Hennessy Very Special by Vhils (700 ml)

When Portuguese artist Alexandre Farto — known as Vhils — was commissioned to reimagine the Hennessy VS bottle, the collaboration landed on a house founded in 1765 by Richard Hennessy, whose Tasting Committee still reviews approximately 10,000 eaux-de-vie annually to assemble this blend. That institutional depth is the technical story behind what looks like a limited-edition art object.

Sourced from over 1,500 independent partner growers across Grande Champagne, Petite Champagne, Borderies, and Fins Bois — soils ranging from shallow clay-limestone chalk to clay-flint — the base wine is fermented with native wild yeast, no added sugar or sulphur, producing a high-acid, 8–10% ABV must purpose-built for double distillation in traditional alembic charentais copper pot stills.

Hennessy's defining technical transgression: unlike Martell, it distills both with and without lees, and returns heads and tails to the brouillis before the second pass, concentrating congeners for a darker, richer spirit. VS is matured in new Limousin oak barrels — staves sourced from Hennessy's own forests, trees felled only after 80+ years of growth — handcrafted at the house's own cooperage at a rate of 400–500 barrels per year.

What no peer does: the Fillioux family has held the sole Master Blender role for eight unbroken generations, a 200+ year lineage that makes this the longest continuous blending dynasty in global spirits. As a non-vintage blend bottled at 40% ABV, the VS is designed for stylistic consistency, not year-to-year variation — the Vhils edition changes the vessel, not the liquid.