Poker Cognac

Cognac storage specifications – what is VS, VSOP and XO

Age and age specifications for cognac are regulated by the French agricultural government. Much of the language surrounding cognac comes from the United Kingdom, and also today’s age specifications do that. This is because there have always been close relations to the market in the United Kingdom. In this article differences between the cognac storage specifications like VS, VSOP, Napoléon and XO are explained.

VSOP– Very Superior Old Pale – has its origin from an order from the British Royal House in 1817, but probably this formulation described more the style than the age they wanted for the cognac. The Royal House wanted a “cognac pale”, a cognac not sweetened or coloured with sugar and caramel. It was more usual on that time to hide badly distillation using additives. In the early days it was not usual to divide between different qualities, it was either cognac or cognac eau de vie. The first time the expression XO – eXtra Old – was used was in 1870.

Today the French regulations are built on an "account scale". The wine distilled from the end of November until 31. of March is "account 00". After this date the newly distilled spirits moves to "account 0", and is in its first storage year. After one year of storage in barrels – 31. of March is always the transition date – the cognac moves to "account 1". "Account 2" (2 years in barrels) is the youngest cognac quality allowed sold. This cognac can have the symbol “***” or be called VS – Very Special. The next step is "account 4" (four years in barrels), and can be called VSOP – Very Superior Old Pale. The last step is called "account 6" (six years in barrels), and after this the cognac can be called whatever the producer prefer, for example XO – eXtra Old. Note that from 2007 the XO specification will be changed. From 2007 the cognac must have been stored 10 years in barrels to deserve to be called XO.

However, things aren’t always as easy as it seems. Some companies want to be known for having the best VS, while others are more concerned about having the cheapest VS. There are producers that have VS which easy could have been called XO – six years is not a very high age for a cognac. With other words, it isn’t just enough to read the characters on the etiquette to find the best cognac. It will also be differences for cognacs that are mixes between several districts, in opposite to cognacs from producers only working with Fine Champagne (which is a description for the combination of the inner districts Grande and Petite Champagne). Cognac from the Champagne area uses longer time to mellow. Poker Cognac XO is a mix of cognac from the districts Fins Bois, Borderies and Grande Champagne. The different districts were defined in 1938, and are divided by type of soil and micro climate.

To complicate the picture even more, some companies don’t use the descriptions VS, VSOP or XO at all, while other uses a combination. Based on all this there are unwritten indications on what these descriptions really mean. Most VS cognacs will be between three and five years, while VSOP cognacs normally will be between five and 10 years. Napoléon (which is not a official specification) normally means a cognac between VSOP and XO, and can vary from 8 to 20 years. XO can vary even more; everything from 10 to 30 year old cognac can be in these bottles. The age of Poker Cognac XO is approximately 17 years, were some of the cognac is aged up to 50 years. When the cognac becomes older than this it often gets a quality name made by the specific cognac house. An example of this is Halfdan Extra Gammel (Halfdan Extra Old) by Birkedal-Hartmann which contains up to 55 year old cognac.

To sum up: Read the label on the bottle, but take the characters with a grain of salt and taste the content. Find the differences, and perhaps in the end
Poker Cognac XO becomes your favourite. And remember, the cognac glass can also play an important role for the taste.