And… just like that, we’re already two thirds of the way through the 2025 Cognac-Expert Advent Calendar, and today’s dram is a Michel Forgeron Barrique 92 Cognac. Before diving into the glass, let’s have a few words on who stands behind this bottling. Then we’ll take a closer look at their Barrique 92 Grande Champagne cognac.
Michel Forgeron Cognac
Michel Forgeron Cognac traces its roots to 1909, when Jean and Ernestine Gonthier bought a small farm with vines and a Charentaise house in Chez Richon, near Segonzac in Grande Champagne. Their daughter married into the Forgeron family, and the property eventually passed to their grandson Michel, born in 1933, who returned from military service in the late 1950s and decided to make cognac his main occupation.
Through the 1960s Michel and his wife Francine replanted and expanded the vineyards, converted farm buildings into a distillery and cellars, and began distilling their own wine rather than selling grapes. At first the family sold almost all production to major trading houses as bulk eaux‑de‑vie, typical for growers in the region at the time.
In 1977 they created the Michel Forgeron brand and started bottling part of their stock under their own name, focusing on Grande Champagne cognacs distilled on the lees and kept for long ageing. The estate slowly increased from a few hectares to around 24–27 hectares of vines around Segonzac, all planted mainly with Ugni Blanc.
From the 1990s onward, Michel’s sons Pierre and Christophe joined the business, taking over viticulture, distillation and blending while Michel remained involved until his death in 2017. Christophe became responsible for selections such as the ‘Barrique’ vintages and higher‑strength bottlings, and the house shifted more volume from bulk sales toward estate‑bottled cognac.
Today the family continues to run the property as an independent grower‑distiller based in Chez Richon, with vineyards, stills and ageing cellars all on site. Production remains limited to Grande Champagne, and the range is built largely from their own stocks accumulated since the 1960s.
Michel Forgeron Barrique 92 Cognac (2025) Review
The Michel Forgeron Barrique 92 Cognac is a 33-year-old Grande Champagne, distilled from Ugni Blanc grapes with the lees. After the distillation in their 11-hectolitre alembic, their cognac matured in both dry and humid cellars, being slowly reduced to 47% ABV using distilled water. Expect to pay about €80-€100 for a 500 ml bottle at Cognac-Expert, for instance.
Colour:
Bronze.
Nose:
Neat: The nose shows a rich mix of gingerbread and dark chocolate, quickly followed by baking spices such as cinnamon and nutmeg, plus hints of vanilla, maple syrup and light orange zest. Behind this lie deeper notes of toasted oak, brown sugar and a touch of dried fruit, giving the bouquet a warm, almost dessert‑like character that leans slightly toward bourbon territory while still reading clearly as cognac.
Palate:
Neat: The palate feels sweet, rich and decidedly indulgent. Honeyed sweetness leads to juicy fruits – plums, melon, tangerine and sugary grapefruit – layered with burnt caramel, cocoa, and sweet cinnamon, while the oak brings structure through walnut, coffee and other dark, toasty notes. The mouthfeel is silky and creamy thanks to the 47% ABV.
Finish:
The finish shows a fair bit of oak and spice, wrapping the palate in walnut bitters, simple syrup, lingering cinnamon and other oak spices, with traces of bitter orange peel and dark chocolate that slowly fade.
Comments:
Overall, The Michel Forgeron Barrique 92 weaves together sweetness, bitterness and spices in a complex whole, with darker, oak‑driven tones leading while the fruit sweetness still shines enough to keep everything in check. It is a very good cognac. The bottle shape does not really appeal to me, but the important part is the beauty inside. And that, it has.
Rating: 7.5/10
Advent calendar provided by Cognac-Expert. Sorry for the poor pun on the cognac house name to imagine the illustrative image and social videos.