Paradise Found: From Cognac To Colorado, A Taste Of Paradis In Aspen
The Paradis Suite at St Regis Aspen Resort
The house of Hennessy has created a rare opportunity for cognac aficionados to be fully immersed in the world of Hennessy Paradis through a collaboration with the St. Regis Aspen Resort. Not only has their presidential suite been transformed into the Paradis suite, but guests can also book a special Paradis dinner experience. A partnership between Pastry Chef Cyril Baudin of Chateau de Bagnolet, the historic estate of the Hennessy family in Cognac, and Buğra Keleş Executive Chef of the St. Regis in Aspen, the four course dinner brings epicureans on a gastronomic journey from Cognac to Colorado. A sample menu includes Alaskan king crab and Kaluga caviar paired with Krug Grande Cuvée, dry aged duck breast and foie gras paired with Joseph Phelps Insignia, Wagyu striploin and white Alba truffle paired with Hennessy X.O., and a lavender infused baba paired with Hennessy Paradis.
Dessert course from the Paradis dinner experience: lavender infused baba paired with Hennessy ... More Paradis
Paradis is the pillar of the Hennessy Rare Editions collection. I chatted with Renaud Fillioux de Gironde, an eighth generation master blender for Hennessy, to learn more about the unique cognacs in the Rare Editions portfolio. Renaud was born and raised in Cognac. Naturally his family has deep roots in the cognac industry with his parents being grape growers and distillers, and his great uncle was a master blender. He has worked in Bordeaux, Reims, Chile, and Australia. About 20 years ago his uncle noticed his potential and gave him the opportunity to join Hennessy. For Renaud 'it's really about what you believe in. I believe in quality. I believe in preparing the future and having values. This is why I'm really happy in this job.'
Hennessy Paradis in the Paradise Suite at St Regis Aspen Resort
Benjamin Liong Setiawan: There are several expressions within the Hennessy Rare Editions collection. Can you tell me more about them?
Renaud Fillioux de Gironde: The heart of the Rare Editions is Hennessy Paradis. It's really the idea of being on the quest for perfect harmony. It's this idea of how you can see that everything just fits together. Even after all these years—because we're talking about a blend of 100 different eaux-de-vie that are at least 30 years old and some way more—it's still fresh, young, full of energy, but elegant. That's the magic of Paradis. Paradis is, in a way, iconic because you can have all of these characters with this wonderful freshness and harmony.
Then we also have Richard Hennessy, another cognac in our permanent range. If Paradis is about harmony, then Richard is about complexity. We're talking about the ingredients that are at least 50 years old and up to way more than that. It's the history of our founder in a glass. So it's really more about maturity and complexity, when Paradis is about harmony and a delicate character. It's two different expressions of what an amazing stock of eaux-de-vie we have in Cognac.
Hennessy Paradis x Loewe
BLS: In addition to your core range of Rare Editions, you have some limited edition cognacs.
RFdG: I'd say a limited edition or special creation is Paradis Unlimited, which is the purest version of Paradis. We put back the cognac for almost three extra years in the barrel to let all of the elements combine with it. And the idea behind Paradis Unlimited is, how can you get the purest clarity and expression of Paradis? So we took it straight from the barrel directly to the bottle. It's even more delicate and more elegant than Paradis. I really love it. And you can craft the packaging and design it any way you want. It's full personalization.
Talking about personalization, the ultimate expression of our rare cognacs is the Dame Jeanne. To understand this concept, you have to know every Hennessy eau-de-vie is aged in barrel. Each year I taste them to see their evolution and see if they're ready to blend. If they can still improve, we're going to keep them for a longer period in the barrel. At some point, if I've got a lot of great eaux-de-vie, but I'm not ready to blend all of them, the eau-de-vie that reaches its best, I remove it from the barrel and put it in the demijohn. It's a big glass jar. Once it's in glass, it stops the evolution because if you leave it in the barrel, it would have become older, but not necessarily better. If we want to keep the essence just as it is, then we use a demijohn. And to do something very special, let's made a cognac just for one person. The idea of the Dame-Jeanne is you want a cognac just for you. What I'm going to do is ask you to invite me for a couple of days to where you live. Tell me about yourself. Show me your favorite restaurants, what you like to eat, what you like to do, anything, so I can understand you better. Then I say, okay, now visit me in Cognac. I'm going to do a tasting with you of several different eaux-de-vie. I'm going to understand even more what you like. Now I'm going to make one cognac, one treasure, just for you. 10 liters of a pure expression of what I believe—with my knowledge about cognac making and blending—is something you will like, something just for you. I've done that twice and I've got the third one on the way. It's a pure expression of a perfect cognac just for one person.
