Cognac is matured in oak barrels. There are many oak producing areas around the world which are used for barrel production. The French areas are the following: Argonne, Vosges, Nevers, Tronçais, Allier, Bourgogne, Armagnac (Landes) and Limousin.

The Limousin area grows the best oak wood from which to produce barrels to age fine cognacs in. It is the most expensive wood for barrels in the world.

KELT uses almost exclusively Limousin oak barrels for ageing the KELT Cognac.

All barrels used for the Tour du Monde are Limousin oak.


The Limousin oak forrest in France

The Coopers are artists working in wood and the cooper is one of the most important part of making a fine cognac. We tend to work mostly with Seguin Moreau cooperage in Cognac who are extremely good at Limousin oak.

It is very important to select exactly the right wood, age and dry it to perfection before making the barrels.


The initial splitting of the wood

For KELT it is also very important to have excellent coopers working with the barrels used for the Tour du Monde. As the Tour du Monde draws so much out of the barrels it is important that the barrels are of impeccable quality and that only Grande Champagne has been stored in the barrels previously. We use barrels of different ages for different qualities such as VSOP and X.O. The barrels for X.O. are older than for the VSOP. For this reason we need a perfect history of each barrel.

Oxidation and evaporation (in Cognac the evaporation is referred to as- “the Angels’ share”). Evaporation is between 1-2,5% per year depending on the “chai” (storage cellar or house).

As an example, with an evaporation rate of 2.5% over 50 years a 350 litre barrel of cognac is reduced to 100 litres of 40% alcohol.

Changes occur – reduction in volume and reduction in alcohol, extraction of wood characteristics from the Limousin oak and concentration of flavours. New barrels give much more in terms of tannins and other oakwood characteristics. Therefore new barrels are used for newly distilled Grande Champagne. The tannins then mature with age and become softer.

Expert cognac makers selectively blend different barrels together to create their particular “house style” of cognac.