Jean-Luc Pasquet

Jean-Luc Pasquet is an independent, small and family-owned Cognac house that dates to the 1730s. Pasquet was a pioneer in the organic movement of Cognac production in France and turned fully organic in the mid-1990s. This was rare at the time. As a result, one of the world’s first ever organic Cognacs appeared on the market a decade later. Today this innovative house’s range is bottled as naturally as possible and continues to push category boundaries.     

Pasquet is home to highly expressive organic Cognacs. These are fruity, fragrant and floral with notes of tropical fruit, apricot and peach along with a pinch of oak spice. Other notes such as dried fruits and chocolate are also commonly detected in older expressions.

Jean-Luc Pasquet Cognacs are unusual in the fact that they regularly show an age on their products. Most do not, and if they do then it will be in the form of a vintage. The current core range features bottlings at four, seven and ten years of age.

There are also occasional limited editions. These include the Confluences Le Cognac D'Eraville, a tribute to Maison Pasquet's heritage and the village of Eraville. The Trésors de Famille (which translates as 'treasures of the family') and L'Esprit de Famille (or 'spirit of the family') are also available. Both ranges are from the collections of Pasquet's Cognac-making friends and neighbours, with each bearing the producer's name.           

The vineyards and distillery are in the village of Eraville, close to Segonzac. This is the main town in the Grande Champagne region of Cognac. Pasquet owns just 14 hectares (35 acres) of vineyards, with all designated as fully organic since the late-1990s. Even today less than 1% of vines are farmed organically - approximately 600 hectares (1,480 acres) of 79,000 hectares (195,200 acres) in total.

The vineyards are predominantly planted with the Ugni Blanc grape variety, plus small percentages of Folle Blanche and Montils. They operate a small batch eau-de-vie production. This is made from wine that undergoes fermentation with natural yeasts. The wine is distilled twice through a small pot still. The final products are blended in small batches.         

Cognac and wine production was started by the Serillet family in Eraville in 1730. The estate has passed down through generations, but not necessarily through father and son. The Pasquet brand was created in 1977 by Jean-Luc Pasquet and his wife Marie Françoise. Previously their Cognac had been sold in bulk, as previous generations had.      

For 20 years, Pasquet followed conventional artisanal Cognac production until the decision was made to turn organic. This was rare at the time, and he researched the family's original Cognac growing and production methods from the 1700s and 1800s.

Pasquet began farming organically in 1993 and was awarded Agriculture Biologique status five years later in 1998. Jean-Luc's son, Jean Pasquet, learned the traditional growing and production techniques from his father and became involved in the business in the early 2000s. Jean now runs the company along with his wife Amy Pasquet.

In another pioneering move, Jean-Luc Pasquet chose to stop using the traditional VS, VSOP and XO denominations in 2017. This was to give better clarity as to what is in each bottle.