La Dame Jeanne by Hennessy
BLS: That's hyper customized.
RFdG: Yes, 100% from beginning to end.
BLS: In an expression like a Paradis, what can you tell me about the eaux-de-vie that make up the cognac?
RFdG: I don't talk too much about the figures because what matters is the quality of the selection. It's not the number of eaux-de-vie. Because if you blend one thousand poor eaux-de-vie, it's not gonna make a better cognac. What I learned during the first ten years of my career at Hennessy is learning how to taste. It's every day at 11 o'clock tasting 60 to 70 samples to learn what is good for Hennessy. It's not about what I personally like, but what is good for Hennessy. I worked ten years with my uncle and the team of tasters. After that, you start to have a good understanding of the stock. The idea, when we do all our daily tasting, is to follow the quality of our eaux-de-vie stock. We select what we buy at the beginning. We age them properly. We use the ones that are ready. We try to put in the best condition the ones that still have potential. If you get that right all the time, then you get a great stock. You can do great blends. Actually, blending is the very last step of the process. But if you don't do the whole work before, then you get nothing. The quality of the selection makes a difference.
BLS: Knowing that there are different eaux-de-vie in the blend, how many generations back do they go?
RFdG: If you look at the stock of Hennessy, the oldest eaux-de-vie we've got in stock is from 1800. This is how far it goes. When I'm blending some Paradis, a lot of the eaux-de-vie were there before I joined Hennessy, before I was born. It's interesting too, for me, there's a bit of emotion because I'm using some of the treasures of all the members of my family that were here before me. I have a special bond with them—the liquid. I got something that you can touch physically. I never meet my great grandfather. He was alive when I was born, but he passed away when I was a baby. So I didn't get a chance to meet him, but I can, in a way, meet him through the liquid. And when I'm blending Paradis, it's a tribute to their work—to what they've done, to the focus they had on quality, the quest for perfection. Because you're on a quest. Perfection doesn't exist, but you try always to push the limit.
A look at some of the oldest eaux-de-vie in the cellars at Hennessy in Cognac, France.
BLS: There's a real passion and tangible history in what you do.
RFdG: This is why I love my job, because it's not just about me right now. It's a combination. It's teamwork. People will have passed away a long time, but it's thanks to their work. The fact that a lot of the ingredients that I'm using in Paradis, they could have said, 'it's great today, I'm going to use it.' The thing is, it's great today, but it can become even better tomorrow. So I won't use it now. I will keep it for the future. And this philosophy, this way of thinking, is what makes a difference. Doing something good and trying to make it better.
BLS: For you, you're preparing some eaux-de-vie that will be used for generations to come.
RFdG: Exactly. The last harvest was 2024 and still, during the whole winter. Part of what I decide to buy will be used in 100 years. We also have the impact of the climate and everything. Every vintage is different. Maybe this 2024 vintage is not going to age for a long time. But this other vintage, will say, has a lot of treasure. So we'll follow them. Every year we're going to re-taste them. Maybe change from one barrel to another one. Give them fresh air and everything. Aging is not waiting. Aging is making a lot of decisions about how to get the best potential. It's like dealing with people. We are all different and have different abilities. But if we are put in the right conditions, maybe we can be very good at what we do. For instance, you probably went through schooling and jobs that helped you to be good at your craft. But somebody else is a good plumber. And I need a plumber because we need diversity. You just want to make sure that you take every eaux-de-vie and you put them at their best. Managing stock is understanding potential from the beginning and putting it in the best condition for them. Understanding how these eaux-de-vie are different from that one. Seeing what's the ultimate they can be after two years or after 300 years.
Hennessy Paradis
BLS: How do you know when you need to move some eaux-de-vie into a demijohn to stop the aging process versus giving others more time in the barrels?
