Hennessy X.O Chinese New Year 2025 Limited Edition (700 ml)

Maurice Hennessy created the XO designation in 1870 as a private gift for family and friends — a category the entire cognac industry would eventually adopt. The 2025 Chinese New Year limited edition bottles that founding act in a collector's release built on the same multi-decade architecture. Sourced from over 1,500 independent partner growers across Grande Champagne, Petite Champagne, Borderies, and Fins Bois, the blend draws on soils ranging from shallow clay-limestone chalk — the chalky subsoil of Grande Champagne that drives the long-aging potential — to the clay-flint of Borderies, which contributes a rounder, nuttier register. Eaux-de-vie aged in cellars along the humid Charente riverbank yield mellower, rounder spirit; drier inland chais contribute structure and grip. Double-distilled in Charentais copper pot stills, with both lees-on and lees-off batches, and uniquely, heads and tails are reintroduced into the brouillis before the second pass — concentrating congeners for the house's characteristically dense, dark-fruited depth. The XO blend assembles 100+ eaux-de-vie aged up to approximately 30 years in Limousin oak from Hennessy's own forests, cooperaged on-site at 400–500 barrels per year. The Fillioux family — eight consecutive generations as sole Master Blender — assembled this expression. The 2025 CNY packaging marks a limited annual release; the liquid itself is non-vintage, blended for stylistic consistency.