Fanny Fougerat

  • Cognac, France
Fanny Fougerat

Fanny Fougerat is a fourth generation distiller. Her family had been selling to the big houses that dominate Cognac; she is the first in her family to bottle her own cognac, and is currently the only woman doing so.

She and her partner farm 30 hectares of Ugni Blanc, primarily in Borderies but also in Fin Bois.  For those Cognac nerds out there, Borderies needs no introduction: it is the smallest cru and highly sought after,  a plateau of clay and limestone soil that offers ideal sun exposure, good drainage and allows for deep root development.  The eaux-de-vie from Borderies is known to be floral and elegant and also to build complexity more quickly and show its many facets at a younger age.  Aromatically, it is the Burgundy of Cognac. 

Fanny’s philosophy takes the Burgundy comparison a step further: she is making terroir-driven Cognac. She understands the unique nature of her area and also the unique nature of each vineyard, each harvest, each distillation and each barrel.  Her Cognac is never blended; every bottle from every release is labelled with barrel number and bottle number.  To give you an idea of the scale of her production, each barrel has 450 bottles; the current release of Cèdre Blanc is from 2 barrels only, the Iris Poivré is from 12 barrels and the Petit Cigüe from 15 barrels. Every barrel is bottled on its own; each release has variation based on the life of each barrel.  These are truly unique eaux-de-vies; Fanny Fougerat is to Cognac what grower-producers are to Champagne.

From the beginning, she kept it pure and simple, adding no sugar or caramel to her first cuvée unblended eponymous cognac.  While she may have had a foot in the door being born into a family of winemakers and distillers, she’s stepped out on her own to create her own mark and is making some serious waves in the world of Cognac: everyone from bartenders to cognac aficionados are clamoring for her unique bottlings. We are thrilled to welcome her to our portfolio.

 

BOWLER E-Zine Issue 2 | Q1 2021: A Spirit’s Sense of Place: Fanny Fougerat - Cognac, France
Image Producer PRODUCT Description Country / Region

DB3293-NV
Fanny Fougerat Petit Cigüe Cognac
NV
100% Ugni Blanc, harvested in 2010. Double-distilled in an alembic still; 15% of the batch is aged one year in new oak, the rest is aged in... France

DB3295-NV
Fanny Fougerat Iris Poivré XO
NV
100% Ugni Blanc and 100% Borderies fruit. Double-distilled in an alembic still; 15% of the batch is aged one year in new oak, the rest is... France

DB3294-NV
Fanny Fougerat Laurier d’Apollon
NV
Cru Petit Champagne, Double-distilled in an alembic still in 2010 on heavy lees, non chill filtered, no caramel, no sugar added. Young,... France

DB3301-NV
Fanny Fougerat Cedre Blanc Extra
NV
100% Ugni Blanc; Estate Vineyards in the Fins Bois region of Cognac  Red Clay and Limestone soil. ABV: 40.0 % Aged 17 years in oak cask... France

DB4298-NV
Fanny Fougerat Le Notoire - Hors Serie Cognac
NV
This batch comes from a parcel located in the commune of Saint-Bris-Des-Bois (17), on the Fins Bois terroir. Aged for forty years in French... France

DB4299-NV
Fanny Fougerat Rosé Le Colibri De Fanny
NV
Pineau de Charentes is a traditional term for an alcoholic beverage produced by adding high-strength spirit to unfermented or slightly... France