Wine Review Based on brandies distilled from pinot noir. Very complex, very elegant, very smooth. The pinot noir shows up in the incredible finish—subtle yet wonderfully rich fruit. In our blind tastings, you have to spend about double – Delamain Trés Vénérable, say, or Ferrand’s Abel – to match it. In 1999, Robb Report picked this as the world’s best distilled spirit, period.