Caramel may be added to even out color variations. Sugar syrup may be added to sweeten and enrich less mature brandies. The casks are housed in large damp warehouses, or cooperages. The vintage, cru, and date are marked on each cask with chalk. Generally speaking, the brandy is first stored in newer casks for periods between one and two years.
The amount of time is dependent on the level of tannin that is desired. Tannin is strongest in new oak, so the brandy must possess enough character to absorb large amounts of tannin.
Many of the bottles are handcrafted of crystal. They are often sealed with wax and draped with satin ornaments. The cognac is bottled on an a slow moving assembly line at the rate of about 5, bottles per hour. Each bottle is inspected and hand-dried. After bottling, the cognac is either packed for shipping or stored for future shipments. Coyle, L. The World Encyclopedia of Food. New York: Facts on File, Lang, Jenifer Harvey, ed.
Larousse Gastronomique. New York: Crown, Robinson, Jancis, ed. The Oxford Companion to Wine. Oxford: Oxford University Press, Gugino, Sam. January 17, January 12, Handcrafted Cognac. It was a move that much of the alcohol market and businesses in general did not bother making, especially then, due to the pillars of systemic racism and marginalization of many American communities.
Like Champagne or Burgundy, Cognac is tied to one specific French locale. There are four major classifications within Cognac , which basically dictate and describe how the spirit is aged. This title takes it an extra step, as you may have guessed, with 14 being the magic age for minimum brandy aging time. Often, these Cognacs have been aged several decades.
What are the ingredients of Cognac? This grape, also called Trebbiano, is the most widely planted white variety in France. The juice ferments, per wine, then is distilled in copper stills.
You could be forgiven for thinking of a warm, crackling fire accompanied by white slippers and a burgundy robe. Think of Cognac as your new spirit to work into rotation with that whiskey or aged rum you enjoy year round. Age, just like any element of alcohol is only one component of the final product and flavor profile.
While drinking cognac neat is often the preferred manner and what I would always suggest you do first with any new bottle, cognac can be brilliant for mixed drinks. One cocktail at the top of my list for how to enjoy cognac is the sidecar. Now you know. The history of cognac, how cognac is made and, perhaps most importantly, how to enjoy cognac.
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Happy shopping! Read More. We're celebrating the news of the upcoming Hocus Pocus sequel by conjuring up 3 cocktails Meanwhile, Courvoisier turns chiefly to Fins Bois, which accounts for about 60 percent of their grapes. Fins Bois is actually the largest producing region, attributed with over 42 percent of all Cognac production, while Bins Ordinaires is hardly utilized, accounting for just one percent of production.
Similarly to how Scotch drinkers may not specify a favorite brand but, instead, a region, such as Speyside or peat-soaked Islay , many Cognac aficionados will do the same, focusing on an area, such as Borderies, prior to an individual brand. One fascinating component of Cognac production which many American drinkers aren't aware of is the concept of merchants and winegrowers, or "professional distillers" versus bouilleurs de cru , which translates to "boilers of the region.
In Cognac, there are over 4, small winegrowers. These are essentially family-run farms which may own around 50 acres of vineyards. They grow their own grapes, and produce their own wine. At this stage, they could either sell their wine directly to one of the merchants or professional distillers, or they could distill themselves. From there, they could either age their eau de vie onsite to a particular brand's specifications, or sell the unaged eau de vie to a larger house who wants to do their own aging.
Small winegrowers can take on as many of these roles, in any combination, that they'd prefer, and can also still release their own labels.
Either way, the small winegrowers are typically contracted out to one or several larger merchants. To whichever extent they are involved in the production process, they adhere to the larger brand's guidelines for production. For instance, the estate of winegrower Michele Guilloteau dates back to , and he now works exclusively with Courvoisier. He ages his eau de vie for 18 months before handing it over to Courvoisier, at which point he'll receive a quality bonus depending on how the eau de vie is graded.
The bonus system is commonplace throughout Cognac, although different houses have unique specifications and scales. Guilloteau's still is sized and shaped to Courvoisier's preferences, with an onion-shaped chapiteau , the top of the still. Barrels are also typically provided by the larger brand to the winegrower, once again aligning with the brand's style.
Kept in his own private cellar, Guilloteau has also stashed away barrels of eau de vie from each year of production. This personal bounty, a common practice for small winegrowers, will be a de facto retirement plan for him once he's ready to step down from active winemaking and distillation.
The big brands work with hundreds, or even thousands, of winegrowers to handle various phases of the production process. At Hennessy, by far the largest producer, they do things differently. They work with over 1, winegrowers, and purchase upwards of 93 percent of their production.
The remaining fraction, which they directly produce, is done specifically to serve as a teaching tool to their huge swath of contracted winegrowers. Cognac must be aged in French oak barrels, which includes oak primarily sourced from two forests, Limousin and Troncais.
As compared to French Limousin oak, Troncais oak is known to have a finer grain. Barrels can be used and reused, as long as they have never held a non-wine product, i. Barrels are indeed reused heavily though, from 50 to years. Different houses have various grading systems for their barrels, moving eau de vies from fresh barrels to older barrels in order to control the aging and impart different flavors and characteristics.
The barrels used can come in various sizes, although they're all substantially larger than typical bourbon barrels. For instance, while Hennessy uses mostly L and L barrels, for their special anniversary release, Hennessy , they specifically used L barrels.
Brands are free to use their own mix, with other common sizes skewing even larger, including L and L varieties. With no age labels on Cognac, eau de vies are left in the barrel for as long as it takes to achieve a desired result. Whenever an eau de vie has reached its peak maturation, whether that means it's been aging for 10, 30 or years, if it's not going directly into a blend, it's stashed away in demijohns. Demijohns are glass vessels, housed in wicker containers that look a bit like topped laundry baskets, which enable an eau de vie to be kept indefinitely, without further aging, oxidation or evaporation.
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