Hennessy V.S. NBA Limited Edition (700 ml)

When Maurice Hennessy codified the VS star-rating system — later adopted across the entire cognac industry — he established a minimum two-year aging standard that this expression still honors. The NBA Limited Edition wraps that same liquid in a collector's bottle, but the spirit inside is unchanged: a multi-cru blend sourced from over 1,500 independent growers across Grande Champagne's shallow clay-limestone chalk, Borderies' clay-flint soils, Petite Champagne, and Fins Bois. Grande Champagne chalk drives the high-acid base wine that survives double distillation intact, while Borderies contributes the rounder, nuttier register that softens the blend's edges. Ugni Blanc grapes (>95%) are fermented with native wild yeast for 5–7 days with no added sugar or sulphur, producing a lean 8–10% ABV base wine. Double distillation in Charentais copper pot stills includes lees retention and the addition of heads and tails back into the brouillis — a deliberate congener-loading step that separates Hennessy's assertive house style from Martell's cleaner, lees-free approach. Aging proceeds in new Limousin oak barrels from Hennessy's own cooperage, which hand-produces 400–500 casks annually from 80-year-old trees. The result is a VS that punches with dark fruit, vanilla, and rising spice — the same architectural blueprint the Fillioux family has maintained across eight unbroken generations of master blending.