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Cognac is a type of brandy named after the city of Cognac, France. It is produced in the nearby Charente and Charente-Maritime wine region.
The production and region of cognac is controlled according to the special legislative acts of France.
The most popular grape variety for the production of cognac is Ugni Blanc, also known as Saint Emilion and Trebbiano.
Real cognac must be distilled twice in copper goblets and aged for at least two years in French oak barrels from Limousin or Troncet.
Everything you need to know about cognac
The white wine used in the manufacture of cognac is very dry, sour and thin. It is this wine that is best suited for distillation and subsequent “aging” in barrels.
Obviously, only a certain list of varietal grapes will fit these requirements.
For example, in order for a drink to receive the cru label, a wine must contain at least 90% Ugni blanc or Picpoul or Colombard grapes, the remaining 10% of the grapes used can be: Folignan, Jurançon blanc, Meslier St-François (Blanc Ramé), Sélect, Montils, or Sémillon.
Cognacs that have not received the Cru label are freer in the permitted grape varieties; a minimum of 90% Colombard, Folle Blanche, Jurançon Blanc, Monsieur Saint-François, Montil, Sémillon or Ugni Blanc, and up to 10% Folignan or Sélect is required.
how to identify real cognac
Fermentation and distillation of cognac
After squeezing the grapes, the juice is left to ferment for 2-3 weeks, and local wild yeast turns the sugar into alcohol. It is unacceptable to add sugar and sulfur at this stage. After the yeast has done its work, the resulting wine will contain about 7-8% alcohol.
Distillation takes place in copper alambic cubes of the traditional Charentais shape, the design and dimensions of which are also controlled by law. As a result of double distillation, a colorless alcohol containing about 70% alcohol is obtained.
Cognac extract
Once the distillation is completed, the spirit is sent to age in Limousin oak barrels for at least two years.
When brandy is exposed to oak barrels and air, it evaporates at a rate of about 3% each year, slowly losing both alcohol and water. This phenomenon is locally called “la part des anges” or “angels’ share”.
Because alcohol evaporates faster than water, the alcohol concentration drops over time to about 40% (from the initial 70%).
The cognac is then transferred to large glass bottles called bonbons and stored for later blending.
Oak casks cease to contribute to the aroma of the drink after four or five decades, so longer periods of aging may simply be pointless and unprofitable.
famous cognac brands
Blending cognac
The age of cognac is calculated as the age of the youngest component used in the blend.
A blend, as a rule, of different ages and from different local areas. Mixing different cognacs is an extremely important procedure for obtaining complex flavors that are not available in one distillery or vineyard.
Each cognac house has a master taster (maître de chai) who is responsible for blending the spirits, so the cognac produced by the company will have a consistent style and quality at home.
In this sense, the mixing process is somewhat similar to whiskey.
A very small number of producers, such as Guillon Painturaud and Moyet, do not blend their end product with different eaux de vie ages, therefore producing a “purer” flavor (a practice roughly equivalent to making single malt Scotch whisky).
Hundreds of other smaller private vineyards in the AOC Cognac region sell their own Cognac. They are also blended with other spirits from different years, but these cognacs have slightly changing flavors from year to year, so they lack the predictability of more well-known commercial brands.
Depending on their marketing success, small producers may sell a greater or lesser share of their product to individual buyers, wine merchants, bars and restaurants, with the remainder purchased by larger cognac houses for blending.
Classification of French cognac
According to the Bureau National Interprofessionnel du Cognac (BNIC), the official quality varieties of cognac are:
VS (Very Specia) or ✯✯✯ (three stars) – denotes a mixture in which the youngest brandy has been stored in a barrel for at least two years.
V.S.O.P. (Very Superior Old Pale) или Reserve – denotes a mixture in which the youngest brandy has been stored in a barrel for at least four years.
Napoleon – denotes a mixture in which the youngest brandy has been stored for at least 6 years.
XO (Extra Old) – denotes a mixture in which the youngest brandy has been stored for at least 10 years.
