Entertaining
Savouring Grand Marnier Quintessence with Master Blender, Patrick Leger
Published on February 3, 2025
On a recent January evening, spirit aficionados gathered in Vancouver, B.C., where Patrick Leger, master blender and director of operations for Grand Marnier, poured them one of the rarest liqueurs in the world — Grand Marnier Quintessence. Scroll down for details of this exclusive.
In celebration of Lunar New Year, Patrick arrived from France’s Cognac region to present this highest expression of Grand Marnier encased in a brilliant, bespoke Baccarat decanter.
At the heart of Grand Marnier, a heritage brand founded in 1827, is the marriage of cognac and orange. Under Patrick’s watchful eye, cognac is skillfully married with the essence of Citrus Bigaradia, an exclusive bitter orange sourced from the Caribbean since the 1880’s — Morocco and Tunisia now too — where oranges are picked while still green to maximize their bitterness and aroma. Read more about Grand Marnier’s history here.
When crafting Grand Marnier Quintessence, Patrick says it takes intense focus and precision to create the utmost expression of this unique Grand Marnier alchemy between cognac and orange liqueur.
He began by mining the Marnier family’s oldest and rarest eaux-de-vie in the Paradis —the cellar in the Grand Marnier’s Château de Bourg-Charente where the cognacs are ‘resting.’ Some of the oldest cognac from these Grand Marnier reserves date back to the 1940s, and some even older. In Quintessence, they form not only the base notes of this rarest of spirits, but the very essence of its heritage and history.
Next, he used a proprietary process of “double-parfum d’orange,” exclusively used in Grand Marnier Quintessence, whereby the macerated orange skins are distilled twice to create a delicate and extremely concentrated essence.
To top it off — literally — Grand Marnier once again combed their rich history to commission the legendary house of Baccarat to craft a signature bottle. The world’s finest crystal purveyor, Baccarat first partnered with Grand Marnier in 1892 to produce bottles artfully designed to echo the lines of a traditional pot still. Inspired by the iconic original Grand Marnier bottle, this exquisite liqueur is encased in a stunning crystal decanter crafted by the world-renowned Maison Baccarat. Designed to enhance the exceptional quality of Quintessence, the drop-shaped crystal bottle is crowned with a mesmerizing endless ribbon, elegantly gilded with palladium, offering a rich sensorial experience.
The result of all this labour was not lost on the guests, all who appreciated Quintessence’s intense aromatics and citrus issuing from their delicate tasting glasses. And then, the first sip. “You have complexity and tannins of the very old cognac,” explains Patrick. “It’s like an explosion of flavours in your mouth.”
Canada, which holds a distinction of one of the biggest Grand Marnier markets in the world, was rewarded with an allotment of limited number of bottles of Grand Cuvée Quintessence in 2025, with a handful still available for purchase.
For more details, visit here.
This limited quantity is the ultimate tribute to the brand’s illustrious history and heritage. In celebration of Lunar New Year, only a small number of bottles sold in Vancouver were hand-decorated with crystals and a golden snake, reflecting the magnificence of Grand Marnier Quintessence.
In this magnum opus, “you have something unique and powerful,” says Patrick. “There’s no equivalent in the world of spirits.”