Famille Hilaire L.H.86 Edition 3.1

In Angeac-Champagne, some stories seem to have grown alongside the vines. The story of the Hilaire family has unfolded this way for generations, with the same devotion to the land, to time, and to the gestures passed down. Claude and Arlette, the third generation, ran the 23-hectare estate from 1956 to 2003 before passing it on to their son Didier. Here, the work is learned early, within the family. The vines are tended with an almost gardener-like care, each plant observed, each gesture repeated until it becomes instinctive. A discreet, deeply rooted savoir-faire that is not so much explained as transmitted.

It was through their granddaughter Laura that we discovered Claude’s Cognacs, one October morning in 2020. She opened the door to the family chai, hidden away in a small lane in the village: beaten-earth floor, scarce light, a deep silence, eaux-de-vie left to time. Today, Laura works the vineyard with her brother Adrien. Together, they represent the fifth generation and continue this family story, shaped less by rupture than by continuity. In the Hilaire family, each generation receives, learns, preserves, and then adds something of its own to what has been entrusted to it.

The « Lot 86 » expresses a broad, generous and deeply indulgent Grande Champagne. The nose opens on ripe and candied fruits: peach, apricot, orange and mandarin, with notes of brown sugar, honey and pastry. On the palate, the texture is rich and flavorful, carried by stewed fruits, raisin, liquorice, light caramel and vanilla. A touch of sweet mint and pepper brings freshness and balance. The finish extends this sense of indulgence, with fruit paste, toffee apple and gentle spices.

For this « À la Main » edition, KAZAK chose to tell the story of transmission like a comic strip. An illustrator and author based in Angoulême, he naturally echoes the city and its culture of visual storytelling. His drawing brings Claude and Arlette, then Laura and Adrien into the same family narrative, with the cask as its witness. Behind the humor and color lies a simple idea: the true treasure is not only the Cognac resting in the chai, but everything passed down with it — gestures, memory, savoir-faire and history.