dudognon. From its deep amber color comes a nose reminiscent of old Madeira and old Porto, with notes of dried plum, figs, walnut, leather and spice. Like many cognacs of this age, this is not for sipping, but to be savored in very small doses to fully appreciate its intensity and length, whose waves of flavor continue for several minutes.