Cognac, how is it made?
It’s not cognac you want! In fact, in order to be called a grape brandy, it must meet certain criteria. The place of production is paramount. In fact, it must occur in the region of the city of Cognac in France, this includes a large part of the Charente, almost the entire Maritime Charente, and some parts of the Dordogne and Deux-Sèvres.
The manufacture of Cognac
Once the grapes have been harvested, they are pressed and the must is fermented. In this way a double distillation of the wine is obtained, as well as an aging in oak barrels that will have a minimum duration of two and a half years. It is made in wineries where you will only find brandy eaux-de-vie. This aging transforms the brandy into cognac, giving it its amber color and its particular fragrance. Cognac is divided into several wines. We find the Great Champagne, 1st Cru Cognac, Petite Champagne, Borderies, Fine wood, Good wood and Ordinary wood.
There are many ways to drink cognac. Some drink the purest puree as a digestive end to the food, others a cocktail, with sparkling water or tonic. In this case, we take VS or VSOP wines. In the past, cognac had a somewhat “bourgeois” image of alcohol, this image has changed over the years and is now an uninhibited alcohol. Brandy Sometimes we confuse brandy with brandy. The latter term, derived from English and referring to a brandy, refers to the brandy resulting from the wider distillation of wine. Various spirits such as apricot brandy, brandy… Did you know that… During the aging phase of cognac, some of the alcohol evaporates, this is called “angel quota”, it represents around of 2%. To compensate for this loss, we add the lost equivalent of a drum from the same source, it is “l’ouillage”.