Color: Medium to dark amber, old polished copper color with a thin uninterrupted ring around the glass slowly resulting in thick, slow and oily legs. These legs could easily fool me as a higher abv. spirit.
Nose: Kinda mute in the beginning... After allowing a few minutes to air: Apricot paste, passion fruit and orange blossom honey. Apple compote, aged Calvados and strawberries. Incredibly fruity gentle and subtle. Even though it really didn't need any I still added a couple drops water just to see: Fresh butter, cookie dough and vanilla. I lost the tartness and fruits but gained doughiness. Sugar cookies and vanilla pound cake.
Palate: Wet wool, rancio and more passion fruit. Stewed black currants, golden raisins and brown butter. Coconut flan, honey and pastry cream. Hesitantly adding some water: Aged Calvados I got from the nose pops up here as well. Poached apples and pears, hot toddy and nutmeg. Got very thin though.
Finish: I really wish this last longer... It dies down pretty quick. Unsalted butter, soft red apples and honey syrup.
Overall: Tastes exactly how you would expect and hope a four decades old Cognac would taste like. I loved especially the profile before I added water: Tart, fruity and buttery with good amount of rancio, honey and touch of wood. After going back and checking my notes I scribbled down for Vieille Reserve again I kinda think that I probably would prefer Vieille Reserve to Heritage purely because of the price point but that doesn't really change how exceptional this Cognac is. Thanks again to Julius Saita Smith for the sample.
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