Kjellermester Jean-Philippe Bergier

From a cognac point of view this job takes precedence over all others.  It is the cellar master who puts the final touches to the cognac before it ends up in a bottle.  Obviously in this context there is no smoke without fire: without skilled wine producers in the right districts and highly skilled distillers who transform the raw materials, it would not be possible to make cognac.

Jean-Philippe Bergier is the Cellar Master at Bache-Gabrielsen.  He is more than happy to explain what his job involves:

”In addition to looking after the casks where the cognac matures, I am responsible for purchasing and blending all the products.  Take for example Bache XO that is extremely successful in Norway.  It is of vital importance for us that I am able to provide this cognac with the same characteristics year after year.  I order samples from batches from those regions that I wish to buy from, in this case Grande and Petite Champagne, and then I taste them next to each other in the same type of glass and in exactly the same quantities so that they perform under the same conditions.

I keep records about previous XO bottlings, and I know what I need to recognise in order to find suitable components for the blend.  This is how we continue products that we already know, and in this way new products may also emerge; combinations of tastes that are not yet represented in our range of goods.  We often purchase from the same small village producers.  These are wine producers and distillers who are familiar with our style and who know what we want.

I learnt the art of cognac tasting at home.  My family has a vineyard and its own distillery, and we have been doing this ever since the 1600s.  I attended the world’s only liquor university, which is located in Segonzac, right in the heart of Grande Champagne.  My sense of taste and smell are my most important tools, and every time I get a cold I am unable to work for a short while.  All I can do then is to get to grips with my paperwork and other small outstanding duties … wait patiently until my nose is back in action again. ”