The house of Hennessy has created a rare opportunity for cognac aficionados to be fully immersed in the world of Hennessy Paradis through a collaboration with the St. Regis Aspen Resort. Not only has their presidential suite been transformed into the Paradis suite, but guests can also book a special Paradis dinner experience. A partnership between Pastry Chef Cyril Baudin of Chateau de Bagnolet, the historic estate of the Hennessy family in Cognac, and Buğra Keleş Executive Chef of the St. Regis in Aspen, the four course dinner brings epicureans on a gastronomic journey from Cognac to Colorado. A sample menu includes Alaskan king crab and Kaluga caviar paired with Krug Grande Cuvée, dry aged duck breast and foie gras paired with Joseph Phelps Insignia, Wagyu striploin and white Alba truffle paired with Hennessy X.O, and a lavender infused baba paired with Hennessy Paradis.

Paradis is the pillar of the Hennessy Rare Editions collection. I chatted with Renaud Fillioux de Gironde, an eighth generation master blender for Hennessy, to learn more about the unique cognacs in the Rare Editions portfolio. Renaud was born and raised in Cognac. Naturally his family has deep roots in the cognac industry with his parents being grape growers and distillers, and his great uncle was a master blender. He has worked in Bordeaux, Reims, Chile, and Australia. About 20 years ago his uncle noticed his potential and gave him the opportunity to join Hennessy. For Renaud “it’s really about what you believe in. I believe in quality. I believe in preparing the future and having values.”

The heart of the Rare Editions is . It’s really the idea of being on the quest for perfect harmony. It’s this idea of how you can see that everything just fits together. Even after all these years—because we’re talking about a blend of 100 different eaux-de-vie that are at least 30 years old and some way more—it’s still fresh, young, full of energy, but elegant. That’s the magic of Paradis. Paradis is, in a way, iconic because you can have all of these characters with this wonderful freshness and harmony.

Then we also have , another cognac in our permanent range. If Paradis is about harmony, then Richard is about complexity. We’re talking about the ingredients that are at least 50 years old and up to way more than that. It’s the history of our founder in a glass. So it’s really more about maturity and complexity, when Paradis is about harmony and a delicate character. It’s two different expressions of what an amazing stock of eaux-de-vie we have in Cognac.

I’d say a limited edition or special creation is , which is the purest version of Paradis. We put back the cognac for almost three extra years in the barrel to let all of the elements combine with it. And the idea behind Paradis Unlimited is, how can you get the purest clarity and expression of Paradis? So we took it straight from the barrel directly to the bottle. It’s even more delicate and more elegant than Paradis. I really love it. And you can craft the packaging and design it any way you want. It's full personalization.

Talking about personalization, the ultimate expression of our rare cognacs is . To understand this concept, you have to know every Hennessy eau-de-vie is aged in barrel. Each year I taste them to see their evolution and see if they’re ready to blend. If they can still improve, we’re going to keep them for a longer period in the barrel. At some point, if I’ve got a lot of great eaux-de-vie, but I’m not ready to blend all of them, the eau-de-vie that reaches its best, I remove it from the barrel and put it in the demijohn. It’s a big glass jar. Once it’s in glass, it stops the evolution because if you leave it in the barrel, it would have become older, but not necessarily better. If we want to keep the essence just as it is, then we use a demijohn. And to do something very special, let’s made a cognac just for one person. The idea of La Dame Jeanne is you want a cognac just for you. What I’m going to do is ask you to invite me for a couple of days to where you live. Tell me about yourself. Show me your favorite restaurants, what you like to eat, what you like to do, anything, so I can understand you better. Then I say, okay, now visit me in Cognac. I’m going to do a tasting with you of several different eaux-de-vie. I’m going to understand even more what you like. Now I’m going to make one cognac, one treasure, just for you. 10 liters of a pure expression of what I believe—with my knowledge about cognac making and blending—is something you will like, something just for you. I’ve done that twice and I’ve got the third one on the way. It’s a pure expression of a perfect cognac just for one person.

Yes, 100% from beginning to end.

