CONNOISSEURS of the good life have one more good thing to look forward to from today. Alfred Dunhill, the purveyor of high quality, quintessentially English style, and International Distillers China Limited have just launched two new Cognacs in the region at a glitzy dinner in the Grand Hyatt Ballroom.
Richard Cole, managing director of Alfred Dunhill (Pacific) said the marketing of Dunhill Cognac VSOP at $338 a bottle and XO at $1,380 a decanter was in keeping with his 102-year-old company's mission to produce the ultimate range in luxury goods for men.
'We are always looking at what products would be right for Alfred Dunhill,' he said.
'In 1981 we launched a rich and opulent whisky which became very successful. We hope the same will happen with Dunhill Cognac.' Mr Cole added that Cognac was very much part of the upper-class English lifestyle of the 19th century, the values of which his company tries to reflect. The digestifs are made from blends of the finest aged Cognacs, exclusively from the premiere 'CRUS' of Cognac: Grande Champagne, Petite Champagne, Borderies and Fins Bois.
The brands were created by Master Blender Francois Audemard. He described the brown topaz-coloured XO as 'the culmination of an extremely subtle blending of no fewer than 150 eaux de vie from highly selective and prestigious suppliers with the essential emphasis placed on the oldest and finest selections'.
Our own taster described the XO as: 'A splendour of taste and bouquet to which words do scant justice. For elegance, gentle mellowness and velvet strength, it would be hard to surpass.