Beyond Age is a designation that, according to BNIC, is equal to XO, but in practice this term is used by manufacturers to market a high-quality product outside the official age scale.
Grande Champagne (13 ga) – Soils in Grande Champagne and Petit Champagne are characterized as fine clay-limestone over limestone and chalk.
Petite Champagne (16) – have characteristics similar to those of Grande Champagne. Cognacs made from a blend of Grande and Petite Champagn eaux de vie (with at least 50% Grande Champagne) may be marketed as “Fine Champagne”.
Borderies (4 160 га) – the smallest cru. The soil of this denomination contains clay and flint stones formed as a result of the decomposition of limestone.
Fine Woods (34 га) Heavier and faster aging eaux de vie, ideal for creating the base of some blended cognacs. The soils here are predominantly red clay-limestone and very stony or heavy clay soils.
Good Wood и Ordinary Wood (вместе 19 979 га) – poorer soil influenced by maritime climate.
Terroir wood – is a sandy soil covering coastal areas and some valleys.
History of Cognac
The history of cognac actually begins in the third century. The region and drink cognac has a long history and includes all sorts of nations, merchants, kings and aristocrats, natural disasters, wars and cold winters. Despite all this, the product got better and better, century after century.
III century: The Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius Probus grants the Gallic inhabitants the right to own vineyards and produce wine.
XII century: Guillaume X, Duke of Guyenne and Poitiers, is ordered to plant vineyards in the Poitou-Charentes region.
1204 The first merchants from La Rochelle come to England to sell wine.
1270 Salt and wine from the Saintonge region are sold in Hamburg (Hans).
1337 With the beginning of the 100-year war between England and France, wine from the Charente region is exported to the UK.
1411 For the first time “brandy” is distilled in the Armagnac region. Consumers are mostly farmers.
1494 François I (later King of France) was born in Cognac. Years later, François would allow the Cognac region to trade salt using local rivers such as the Charente.
XVI century: Dutch merchants buy wine from the Champagne and Borderies region and ship it to the Netherlands. Soon they had to realize that the wine spoiled during transportation, so the Dutch began to distill the wine and call it Brandwijn. Having delivered the cargo to the Netherlands, the drink was diluted with water and sold to the local population.
1549 The first cognac appears in the region of the same name: the historian Andre Castelot reports on a merchant from La Rochelle who produced four barrels of good cognac.
1559 The vineyards of the Aunis region produce too much wine, but the demand is much lower. The Dutch already use wine in their distilleries, so the excess Aunis wine is distilled. The word Brandwijn leads to the word Brandy.
1624 Two Dutchmen, Van Der Bugwerth and Lou Deijk, found a distillery in Tonne.
1636 There was a riot over high taxes on wine. As a consequence, the farmers were unable to sell their wine.
XVII century: Wine merchants use “double distillation”: the alcohol is now distilled twice. Initially, the double distillation process was carried out because of the lower transport costs as it resulted in less quantity and volume. This meant more space on the ships.
In the 17th century cognac was already transported in oak barrels. It was then that merchants learned that the taste of the drink changes when stored in barrels.
1638 Lewis Roberts mentions a wine called Rotchell or Cogniacke.
1643 Philippe Augier founds Augier cognac; 15 years later, the company becomes Augier Frères.
1678 “Brandy Cognac” was first mentioned in a London newspaper.
18 century: The first trading houses were founded. They purchase various spirits to resell to customers in Northern Europe, the Netherlands and England.
1709 The vineyards of Saintonge are ruined by a very cold winter.
1715 Jean Martel founds Martell.
1724 Paul-Emily Remy Martin and his father Jean Guy founded the Remy Martin brand.
05.06.1731 Louis XV forbids the planting of vineyards without official permission.
1762 James Delamain becomes a partner at Ransom & Delamain in Yarnac.
1765 James Hennessy, former army officer under Louis XV, founds the Hennessy brand.
1779 There are currently ten trading houses in the center of Cognac.
1783 The aging of cognac in oak barrels is growing.
1794 Hennessy is exported to North America, New York.
1795 James Hennessy marries Martha Martel; Baron Jean-Baptiste Antoine Otard and Jean Dupu founded the Otard brand.
19 century: Cognac is no longer sold in barrels, glass containers are now used. This leads to the birth of a completely new industry: bottles, corks.