RFdG: So this is why tasting is so important. This is why all the time I spent learning how to taste is, really, learning to understand. I can see in this one that it can be even better tomorrow. Or if I found a point that I realize through tasting the character that will develop is just going to be linked to age, I don't want that. Again, because it's going to be older, not better. So the potential that was there, we've reached the max potential. So let's use it now or move to demijohn. And it's only through tasting. There are no rules. There's no chemical analysis that you can do. It's really about understanding and making decision. We don't say, okay, I'm going to do it for just half of the batch. No. You do it, you do it. It's your call.
BLS: You have to commit to it. There's a metaphor for life found in that philosophy.
RFdG: Yeah!
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Paradis dinner experience in the Paradis Suite at St. Regis Aspen Resort
The Paradis Suite and the Paradis dinner experience at St. Regis Aspen Resort will be available for bookings from May 29th onward, throughout the summer season, and just in time for the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen.
Find Benjamin Liong Setiawan on Instagram: @hungryeditor.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Los Angeles Times
2 days ago
- Los Angeles Times
Costa Mesa Fish Fry, carnival returns to Lions Park Friday
Even though summer has technically begun, it just isn't summertime in the city of Costa Mesa until the fish hits the oil at the Costa Mesa Newport-Harbor Lions Club annual Fish Fry. The three-day fundraiser and community event returns to the city's Lions Park Friday at 5 p.m. and continues through Sunday night with carnival games and rides, live entertainment and, naturally, lots and lots of fish. How much? Lions Club members say this year's $15-per-plate feast will require 1,100 pounds of Alaskan cod filets — which will be coated in the club's own 'secret recipe' batter — 42 cases of fries and untold quantities of coleslaw provided by the Newport Rib Co. 'Next Thursday, we'll do the battering at the Newport Harbor High School kitchen,' said Joan Parks, club secretary and one of three event co-chairs, alongside President Cabot Harvey and Vice President and Fish Fry aficionado Kirk Bauemeister, a Newport-Mesa Unified School District retiree who's attended the event since age 3. 'This is not our first rodeo,' Parks said. Although the Costa Mesa-Newport Harbor Lions comprises fewer than two dozen service-minded individuals, members manage to pull off each year's Fish Fry with the help of numerous volunteers from area clubs, high schools and other service organizations. In fact, many of those who turn out each year to help set up tables, chairs and popup tents or lend a culinary hand hail from the groups who benefit from the bulk of the funds raised by each year's fry, which has always had community fundraising at its core. The beloved community tradition started in 1946, when club members came up with an idea to raise money for a new baseball field at the city's Lions Park. Deep fried fish planks were served up on regular dinner plates and later scraped clean and washed by hand. In the decades that followed, the event grew to epic proportions as upwards of 100,000 attendees crowded Costa Mesa streets along a 3-mile-long parade and celebrated the crowning of a Miss Fish Fry and Most Beautiful Baby. Local car dealerships chipped in vehicles for raffle prizes, and in 1976, then-First Lady Betty Ford handed out trophies to winning parade float entries. Today, the festival's finprint is much smaller, contained to the Lions Park civic center and its ample sports fields, including the baseball field purchased by the club with the very first fistful of Fish Fry dollars. But there's still plenty to keep visitors entertained, including a beer and wine garden, vendor booths, live music and dancing and a full-size carnival with games and rides. And for those who aren't fish fans, there are plenty of other food options, whether it's hot dogs and hamburgers served up by the Estancia High School baseball team, or brats and funnel cakes from neighboring Lions Club members, a Mexican food truck, ice cream and shaved ice. Costa Mesa Mayor John Stephens, who's attended the event pretty regularly in the 35 years he's lived in town, will make another appearance over the weekend to support the community, the club and its cause and, of course, purchase a dinner. 'It's a great use of Luke Davis Field and a great opportunity for people to go to the Fish Fry and be exposed to the [Donald Dungan] Library and the Norma Hertzog Community Center and that part of the city,' Stephens said. 'And the Lions Club has the frying of the fish down to a science — no matter how strict a diet I'm on, I always take a break for a plate of fried fish.' The Costa Mesa-Newport Harbor Lions Club Fish Fry runs Friday, from 5 to 10 p.m., and on Saturday and Sunday, from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., at Lions Park, 570 18th St., in Costa Mesa. Admission is free, and food, beverages and ride tickets are available for purchase. For more, visit
