Every Christmas I'd take stock of my liquor cabinet and look to restock on past favourites as well as make a few new additions.
Instead of restocking on Rémy Martin XO Excellence (I've got about half a bottle left), I decided to go with the addition of Hennessy XO. It is interesting to note that the Rémy XO is marked as a "Fine Champagne Cognac" in lieu of its blend of 85 per cent Grande Champagne, 15 per cent Petite Champagne.
The Hennessy, however, is a blend of more than a hundred different eaux-de-vie between 10 - 70 years old, with each bottle averaging at ~45 years in age. Since Hennessy is known for buying eaux-de-vie from the entire Cognac region, it cannot be marked as a Champagne Cognac. It tends to be less smooth than the Rémy, although it's certainly a welcomed aggressiveness.
It wouldn't be much of a faux pas to therefore consider the Hennessy as a blended Cognac; one could draw parallels between the Rémy XO and Single Malts, the Hennessy XO and Johnny Walker Blue Label.
Certain favourites are always kept in stock throughout the year of course, but some do tend to finish quicker than others. Variety is indeed the spice of life!