The story of Louis XIII cognac is, in its essence, a story about the mastery of time – each decanter of Louis XIII contains a century in a bottle; the deep amber liquid is the result of a careful blending of up to 1, 200 eaux-de-vie (water of life), the youngest of which is at least 40 years and the oldest 100 years old.
One hundred and forty years ago, in 1874, Paul-Émile Rémy Martin first created a cognac like no other, which he named in honour of his regent, LOUIS XIII. Today LOUIS XIII is arguably the most prestigious cognac, the best-selling luxury priced spirit, and the king of the back bar in every respected account in the world.
Building on the past, for the future
“Cognac is the product of human genius, nature, and time” – Baptiste Loiseau, Louis XIII Cellar Master”
LOUIS XIII is built on solid ground with over a century of history and, in a sense it’s most useful to think of its cellar masters as those cathedral builders of old who began construction, knowing that they would not live to see the end result of their labour.
Each Louis XIII cellar master selects promising eaux-de-vie which they carefully nurture, with the knowledge that the next master or even the one thereafter will finally craft a singular cognac from their work. On average four cellar masters work together, over the span of a few decades, to produce a single batch of Louis XIII.
Not only does it take an extraordinary amount of time to produce a decanter of Louis XIII – it also takes years to train the next cellar master - with both the current and incumbent master working together to ensure that the language of Louis XIII is accurately translated. Baptiste Loiseau, the current cellar master (and also the youngest master in the world) took over the mantle from Pierette Trichet in 2014, becoming the fifth cellar master at the House of Rémy Martin. Loiseau now oversees the blending and aging of more than 140,000 eaux-de-vie, housed in 29 different cellars. Eventually only the best of these carefully nurtured eaux-devie will be blended together to become Louis XIII.
It’s difficult to imagine working on something for 100 hundred years in a time where everything is instant, so Louis XIII, in collaboration with John Malkovich and director Robert Rodriguez has created “100 Years: The Movie You’ll Never See”. The film imagines what life will be like a century from now and, inspired by the craftsmanship and time it takes to produce Louis XIII, the film will only be released in 2115.
A journey through time
Louis XIII has travelled the globe with the first casks of the cognac being shipped as far as Scandinavia and even Australia in 1875. By the end of the 1880's, LOUIS XIII was shipped to most Asian countries - such as India, Indonesia, Japan, China, and South Africa.
During its illustrious past Louis XIII has been present at a number of seminal moments such as the crossing of Europe on board the Orient-Express journey to Constantinople in 1929, and the maiden voyage of The SS Normandie (the fastest ocean liner of its time) in 1935 where Louis XIII was served to wealthy Americans, traveling to France from New York, in the liner’s first class cabinets. Louis XIII was also on board for the inaugural flight of the Concorde in 1984.
An unforgettable experience
When it comes to appreciating Louis XIII, Jörg Pfutzner, LOUIS XIII Private Client Director in South Africa, advises taking one’s time; “Louis XIII is a spirit that encourages reflection, to take a moment and let time stand still while you slowly appreciate the cognac’s rich aroma and complexity”.