Jean-Gabriel Monnet founded his cognac house in 1897 and it remained in the possession of the Monnet family for more than 60 years. In recent decades, Monnet’s owner has changed many times. It has been owned by Hennessy, Hine, Angostura and a few others until it finally ended up in the Guerrand-Hermès family in 2014. Several changes of ownership have probably contributed to the fact that Monnet has lacked long-term marketing and has remained a somewhat unknown cognac brand. Today, Monnet’s sales are focused on Asia, the Nordic countries and Russia. You can find Monnett quite cheaply, in Latvia a 70cl bottle was less than €30.

The nose is light and slightly sweet. The floral, fruity and soft smell reminds me of a summer meadow. The sunny flower field is strongly featured in Monnet’s marketing. The taste is smooth and light. At the beginning there is plenty of caramel, but also some nuts and dried fruit. However, the taste is quite short and the aftertaste evaporates quite quickly. Being sweet and easy, Monnet is rather easy to sip. There’s really nothing bad to say about it, the alcohol burn is short and the bitter woody aroma doesn’t appear at all. However, Monnet is not a very memorable product. It is a fairly basic cognac, but considering the low price, it fulfills its purpose pretty well. It reminds quite much of Larsen and Claude Chatelier – all this can be found in the under 30€ price range. 

84/100