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We sat as a warm company in the country. Grilled barbecue, drank wine … Beauty! And so the owner of the dacha decided to surprise us: “Now I will treat you to ten-year-old cognac! I wanted to keep it until the age of 15, but for the sake of such a good company, I will open it earlier.”
We were at a loss: we did not notice a cellar for cognac aging in his summer cottage. Everything turned out to be simpler – a friend was presented with a bottle of five-year-old Armenian cognac 5 years ago, he put it in the refrigerator and now considers it ten years old.
I decided to find out if cognac in a bottle can get better over time?
How cognac is aged
Cognac base is obtained by distilling unaged white wine into cognac spirit. It is poured into oak barrels and sent to the cellar for a long time.
The minimum aging time is 30 months, after which it is already cognac, which has the aroma and color of a real drink familiar to us.
The reason for the distillation of unripe wine was the need to transport it on merchant ships. The wine in barrels turned sour, so they decided to distill it into alcohol and thus transport it.
Oak barrels gave their flavor to alcohol, gradually transforming it into a new drink, now familiar to us as cognac.
Cognac storage conditions
In cold cellars made of wild stone, barrels that are a thousand years old are lowered and cognac alcohol with a strength of 72 degrees is poured into them. Cellars should be damp so that the moisture from the barrels does not evaporate much. It maintains a constant temperature of about 15°C.
The maturation process begins, when every year alcohol loses about 3% of the fortress. The masters called this loss “the share of angels.” I doubt that the angels are interested in alcohol, but after ten years, the fortress drops from 72 degrees to 50 °. A budget drink usually has an exposure of 3-5 years.
In fact, vapors settle on the walls, giving them a noble, cognac color.
How long does cognac last
In barrels that are placed in cellars, cognac can be stored for 70 years. Experts say that it is possible to increase the period up to a hundred years, but the barrel has already given up almost everything that was in it and the taste of cognac no longer changes.
After a predetermined period, the drink is poured into glass bottles and sent to stores. In glass, brandy remains with the same qualities, aroma and color.
Some collectible bottles are stored for 200 or more years, just inside, no one tries, because it can already be hazardous to health.
I am not a collector, so I buy drinks with a more modest aging period. My favorite brands at an affordable price:
- “White stork”;
- Klinkov (Klinkov VSOP);
- “Jatone XO Extra”, in the company of friends, we affectionately call him Jatone;
- “Old Kakheti”;
- Hennessy VSOP.
On the label pasted on the bottle, indicate the expiration date of 2 years. After this period, if the bottle is not open, the quality of the drink is checked. It should remain transparent, without sediment and other inclusions. Store the bottle in an upright position at a temperature of 5 degrees.
After uncorking the bottle, the contents can be normal for another three months, provided that it is stored in the refrigerator.
Will the taste properties of cognac improve if you keep it scrap for five years
So I bought a bottle of five-year-old cognac and I want to put it in the wine compartment for five years to get a ten-year-old. What chemical processes will take place inside? Most likely none.
Glass is neutral to all types of compounds, including wine and alcohol. Therefore, he was chosen for bottling alcohol.
When the alcohol is in the cask, it breathes and releases the color and aroma of the wood into the alcohol. And what will the glass give? Again, nothing.
Hence the conclusion follows: cognac can be stored for five years. In the refrigerator in a bottle, it will retain its properties after lying for more than five years. But he will not become a ten-year-old, no matter how much I would like it.
Excessive alcohol consumption is harmful to your health. Take care of yourself!
Yes, that evening at the dacha we drank a bottle of Ararat cognac that a friend had saved. Yes, not a bad cognac, but over the years of forced downtime in the refrigerator, it has not become better. What do you think, is it worth buying cognac for future use and storing it for years?