Cognacton english

The oldest cognacs in the world

Over the years, with some regularity, an old bottle of cognac has been ‘discovered’ that is claimed to be the oldest bottle of cognac in the world. How reliable is this? This is a difficult matter and below I give some explanation as to why.

Cognac was already being made in the 16th century, only it was not called cognac then. The name cognac only started to come into vogue in the mid-17th century. At that time, cognac was mainly sold in wooden barrels. The use of bottles for cognac only started around 1850. Brand names were not recorded until then. It was only from 1856 that brand names were registered.

So bottles of cognac from well before that time, let’s say from the 18th century, was first kept in wooden barrels before being bottled. There was no careful registration in those days. Also, it was not common to keep cognac for decades, as money had to be made.
So if a bottle of cognac is found from, say, 1715, and it has a brand name of AE Dor or Jules Robin to name just two companies that were not founded until the 19th century, then these companies must have found old barrels of cognac somewhere and must have been able to trace what the distillation date was. Of course, it is now impossible to verify how reliable that data is. Especially if those companies no longer exist, like Jules Robin.

This is not to say it is all out of the blue. But some suspicion and vigilance is required.
Of a few bottles, the history is reasonably documented. Such as some bottles that have spent more than 100 years in a top French restaurant, like a cognac Clos de Griffier from 1738, for example, or the Gautiers from 1762.

Below is a table of vintage cognacs from the 18th century and older. (I cannot guarantee that these do not include fraudulent bottles.)

Distillation year	brand	picture	remarks
1677	AE Dor		Owned by a Russian person
1694	Martell		botteld in 1874
1696	Jules Robin		sold at auction in 2020 for $150.000 by a Dutch person; oldest bottle according to the Guiness Book of Records
1706	Frapin
1717	Martell
1720	Ranson & Delamain		bottled in 1800
1720	Caves du Restaurant		This was the oldest bottle in 2023 according to the Guiness Book of Records; In possession of Nguyen Dinh Tuan Viet.
1725	Otard, Dupuy & Co.
1727	Frapin
1732	Courvoisier
1738	Clos de Griffier		Well documented ans long has been in possession of the famous Parisian restaurant Lucas Carton; once the oldest bottle. Bottled in the 1830s. Thouth to be yhe oldest bottle in 2010.
1739	Martell
1744	Otard, Dupuy & Co.
1746	Frapin
1747	Hennessy		Bottled in 1887
1747	Clos de Griffier		Owned by Parisian restaurant La Rue
1758	Courvoisier		Bottled in 1898
1760	Martell
1762	Gautier		'Grande brother'. Bought in 2020 for 122.696 pound by Nguyen Dinh Tuan Viet. Was once the oldest according to Guiness Book of Records
1762	Gautier		'Petite frère'. Sold at auction in New York in 2014 for 48.000 pound. It is opened and sold drop by drop in high priced watches, coins and fountain pens.
1762	Gautier		'Petite soeur'. Is in the French Gautier. Smallest of the three 1762 Gautier bottles. museum.
1762	Ranson & Delamain		Bottled in 1907
1763	Courvoisier		Bottled in 1898
1767	Coutanseaux		Sold in 2014 at the Wellesley Hotel in London for 164.000 pound
1767	Frapin
1768	Otard, Dupuy & Co.
1771	Ranson & Delamain		Bottled in 1905
1777	Hardy		There are more 1777 Hardy vintage bottles, with different labels and closures
1780	Martell		Bottled in 1900
1780	Ranson & Delamain		Bottled in 1907
1780	Martell
1780	Rémy Martin
1786	Bisquit-Dubouché & Co.
1789	Courvoisier		70.000 pond
1789	Frapin
1789	Hennessy		Bottled by Harvey and Sons in 1969
1789	Meukow
1789	Salignac
1793	Camus		Bottled in 1863
1795	Brugerolle		ca. 5L bottle, bottled in 1865. Sold in Chicago 1990. by Christie's.
1796	Otard, Dupuy & Co.		Bottled in 1900