Brandy Flashcards
Brandy
(frombrandywine, derived fromDutchbrandewijn, or “burnt wine”)is aspirit produced by distilling wine.
The best known distillations from wine are the famous brandies of France, Cognac and Armagnac, but the rest of the world also produces excellent brandies. Spain, Italy, Portugal, Greece, Germany, United States and
South America have a long tradition in Brandy making and are as respected as Cognac or Armagnac. Brandies are almost always 80° proof and the details of production and labeling are controlled by national regulations. Unlike other brandies, Marc and Grappa are distilled not from wine but from the skins and husks of pressed grapes.
Brandy is distilled from fruits such as grapes, apples, blackberries, and apricots just to name a few. It is distilled around the globe. Depending on the region of origin and the type of fruit used, brandy can be classified into many different categories: Cognac and Armagnac, Calvados all French brandies, Applejack, an American apple brandy, Grappa, a grape brandy, etc. Brandy is, in essence, distilled wine. Most brandies are bottled at eighty proof, meaning forty-percent alcohol content.
Brandy has a unique rating system intended to make identification of its many different types and aging categories. A letter system is used to signify the variety of brandy. C :: cognac E :: extra F :: fine O :: old P :: pale S :: special V :: very (used to modify S :: special)
Combinations of these letters are used to distinguish different types of brandy. For example, VSOP is “very
special old pale” which is aged for five years in a wood cask and often called five star brandies.
Additional brandy vocabulary includes:
Napoleon :: the brandy is at least four years old, usually much older.
Vintage :: the liquor must be kept inside a wooden cask
Hors D’age :: the exact age of the brandy is unknown.
Brandy is best served at room temperature, though some prefer it warmed.
The History of Brandy
The origins of brandy are clearly tied to the development of distillation. Concentrated alcoholic drinks were identified in ancient Greece and Rome and will possibly possess a historic past going back again to historical Babylon. In ancient Greece and Rome, Brandy was used each being an antiseptic and an anesthetic. You can only suppose that ‘drinking for medicinal purposes’ might have originated at the moment. Arab alchemists experimented with distilling grapes and other fruits to be able to make medicinal spirits. Their understanding and methods quickly distribute beyond the borders of Islam. Brandy production appeared in Spain and probably Ireland by the finish from the 8th century.
In 1512 a Dutch trader, searching for a way in which to transport larger quantities of found that by removing the water from the wine he was able to fix more casks onto his ship. He could then add the missing water back to the wine when he reached his destination. This was known as “brandewijn” which meant burnt wine in Dutch and eventually became brandy. Why would the merchant do this? Wine was initially distilled to lessen the tax which was assessed by volume. The trader meant to add the water removed by distillation back again in to the brandy before consumption. With less volume, there was much less taxation.
But to the trader’s shock, following getting been stored in wooden casks, the distilled wine experienced turn out to be much more flavorful. By eliminating water, the distillation procedure resulted n the formation and break-up of varied aroma compounds, creating a higher concentration of flavor.
Cognac, one of the more famous and popular brandies, originated in the seventeenth century when the Cognacais family began to double distill their wines. This drink quickly became one of the most essential and profitable exports in France. It was first exported to Holland, the birthplace of the liquor, and was soon expended to England, the Far East, and the New World. In France, cognac became the drink of choice for the aristocracy. The King use to partake of its fruity and potent taste with strict regularity. Cognac, both then and to this present day, is produced in the Cognac region of France. Cognac it made from white wine, which is produced from the vineyards of this area.
Brandies saw their introduction into the New World in the late seventeenth century. Spanish monks, who developed a taste for the drink before they left Europe, brought with them to the New World many casks of Brandy. However, when they ran out of it they quickly found that the native grapes that grew in
California were a perfect source for brandy. They also found that other fruits could be used to produce the much-loved drink. At this time several other counties were also discovering the cacophony of fruit that brandy could be derived from. Germany, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Australia, and South Africa were all producing fruit brandy by the end of the eighteenth century.
