“We believe at Hennessy that you need 10 years of daily practice to become a good professional Hennessy taster,” says Renaud Fillioux de Gironde — an eighth-generation “Master Blender” with Hennessy.
Hennessy’s system of “Master Blenders” is the heart of its business. It’s an elite group of highly trained individuals, with exceptional palates, charged with developing Hennessy’s various special editions and — most importantly — making sure its main product tastes the same as it did over two centuries ago.
It’s not an easy job to get, and many Master Blenders like Fillioux de Gironde are carrying on a family legacy. That “10 years of practice” involves a lot of sitting and observing as the qualified Master Blenders do their work. Fillioux de Gironde explains the importance of this:
“What you learn during these 10 years, it’s almost like learning how to read. You need people to give you a clue — these are the letters, these are the words. Basically, you… manage to associate in your mind this taste with this kind of character, and this taste will evolve this way.”
Reflecting on his family legacy
Fillioux de Gironde’s ties run deep. “I learned from my uncle, who learned from his uncle and then his father, and so on. Since 1805, we’ve been in charge of the quality of Hennessy cognac,” he shares.
Indeed, we didn’t do the interview dry. Instead, we were sampling one of his great uncle’s most famous creations, Hennessy Paradis. A premium blend that the Master Blender explains is a combination of “more than 100 different eau-de-vie,” with the youngest having sat for 30 years and the oldest around 130. So if you’re buying a bottle now, it may contain a bit of liquid that first entered a barrel when Queen Victoria was on the British throne.
Fillioux de Gironde talked a little about his great uncle’s thought process when creating the blend in 1979: “He was a big fan of classical music and really wanted to recreate a symphony, like an orchestra. Finding the right balance, the right harmony.
“With Paradis, you’ve got great flavor and, after all these years, decades and centuries of aging, you still have the elegance, you still have the delicate flavor, you still have the revelation of the true potential,” he says. “I think that’s why Paradis is so different and so wonderful.”
As for what we were actually tasting, I noted a profound sweetness to Paradis, picking up on the notes of dried fruit and honey. Fillioux de Gironde, whose palate is obviously a lot better than mine, mentioned “the roundness, the combination of the elements that are combined through the blend.” There are also notable hints of spice, like pepper, mace, and cinnamon. It’s a special occasion drink, and probably pairs best with a roaring fire on Christmas Eve.
While Fillioux de Gironde has a hand in keeping his great uncle’s legacy alive by keeping the spirit he pioneered consistent, he’s also building his own legacy. The Master Blender is responsible for one of Hennessy’s more expensive and inspiring special editions in recent times.
The Master Blender spearheaded Hennessy’s latest creation
Fillioux de Gironde is also the man behind Hennessy’s Zodiac Collection: The Horse Edition, which has been released for the 2026 Lunar New Year. Retailing at $39,000 a bottle, and crafted from meticulously selected eaux-de-vie hailing from other “years of the horse,” it is certainly a bit of a statement.
Each bottle comes in a special decanter, with unique packaging and presentation touches. When asked if he felt pressure when designing the new cognac, Fillioux de Gironde again reflected on Hennessy’s legacy, saying:
“When you get the chance, like me, to be in charge of looking after a stock of treasure that goes back to the 19th century, I’m proud to pay tribute to the work that has been done by my predecessors. If you look at all these eau-de-vie, the hard work is the work they did in selecting, in preserving, in aging all these ingredients. I’m the lucky one to put them together.”
He continues, “So, in a way, it’s also a way to pay tribute. All the efforts, all the money invested in keeping something for all these years — because you’ve got a cost of storing it, you’ve got the fact that you lose 2% with the Angel’s share every year. So, at the end, what you’ve got is not a magical elixir, but it’s just a pure treasure.”
The Hennessy Zodiac Collection: The Horse Edition is limited to 50 bottles and available for purchase at the time of writing. Hennessy Paradis isn’t limited, but carries a $1,200+ price tag for a full-sized bottle, with a smaller 50ml sample retailing for roughly $90.