I don’t talk too much about the figures because what matters is the quality of the selection. It’s not the number of eaux-de-vie. Because if you blend a thousand poor eaux-de-vie, it’s not gonna make a better cognac. What I learned during the first ten years of my career at Hennessy is learning how to taste. It’s every day at 11 o’clock tasting 60 to 70 samples to learn what is good for Hennessy. It’s not about what I personally like, but what is good for Hennessy. I worked ten years with my uncle and the team of tasters. After that, you start to have a good understanding of the stock. The idea, when we do all of our daily tastings, is to follow the quality of our eaux-de-vie stock. We select what we buy at the beginning. We age them properly. We use the ones that are ready. We try to put in the best condition the ones that still have potential. If you get that right all the time, then you get a great stock. You can do great blends. Actually, blending is the very last step of the process. But if you don’t do the whole work before, then you get nothing. The quality of the selection makes a difference.

BLS: Knowing that there are different eaux-de-vie in the blend, how many generations back do they go?

RFdG: If you look at the stock of Hennessy, the oldest eaux-de-vie we’ve got in stock is from 1800. This is how far it goes. When I’m blending some Paradis, a lot of the eaux-de-vie were there before I joined Hennessy, even before I was born. It’s interesting too, for me, there’s a bit of emotion because I’m using some of the treasures of all the members of my family that were here before me. I have a special bond with them—the liquid. I’ve got something that you can touch physically. I never met my great grandfather. He was alive when I was born, but he passed away when I was a baby. So even though I didn’t get a chance to meet him, but I can, in a way, meet him through the liquid. And when I’m blending Paradis, it’s a tribute to their work—to what they’ve done, to the focus they had on quality, the quest for perfection. Because you’re on a quest. Perfection doesn’t exist, but you try always to push the limit.

BLS: There’s a real passion and tangible history in what you do.

RFdG: This is why I love my job, because it’s not just about me right now. It’s a combination. It’s teamwork. People will have passed away a long time, but it’s all thanks to their work. The fact that a lot of the ingredients that I’m using in Paradis, they could have said, “it’s great today, I’m going to use it.” The thing is, it’s great today, but it can become even better tomorrow. So I won’t use it now. I will keep it for the future. And this philosophy, this way of thinking, is what makes a difference. Doing something good and trying to make it better.

BLS: For you, you’re preparing some eaux-de-vie that will be used for generations to come.

RFdG: Exactly. The last harvest was 2024 and still, during the whole winter. Part of what I decide to buy will be used in 100 years. We also have the impact of the climate and everything. Every vintage is different. Maybe this 2024 vintage is not going to age for a long time. But this other vintage, will say, has a lot of treasure. So we’ll follow it. Every year we’re going to re-taste them. Maybe change from one barrel to another. Give them fresh air and everything. Aging is not waiting. Aging is making a lot of decisions about how to get the best potential. It’s like dealing with people. We are all different and have different abilities. But if we are put in the right conditions, maybe we can be very good at what we do. For instance, you probably went through schooling and jobs that helped you to be good at your craft. But somebody else is a good plumber. And I need a plumber because we need diversity. You just want to make sure that you take every eaux-de-vie and you put them at their best. Managing stock is understanding potential from the beginning and putting it in the best condition for them. Understanding how these eaux-de-vie are different from one another. Seeing what’s the ultimate they can be after two years or after 300 years.

BLS: How do you know when you need to move some eaux-de-vie into a demijohn to stop the aging process versus giving others more time in the barrels?

RFdG: So this is why tasting is so important. This is why all the time I spent learning how to taste is, really, learning to understand. I can see in these eaux-de-view that they can be even better tomorrow. Or if I found a point that I realize through tasting the character that will develop is just going to be linked to age and I don’t want that. Again, because sometimes it’s going to be older, not better. The potential that was there, we’ve reached the max potential. So let’s use it now or move to demijohn to halt the aging. And it’s only through tasting. There are no rules. There’s no chemical analysis that you can do. It’s really about understanding and making decision. We don’t say, okay, I’m going to do it for just half of the batch. No. You do it, you do it. It’s your call.

BLS: You have to commit to it. There’s a metaphor for life found in that philosophy.

RFdG: Yeah!

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

The Paradis Suite and the Paradis dinner experience at St. Regis Aspen Resort will be available for bookings from May 29th onward, throughout the summer season, and just in time for the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen.

Find Benjamin Liong Setiawan on Instagram: @hungryeditor.