Cognac
The practice of condensing for shipment overseas the wine of the Charente region by a primitive form of distillation became established as early as the 15th century. These would have been rough ‘low wines’ with alcohol content around
25%. The idea was not so much to produce a spirit as to save on casks and shipping space and to preserve the none-too-robust wine on long voyages. Not until the 17th century, following the great improvements in commercial distilling initiated by the Dutch, did an unknown distiller in the Cognac region treat his ‘low wines’ to a second distillation. By this means the ‘soul of the wine’ was truly extracted and a strong wine spirit, redolent of the grape, first saw light in France: Cognac brandy was born. Incarceration in wood for export showed the benefits of maturing.
The Cognac Region
Of course, there was originally no definition of the Cognac region: it just
happened that the best French brandy came from there and thus attracted the
name of the central town. It would have been as viable to name it Jarnac brandy,
after the more charming second town, which shelters three notable grande marque houses, but cognac it became and remains. The names of some other brandies —coñac, kanyak, and the like, pay tribute to cognac’s supremacy.
However, most countries by law or tradition reserve the word cognac for the genuine French product.
In the mid 19th century when cognac had established a worldwide reputation, it happened that two friends, a geologist and a spirit expert, visited the area to test a theory. The geologist believed that by analysis of the soil he could say in which ground would grow grapes whose wine would be most suitable for distillation. The spirit expert was able to confirm his companion’s findings. This was eventually the basis for the very strict demarcation of the carefully defined Cognac region’s six divisions. These are, in descending order of prestige,
1) Grande Champagne
2) Petite Champagne
3) Borderies
4) Fins Bois
5) Bons Bois
6) Bois Ordinaires.
The word champagne used to describe the region for cognac has caused a certain amount of confusion over the times. It has absolutely nothing to do with the wine of the same name. People will sometimes refer to a ‘champagne cognac’, as if conferring a special status on brandy: there is no such thing as a ‘champagne cognac’. Champagne in a cognac context is a local derivation from the Latin campania, an open space, a field or a small district. It is a survival from Roman occupation of the region.
To justify the word cognac, a brandy must be solely a product of the region, made in accordance with the strict regulations controlling size and type of stills and many other details.
Good wine makes poor brandy
The wine of Cognac is practically undrinkable as such, it is harsh and acidic, and you could almost make a general rule that good wine makes poor brandy. The harvest is fairly late. The newly made wine is run into stone, concrete or metal vats. Maturation is avoided: the wine must retain its original attributes, for it is these that give cognac its unique character. Distillation starts immediately and continues until the following spring.
The first distillation of ‘low wines’, brouilli, contains about 28% alcohol. The brouilli may be made in stills containing as much as 100 hectolitres, but the second distillation, the bonne chauffe, must come from an alembic still (maximum 25 hectolitres) and must not contain more than 72% alcohol.
Maturation
The new cognac is put into casks of French oak. The main supply is traditionally from the Limousin forests, but the very different Trocais oak —a tall, comparatively slender tree— is much used nowadays. The casks of cognac are stored in chais. The old chais —and some are very old — are low buildings with earthen floors, well ventilated. The idea is to keep them as cool and damp as possible. Modern chais are lofty, with casks stored on high racks. Both serve equally well, though romance is all on the side of the ancient chais, their roofs covered with a peculiar moss that feeds on the evaporation of the spirit —the fabled ‘angels’ share’.
The air is fairly dry and summer temperatures high, and the evaporation is considerably greater than in Scotland. The holder of the biggest maturing stocks, Martell, estimates that it loses the equivalent of two million bottles a year.
At the annual stocktaking, the topping up of casks compensates for evaporation with spirit from newer ones, building up average age. Some fine cognac will be left to mature unblended, though usually ‘refreshed’ with spirit of similar age and type to keep the cask full. Very old cognac, called the “paradis” by the distillers, is kept in large non-reactive glass containers and used to season younger batch blends.
New casks are seasoned by being first filled with lesser grades and only when they are well impregnated with spirit, and are unlikely to impart excessive tannin to their contents, are they used.
When can cognac be sold?
