Portraits Thénac
Cognac Audry
When discretion is a strength
For a long time presented as a “not much known house”, the Audry cognac managed to make of its discretion a real asset. Proud to remain faithful to the family tradition and to preserve an artisanal approach, the house got broader recognition over the years by participating in an increasing number of tastings.
The A. Edmond Audry house was created in 1878. Despite the sales of cognac stopped in the early 50s, very old bottles were preserved in the hope of a revival. It was only in 1984, when Bernard Boisson arrives, that the domain reties with the tradition. The discretion of the house and the high quality of its products becomes a priority. From now on, Audry cultivates the art of selection, ageing and blending the best cognacs stemming from both first crus of the Cognac region: the Grande and Petite Champagne.
However, when a cognac possesses a strong personality, the Audry house proposes a cuvée directly from the barrel. It is the case, for example, of their flagship cuvée
Très Ancienne Grande Champagne Réserve Aristide with 50 % proof. This cognac with an amber colour has never been reduced nor added with sugar and has undergone a natural process of reduction by extremely slow evaporation. So, after ageing some fifty years, the alcohol presents a very beautiful bouquet of complex aromas of roasted pear, fig, violet, honey, liquorice and numerous spices (black pepper, nutmeg, clove). An elixir of the Charente, mysterious and intense at the same time.
At the image of this precious bottle, a great cognac is, for the Audry house, the fruit of a perfect balance between the bouquet given by the grape, the tannin of the oak coming from the barrel and the oxidation in the contact of the air. This balance builds up thanks to three major phases of crafting.
The first one is the double distillation process in a Charentes still with the ideal shape to optimize the extraction of the aromatic bouquet of the grape. So the swan neck that leads the vapours from the boiler to the cooling tank facilitates to impregnate the distillate.
Secondly, a natural ageing of the cognacs takes place. Here, the wood plays a major role, the porosity of the latter enabling an indirect contact of the liquid in the barrel with the air of the cellar.
At last the cellar master blends the cognacs with different but complementary characteristics thus creating a harmonious whole.
Now the Audry Cognac still recognized for its seriousness and quality is present on the menu of the most prestigious restaurants, on the shelves of the most renowned wine stores, and gets laudatory comments of the sommeliers and gastronomic critics.
Sandy Bénard — www.cognac-audry.com — 