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Yahoo
Hyatt opens lifestyle hotel in Alaska under JdV brand
This story was originally published on Hotel Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Hotel Dive newsletter. Hyatt Hotels opened The Wildbirch Hotel in Anchorage, Alaska, marking the city's first lifestyle boutique property as well as its newest hotel lodging option in 20 years, according to the hotel company. The 252-key Wildbirch falls under the JdV by Hyatt brand, a collection of independent hotels located in urban destinations. The property offers on-site dining, meetings and events facilities and outdoor gathering space with scenic views. The hotel is the first JdV property to open in Alaska, coming as Hyatt beefs up its portfolio with recent independent hotel additions. The hotel company is more broadly expanding in lifestyle, including through acquisitions. Anchoring Anchorage's West Fourth Avenue shopping and dining corridor, The Wildbirch Hotel 'is a destination itself,' according to Hyatt. The hotel offers a communal outdoor deck with fire pits and views of Mount Susitna and Knik Arm, as well as 5,200 square feet of meetings and events space. The property's signature restaurant, Crimson, offers Alaskan-inspired dishes with Pan-American Latin flair. Meanwhile, Canteen Coffee Co. serves up coffee drinks and grab-and-go food options in the lobby. This fall, craft beer tasting room The Undertap will open at the hotel as well, with options to host private gatherings. 'This property offers a unique, modern Alaska experience unlike anywhere else,' Mark Begich, co-owner and the former mayor of Anchorage from 2003 to 2009, said in a statement. The hotel is part of a revitalization of downtown Anchorage that Begich and partners are undertaking. The hotel joins JdV as Hyatt focuses on portfolio growth, particularly via independent hotel additions. Last month, the company launched Unscripted by Hyatt, an upscale collection brand designed to bring independent properties and small portfolios under Hyatt's Essentials portfolio. Within the past year, Hyatt also expanded in New Orleans and Las Vegas, bringing hotels under its Independent Collection. The growth is part of Hyatt's broader push in the burgeoning luxury and lifestyle segment. The company has recently opened hotels under its Thompson Hotels, Andaz and Grand Hyatt brands in line with this strategy. It has also acquired brands, including lifestyle operator Standard International, to scale. Marriott International is expanding by similar means, also launching a collection brand, Series by Marriott, last month and, in April, acquiring international lifestyle brand CitizenM. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Yahoo
Royal Caribbean Drops Fan-Favorite Port From Cruise Sailings
Royal Caribbean Drops Fan-Favorite Port From Cruise Sailings originally appeared on Parade. Certain areas seem like they're fated to be the optimal cruise destination, allowing travelers to experience exotic settings, rich culture, sweeping natural scenery and adventurous excursions beyond their wildest imaginations. In this sense, Juneau, Alaska is the perfect destination for a memorable cruise vacation. Nestled along the shores of the Pacific Ocean, the city offers unrivaled views of the nearby mountains and neighboring wilderness, making it an ideal port for Royal Caribbean's seafaring ships to stop at for the day. Unfortunately, due to mounting tensions between the city of Juneau and the popular cruise company, Royal Caribbean has decided to remove the destination from several upcoming cruises, impacting thousands of travelers' vacation itineraries. The main factor affecting Royal Caribbean's operations with Juneau has mostly owed to the city's escalating docking fees for the cruising giant, as reported by Travel and Tour World. Additionally, Juneau's local government has come into direct confrontation with Royal Caribbean over a new cruise terminal slated for construction on Douglas Island. As these issues continued unfold, Royal Caribbean has decided to drop several planned stops at Juneau from Ovation of the Seas' schedule. Though the company did not directly reference the recent price hike in their ships' docking fees, Royal Caribbean pointed to issues with port availability as the main reason for the unexpected change. To make up for Juneau's removal from the Ovation of the Seas' itinerary, Royal Caribbean has replaced the city with stops at Sitka, Ketchikan and Icy Strait Point. All three stops offer incredible views of the native Alaskan wilderness, as well as various pulse-pounding activities like ziplining or local fishing opportunities. As of yet, it's currently unknown whether Royal Caribbean might announce further cancellations for Juneau, the cruise port serving as a beloved destination for many of the company's most popular Alaska-bound ships. Royal Caribbean Drops Fan-Favorite Port From Cruise Sailings first appeared on Parade on Jun 12, 2025 This story was originally reported by Parade on Jun 12, 2025, where it first appeared.
