Day 17 of our Cognac-Expert 2025 Advent Calendar brought an A.E. Dor Vieille Réserve No. 8 Cognac. A.E. Dor has sat on my must‑try list for quite some time, so finding it in this year’s calendar feels like a small victory. One sample won’t ever tell the full story of a cognac house, but every exploration starts with a first glass. As usual, let’s say a few words about A.E. Dor before diving into their Vieille Réserve No. 8 Cognac.
A.E. Dor History
A.E. Dor traces its origins to 1858, when Amédée-Edouard Dor founded a cognac trading house in Jarnac. Dor came from a family already involved in the spirits trade and chose to specialise in sourcing, ageing and selling old Grande Champagne eaux-de-vie rather than owning vineyards. From the start, the house focused on building stocks of very long-aged cognacs, often keeping eaux-de-vie in glass demijohns after decades in wood to preserve them for future blends.
Through the late 19th and early 20th centuries, A.E. Dor built a reputation among traders and connoisseurs for holding some of the oldest reserves in the region, including parcels dating back to the 1840s and 1850s. The company survived phylloxera, two world wars, and the economic crises of the 1930s, largely by maintaining its focus on age and quality rather than volume, and by keeping close relationships with a small number of growers in Grande Champagne.
In 1972, the Dor family sold the business to the de Polignac family, owners of Château de Cognac (formerly Otard). Under this ownership the house continued to age and bottle prestige cognacs, drawing on both inherited stocks and new purchases of old eaux-de-vie. The range remained anchored in long-aged expressions, with bottlings like Réserve No. 6, No. 8, and vintage releases becoming core references for collectors and specialists.
In recent decades A.E. Dor has remained a relatively small, specialist house within the Château de Cognac portfolio, known for rare releases and collaborations with independent bottlers. The company still operates from Jarnac, where its oldest reserves – some held in glass for over a century – are kept in secure cellars known informally as the ‘Paradis’. Today the house continues to release cognacs drawn from these historic stocks, maintaining its founding principle of privileging age and Grande Champagne origin above all else.
A.E. Dor Vieille Réserve No. 8 Cognac Review
A.E. Dor Vieille Réserve No 8 is a long-aged Grande Champagne cognac, built from old Ugni Blanc eaux-de-vie that typically range somewhere between about 30 and 50 years of age. Vieille Réserve No 8 is bottled at 47% ABV and usually sold for around €330–360, but it seems to be on offer at the time of writing for ‘just’ €300 at Cognac-Expert.
Colour:
Cider.
Nose:
Neat: The nose opens with an elegant and evolved profile typical of very old Grande Champagne. It leads with dried apricots, orange peels and prunes, which are quickly joined by soft floral touches of rose and jasmine. As it breathes, deeper notes emerge: dark cocoa powder, orange rind, and a ‘cigar box’ earthiness rancio that suggests damp autumn forest. There is also a hint of candied fruit and a subtle waxiness, reflecting its long oxidation.
Palate:
Neat: On the palate, the No 8 is fresh and soft. It is full-bodied and oily, thanks to its higher ABV (47% ABV), coating the mouth with rich flavours of sweet pastry, spiced apple, and floral syrup. The mid-palate reveals more structure with spicy oak, ginger, and distinct rancio notes of leather, tobacco, and mushrooms. The integration of fruit and spice is ‘’’gourmand’ but powerful, balancing the sweetness of ripe fruit with the grip of old wood.
Finish:
The finish is long, complex, and warming. It leaves lingering notes of sugar-encrusted flower petals, sweet black tea, and a pleasant bitterness akin to dark chocolate and walnut skins. The rancio persists, fading slowly into a final impression of spices and savoury earthiness.
Comments:
I’ve been wanting to try something from A.E. Dor for quite some time now, as that name popped up in my readings, since I fell in love with Cognac. There’s always a risk of being disappointed when you finally do something you’ve wanted for some time, but boy this A.E. Dor Vieille Réserve No. 8 did not disappoint. Oh no. This is a stunning old Grande Champagne cognac, with an excellent balance between fruits, wood, spices, floral notes and rancio. Without forgetting the perfect drinking ABV that brings a lovely, oily and full-bodied mouthfeel. Now, let’s see if my whisky & cognac bank account will allow me to indulge myself in a bottle…