The 2020 Release of Louis XIII Cognac got us thinking about the history of the spirit, the man, and the brand. We boiled it down to 13 things, of course.
The Man
1. Born in May 1601, he became King of France at age nine when his father Henry IV was assassinated in 1610. His reign lasted until his death in 1643, for 10 of those years he was also king of Navarre when it was merged with the French crown.
2. Sometimes known as "The Just"
3. First monarch to recognize cognac as a category in the world of eaux-de-vie, or spirits
4. Died on May 1643 of Intestinal Tuberculosis
The Cognac
5. The Remy Martin family established its House in the Cognac region in the early 1700s
6. Named for Louis XIII both because he was in power when the family established their House and because of his championing of Cognac as a region and spirit.
7. In 1841, Paul-Emile Remy Martin took over the business and began selling the House's cognac under the family name.
8. Paul-Emile broke tradition by bottling and selling his cognacs, rather than selling by the barrel.
9. The most expensive Louis XIII auctioned by Sotheby's to date sold for $134,750 in 2016. The bottle was called “L’Odyssee D’un Roi,” or “Journey of a King.” There were only three of them produced.
The Decanter
10. The iconic decanter is based on a metal flask that Paul-Emile found at the site of the Battle of Jarnac which took place in 1569
11. Paul-Emile disrupted the industry by registering the rights to reproduction of the glass decanter
The Production
12. The aging process takes place exclusively inside 100- to 150-year old tierçons, thin-walled French oak casks originally designed for maritime transport that are no longer being produced.
13. Since 1874, each generation of cellar master has selected the oldest and best eaux-de-vie for Louis XIII from the House’s cellars. Since the cellar master may never taste the final blend for which some of these eaux-de-vie are intended, each cellar master must also carefully train a successor.