At first glance, this question seems irrelevant. Well, what, pray tell, can cognac differ from Armagnac, if both have an external resemblance and French origin, both are made from grape spirit aged in oak barrels, are drunk under similar conditions from the same type of glasses, and they sound very similar?
In fact, there are differences, and no less than between other drinks of the same group. Let’s find out how cognac differs from armagnac.
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Time and place
Despite the fact that both drinks come from France, this happened with a very decent time interval, and besides, in different parts of the country. Armagnac was the first to appear in the middle of the 150th century. Cognac appeared only XNUMX years later – at the turn of the XNUMXth and XNUMXth centuries. The homeland of the first was the Gascon region of Armagnac, while the second saw the light in the vicinity of the town of Cognac, located somewhat to the north – in the province of Charente.
It was the latter circumstance that allowed the youngest of the drinks to gain world fame: having access to the sea, Charente turned out to be much more accessible to foreign traders than Armagnac, located at a decent distance from both the Bay of Biscay and the Mediterranean Sea.
Production differences
As a result of geographical distance, there are numerous differences in the production of both drinks.
Grape sort
For cognac, only Uni Blanc grapes are used, while Armagnac, in addition to the mentioned variety, can contain about a dozen more varieties of white grapes.
Distillation
If double distillation is used to obtain grape spirit for cognac, then in the case of Armagnac we are talking about a single long distillation.
As a result, a stronger drink from the Charente is diluted to the canonical 40 degrees before bottling, while its southern counterpart naturally acquires a strength during aging, fluctuating in the range of 40-50 revolutions.
Blending
In the case of cognac, mixing of alcohol obtained from the processing of harvests of different years is allowed.
In the manufacture of Armagnac, only grapes of the same crop are used.
Thanks to this, cognac is a more manageable drink with stable characteristics. The drink from Gascony, whose properties vary somewhat from year to year, likes to bring both pleasant and unpleasant surprises to its admirers.
Oak barrels
The mentioned drinks are aged in barrels made of various types of oak: cognac – from Limousin, Armagnac – from black. In this case, the latter, as a rule, is aged for a longer period.
Armagnac producers are forced to find a middle ground between achieving the optimal aging time and preventing the drink from becoming oversaturated with tannins abundantly contained in black oak. Therefore, the future Armagnac is only the first time aged in new barrels made from freshly cut wood oversaturated with tannin.
Subsequently, it is poured into older containers, albeit not as strong, but with a lower level of astringents due to their venerable age.
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All of the above factors could not but affect the taste, olfactory and even visual differences that exist between the drinks of interest to us.
Features of use
When using both drinks, there are also some differences. First of all, they are due to the fact that Armagnac is more rigid, but at the same time it has a brighter and more diverse flavor and aroma spectrum.
If cognac is usually served either with coffee and desserts, or as a digestif, then armagnac is not so demanding in this regard.
In addition to the dessert-digestive role, it perfectly performs both as part of a combined aperitif and as a table drink (especially in company with foie gras and other dishes of southern French cuisine).
The rigidity of the Gascony drink has another curious property, thanks to which all varieties of Armagnac go well with an after-dinner cigar, while cognac in this case will be inappropriate.
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Relevance: 20.06.2015
Tags: brandy and cognac