Charent'euse is a gueuze blended from lambics matured in cognac casks from Charente, the French department where real cognac comes from. Other producers who have experimented with lambics matured in cognac casks have already shown what this combination is capable of, so expectations are high for this one.
Foamy, sparkling, audibly crackling, egg-white head that slowly sinks and dissolves above a misty warm apricot-blond liquid with a deeper ochre glow and small bubbles rising from the bottom of the glass. Noble and complex bouquet of unripe apricot, lots of old oak (even wooden furniture), calamansi, characteristic cognac but drier than the better known brands, dried apple slices, wet leather, Sémillon grape must, acacia gum, old dry sherry, hints of red mold cheese, yellow plum, Poire William, the dry remains of sparkling wine, crumbled dry earth.

Sparkling attack, high and minerally effervescence as befits the style, acidic but rounded, with a lime acidity that eventually becomes lemony, enclosed by a milder touch of half-ripe apricot, yellow plum and hard nectarine - acidic and sharp enough to maintain freshness, but with a softer element inside that provides not only balance but also body; the mineral carbonation effects accompany a slender bready heart, dried by a strong streak of lactic acid, which here acts as a solid backbone and guides the flavours to a beautiful finish in which all the essential elements come together: persistent acid fruits, tannic woodiness with even a hint of vanilla retronasally and the actual cognac, with must and tartaric acid elements as well as a deep, 'autumnal' dried fruitiness of an aromatic kind, which penetrates again and again.