Expert: Paul Wagner - 12/14/2008

Question
I received a gift a bottle of cognac Napoleon Denis-Mounié it was a gift to my father about 30 years ago and i am trying to find out how old is the cognac inside there is no indication of a date on the bottle.

Answer
Hi Eric

There are no real rules about age in Cognac--and so the quality inside depends, to a certain extent, on the reputation of the producer.  You don't say that this is a VSOP, so I am guessing that this was about five years old when it was bottled--but that is only a very wild guess.

Distilled beverages like this last forever because the high alcohol protects them.  But they don't improve in the bottle for the same reason.  The liquid inside this bottle is probably worth about $50 or so.

But the bottle itself may be worth more than that.  You'll have to check eith the guys at antiquebottles.com--they are the experts in collectible bottles.

Sorry I can't give you more exciting news.

Paul Wagner