Category: Learning about Brandy

A new authoritative guide has just been published, written by Nick Faith and called simply ‘Cognac’. This wonderfully researched book covers every aspect of cognac’s long and colourful history, its development through time and a great deal of information on its production and ageing.  The book also includes a fully updated directory of the top producers and their products.  Cognac is the King of all spirits and has been around since the 16th century. It is a hugely complex and diverse spirit which is several stages on from wine and when understood properly, creates an incredibly exciting encyclopaedia of knowledge. … Read more

This is probably the most used term in the cognac industry since it covers the transformation of the wine to a brandy. Cognacs are double distilled, the first distillation will transform the wine to a cloudy liquid with a strength around 27-30 %abv and known as brouillis The second distillation transform the brouillis into a water clear and very strong (67-72 %abv) spirit we call eau de vie which is then aged in oak casks for many years.  The eau de vie gradually mellows and changes colour as a result of the chemical (tannins, lignins and hemi-cellulose) contact with the… Read more

Throughout drinking history the age of a bottle’s content has always been contentious, in particular for wines and spirits where age can represent a substantial part of the bottle value. Defining the age of a cognac has, for the vast majority of companies, become all but impossible as they have to buy and blend as many as 3000 different cognacs to meet their sales requirements. To clarify the situation, a set of rules was created by the governing body of cognac, the Bureau National Interprofessionel de Cognac (BNIC). They require cognacs to be aged in oak casks for a specific period of… Read more

The Summer months are the best time of the year to consider the cool and refreshing Pineau des Charentes – a drink that has found favour with all those who taste the magical richness. There is no official record of how the drink first came about but the common belief is that it was first made in the sixteenth century. Legend has it that Pineau was created when a winemaker accidently dropped some grapes into a barrel which contained some brandy. The resulting taste after it had aged was found to be so good that it became a regular practice and… Read more

Continuing from our previous post about early Cognac history, some more historical dates in time about the golden nectar… 1835 Felix Courvoisier and Louis Gallois found Cognac Courvoisier 1849 Martell use their own labels on their bottles for the first time 1854 Cognacs depict 4 different zones of cognac. Grande Champagne, Petite Champagne, Premier Bois and Deuxième Bois 1856 Hennessy start to label bottles 1858 The House of A E Dor is founded in Jarnac 1865 Hennessy start to use stars to denote cognac quality 1870 The maps of the Charente regions show Fins Bois and Bon Bois for the… Read more

Very few of us are aware that French Brandies have a long history, indeed they are some of the oldest distilled spirits. Here are a few facts for your next bar quiz.. 1411 First brandy, as we now know it, distilled in Armagnac, mainly for farmers. 1494 Francois 1 is born in Cognac and later allows traders to use the Charente river to ship salt to the ports. 1549 First Brandy appears in Cognac, a merchant from La Rochelle produced four casks of “good cognac”. 1643 Philippe Augier founds first cognac house, Augier Freres. 1678 Cogniack Brandy is mentioned in the… Read more

Distillation is essentially a physical rather than a chemical action and is in effect the concentration of a wine mixture or fermented fruit or grain. It is a means of separating the constituents of a liquid mixture by partial vaporisation of the mixture and the separate recovery of the vapour and the alcoholic residue. In the case of making brandy, the grapes must conform to strict standards, mainly to control their quality and defects since both are concentrated in the distillation. The grapes used to make fine brandy have to combine both acidity and fruitiness but in cheaper distillations such… Read more