Jacques Hardy 1802 Grande Champagne Cognac First Bottled 1890, Re-bottled 2002 75cl / 41.7%

A bottle of 1802 Exceptionnellement Vieux Grande Champagne Cognac from the personal collection of Jacques Hardy. This comes in a 75cl hand-blown bottle sealed with wax and is presented in a wooden case.

This was first bottled in 1890 and rebottled in 2002 for a private collector. This is bottle number 17 of 36.

This bottle comes with a certificate telling the story of the Collection Personnelle de Jacques Hardy, and of this vintage, which reads (translated from French):

'1802 was the year Bonaparte named himself First Consul for Life, as a prelude to the empire and to Napoleon.

This is also the birth year of Victor Hugo.

It’s unnecessary to tell you that, when I had the chance to encounter a small lot of eau-de-vie in the area that later became Petite Champagne, I did not hesitate to put a bit of those aside for my personal collection.

This Cognac, distinguished by its great finesse and its subtle aroma, uses typical grape varieties that were grown before Phylloxera: Folle Blanche and Colombard.

Taste it peacefully… it will make you dream of the period of time that the Cognac was made.'

Jacques Hardy was managing director of Hardy Cognac from the late 1950s until his retirement in 1999. During this time, he sourced old demi-johns from local growers and stored them in his personal cellar.

This Jacques Hardy 1802 Grande Champagne Cognac sold at our online auction for £14,400