The rustic commune of Saint-Sulpice-de-Cognac is centrally located in the smallest of the 6 crus: Borderies. With about 4,000 hectares of vineyards, this cru represents only 5% of all cognac. The soil composition here is mostly clay with flint on top of a layer of chalk. The domain of the Raffaud family is surrounded by their own vineyards. A lone passer-by would not suspect that there is a cognac odistillery behind the yellow / red facades, once inside the gates this family breathes cognac. Michel and Annie are enjoying their retirement, but the family continues the activities. This domain, "La Maison Rouge" only sells its young eau de vie to the big brands 'Grand Marnier,..) , never under its own name "Raffaud". After an extremely sympathetic phased acquaintance, we were able to bottle the dowries of Annie and Michel in '66. A cognac and pineau des charentes that is breathing character. This cellar was not large with less than 15 cognac casks, sometimes you don't need more to find an exceptional spirit. This cognac has matured its entire age in a 150 liter cask (much smaller than usual), 78 liters have survived the time, good for 112 bottles at natural cask strength. Santé
about the producer
Cognac Raffaud has been a family-run business for three generations. Michel Raffaud, the current head of the company, took over in 1960 when he was at the young age of sixteen. His father passed away only four years after Michel took over the business. At the time, the Maison only had four to five hectares of vineyards and a small wood-fired alambic.
Over time, Michel expanded the vineyards and switched from the wood-fired alambic to coal-fired. Despite their success, Michel and his wife Annie never bottled any of their Cognacs or Pineau des Charentes, instead selling their Eaux-de-vie to Hennessy, Martell, Courvoisier, and Grand Marnier. The only exception was Lot 66, which Michel kept for himself and was now bottled by Malternative Belgium. Selected from a sentimental year of Michel's life, the eau-de-vie used to make these hidden Cognac and Pineau jewels come from when he first met his wife – Annie. This Lot was harvested by hand and aged in new barrels for three to four months before being transferred to tonneaux and put into old barrels to rest.
Cognac Raffaud only ages their eaux-de-vie in Limousin oak barrels, which helps to bring out the distinct violet flavor profile that the Borderies region is known for. Today, they have 40 hectares of vineyards in Borderies, and they distill their Eaux-de-vie using gas. Hubert, Michel’s son, is slowly taking over the family business. Both Michel and Annie have an incredible knowledge and an outstanding sense of taste. That is why both are also judges at various spirits competitions, with Michel judging Cognac and Annie judging Pineau. On February 25th and 27th, 2023, Michel and Annie will be judging at the Salon de l’agriculteur in Paris.
The name, “La Maison Rouge” has remained a mystery for the Raffaud family. Despite their attempts to uncover the origin of the name, the only explanations they have come across are that the house may have once been painted red, or that the vollets on the windows were once painted red. Neither is the case, as they scraped all the paint off to see if it was actually the red color. They also investigated the possibility that it was once a post house, but no explanation was found for why it was called “La Maison Rouge”. The only other explanation is that, when standing in the back of the house in certain angle with the sun and the wind, the light shimmers red. To this day, the origin of the name remains unknown.
