Tasting the flame
Just in time for the festive season is Martell’s latest cognac, the Intense Heat Cask Finish (RM800). After China, Malaysia is the second biggest market in the region for Martell products and among the usual justifications lies a beautiful marriage. The spicy notes of cognac not only mirrors the taste profile of equally spicy Malaysian food, complementing each other to bring out a depth almost impossible to achieve with any other spirit.
In Martell’s new cellar master Christophe Valtaud, the world’s oldest maison of cognac possesses a native of the region. Valtaud graduated with a PhD in molecular biology, completing a thesis focused on wine no less. On a recent trip to Malaysia, Valtaud cites his immense excitement for the potential of food pairing with Martell’s latest creation.
“Your food matches completely, perfectly with cognac. This is made even better because Malaysians are curious and want to experience new things. They drink cognac, sure, but then they’re curious about different types of cognac. Our connoisseurs are also getting younger (and) I have no doubt they will enjoy this limited edition.
“With Intense Heat we enhance the cordon bleu, highlighting the spicy notes and delivering it with smoothness. The interaction with the wood creates its unique character, helping the consumer understand the very important stage of ageing and, specifically for this, the role played by the intense burning of the cask.”
To become a cellar master one must first be a master taster, as such Valtaud is the ultimate gatekeeper of Martell quality.
“My job is to check and preserve the quality from the vineyard and provide feedback to master distillers. The most important things in my job are the ageing and the blending; to find good barrels for the process and then to blend the precious eaux de vie. All these different steps are to preserve the style and quality of cognacs and my responsibility is to reproduce the historic range and produce new expressions such as Intense Heat.”
Unlike the distilling and blending of a whisky, Valtaud’s work is hugely affected by the vagaries of the weather and the fickle nature of a brandy’s core ingredient. “When you work with a grape as a base ingredient, you have the impact of the climate, the area, the soil. Wine has a vintage and you don’t have the same quality, aromas or taste each year.” The Martell advantage, according to Valtaud, is in an adherence to rules that goes beyond the laws of cognac production to uphold centuries-old standards.
“We produce very smooth and very mellow cognac, because we use fantastic eau de vie. Our specific method of sedimentation preserves the aromas at a very high level of purity and because we also don’t want any bitterness, we use only fine-grain oak. We’ve been doing it this way for 300 years because this has been decided since our founding, and we carry on the tradition. I taste between 70 and 90 eau de vie every day, just to uphold the quality of Martell.”
“However, we also have to be innovative for our consumers. I have to work with the legacy but also push Martell to be ready for the future. I use the eau de vie that comes from my predecessors and similarly, what I put in my cellars is not just for me, but for my successors. Some of the eau de vie will only be blended in another 100 years or more,” Valtaud says, adding: “this is the nature of the job, thinking and planning ahead to deliver only the best.”