1817 The advent of the VOP and VSOP classification
1819 A new brand of cognac Biscuit, founded by Alexander Biscuit.
1824 Henri Delamain and his cousin Paul Roulet found Cognac Roulette and Delamain in Jarnac.
1835 Felix Courvoisier and Louis Gallois founded Courvoisier Cognac in Jarnac.
1848 The poet Alfred de Vigny makes his own cognac at La Maine Giraud.
1849 Martell uses labels on cognac bottles for the first time.
1850 Cognac is exported to Australia.
1854 Four zones appear on maps of the Cognac region: Grande Champagne, Petite Champagne, Premier Bois and Deuxième Bois.
1856 Hennessy starts labeling bottles.
1858 Founding of the AE Dor brand in Jarnack.
1861 Martell sells its cognac in Shanghai, China.
1863 Camus Cognac was founded by Jean-Baptiste Camus.
1864 Hennessy registers its name and the now-famous “axe in hand” trademark.
1865 Auguste Hennessy is the first to use stars to label his cognacs.
1870 Finn-Bois and Bon-Bois zones are added to the maps of the Cognac wine region.
Late 19th century: cognac is exported to Bombay, India. A winemaking disaster strikes: 280 hectares of vineyards are reduced to 000 hectares.
1876 Courvoisier labels his bottles.
1877 In the Cognac region, an increase in vineyards has been recorded (about 300 hectares).
1889 Cognac Frapin and Cognac Courvoisier receive gold medals at an exhibition in Paris.
1890 Hennessy becomes the world market leader in cognac production.
20th century: vines are imported from North America, Ugni Blanc replaces Folle Blanche and Colombard. Cognac production became more limited and controlled.
1909 Six cognac zones are defined by law and protected.
1923 Cognac brands Hennessy and Martell begin to exchange information on export markets. The knowledge agreement lasts 29 years.
1927 The words “Fine Champagne” appear on bottles of Remy Martin VSOP
1930 Cognac cocktails are becoming popular.
1934 Courvoisier uses the historical figure of Napoleon to sell his cognac.
1936 New rules for the production of cognac: wine for distillation must be made from white grapes. Adding sugar is strictly prohibited.
1946 The National Interprofessionnel du Cognac (BNIC) was established.
1964 Canadian group Hiriam-Walker acquires Courvoisier.
1967 Pernod Ricard acquires Biscuit cognac house.
1971 Hennessy, Moet-Chandon and Hine are acquired by The Distillers Limited Company.
1986 Allied Domecq buys Courvoisier.
1987 Founded by Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy (LVMH).
1988 Seagram acquires Martell cognac.
1990-e: Busta Rhymes releases his song “Pass the Courvoisier”, which leads to a sharp increase in cognac sales in the US.
1995 — 2000: The US market is becoming more and more important to the cognac industry, with rappers and hip-hop musicians making the drink extremely popular in the US.
2000 The heyday of fake cognacs around the world, ranging from frank surrogates to quite tolerable brandies.
2001 Seagram (Martell) acquired by Pernod Ricard and Diageo; Hennessy broke the sales record by selling 35 million bottles worldwide.
2005 Moet Hennessy wins lawsuit in China over fake brand Hanlissy-Cognac.
2008 LVMH has acquired a 55% stake in one of China’s leading distillers, Wenjun Distillery.
2010 China becomes Hennessy’s biggest market.
2011 Moet Hennessy has announced the creation of its first vineyard in China in partnership with Ningxia Nongken (a state-owned agricultural company).
2011 – today: Cognac is one of the main products of France: 98% of the cognac produced is exported. Asia and the USA are the largest and most important cognac markets.
cocktails with cognac
Relevance: 25.04.2019
Tags: brandy and cognac