Virtually all cognac sold is a blend of brandy of different ages and from several zones and distillers.
Under French law a cognac may not be sold with a date. There are, however, some exceptions each year from leading houses which are dated and sent exclusively to the U.K., the largest purchasing nation of cognac.
Like any other spirit, cognac cannot improve in bottle. By bottle age it may acquire rarity value, nothing more. It can quite easily deteriorate. Vintage cognac, which is almost exclusively a British phenomenon, attracts prestige.
The Napoleonic Myth of Cognac
A number of great brands of cognac include ‘Napoleon’ grade —usually, though not always, their costliest. The fickle public having attached special magic to the imperial title, the cognac-producer can hardly be blamed for pandering to it. This aspect of the cognac business is wrapped in mystery. Napoleon was an abstemious man, though his native Corsica, and Burgundy, were to claim him as favoring their wines.
The nearest there is to a source for the Bonaparte legend is the presentation to him of a cask of cognac, in 1811, to celebrate the birth of his son, the unfortunate King of Rome. After Napoleon’s fall, a quantity of this appears to have been sent to England where it was late bottled as Fine Champagne Impériale 1811, with an embossed ‘N’ on the shoulder of the bottle.
Various editions of this, and also of ‘Napoleon’ vintages 1805 and 1809, turn up. They may be truly antique, or counterfeits. In terms of commerce, there is no such thing as Napoleon I cognac. It would be most certainly undrinkable.
What’s in a bottle of Cognac?
There are several points to ponder when looking at a bottle of cognac. Some houses use three stars to signify their standard grade. This does not mean it is three years old, minimum age for the important British market, for the average age of a reputable cognac of this grade will be higher: it is simply a convention.
If there are more stars on the label, that is a brand-owner’s whim but of no actual meaning. Some brands have rejected the stellar system in favor of invented names. The widely used VSOP title stands for ‘Very Special (or Superior) Old Pale’ and stems from the time about a century ago when cognac changed from the heavier style —in flavor and color— favored by upper-class Englishmen to the paler type of today. It denotes a grade that is more aged than the same company’s three star or similar. It should not contain brandy that has been less than four years in wood.
A number of other descriptions are employed as well, mostly peculiar to individual firms, and they must be learned by experience. Cognac-drinkers will also grow to prefer the products of the various grandes marques: there are not that many. These are the firms on whose traditions and reputation rest the integrity and quality of cognac.
Old cognac that has cork as a closure must be kept stored upright or the spirit will attack the cork and be ruined. It will over many years, even if the cork is sealed, lose some strength by evaporation, but without harmful effect.
When opened, an old cognac should not be kept indefinitely in bottle or decanter if there is a good deal of air space: the remainder should be transferred to a smaller vessel.
Armagnac
Armagnac(French pronunciation:[aʁ.maˈɲak]) is a distinctive kind ofbrandyproduced in theArmagnac regionin Gascony, southwestFrance. It isdistilledfromwineusually made from a blend of grapes includingBaco 22A, Colombard,Folle blancheandUgni blanc, traditionally usingcolumn stillsrather than thepot stillsused in the production ofCognac. The resulting spirit is thenagedinoakbarrelsbefore release. Production is overseen by the Institute national de l’origine et de la qualité(INAO) and the Bureau National Interprofessionel de l’Armagnac (BNIA).
History of Armagnac
The Romans introduced wine into the areas of South-west France. The Arabs brought the still and finally, the Celts developed the use of the barrel. They could meet only in Gascogne. Known from the Middle Ages for its therapeutic virtues
Armagnac took its rise in the 16th century to become a true product for human consumption.
Distillation and marketing reach their high point in 19th century. About 1878, an grape disease destroyed almost all the vineyards. However gradually, the wine is reinstalled in Armagnac and in 1909 a state decree delimits the zone of production of this brandy with Controlled Label of Origin. The decree of August 6, 1936 will specify the conditions of development of Armagnac.
The Vineyards of Armagnac
Located at the heart of Gascogne, the vineyards of Armagnac cover approximately 15000 hectares and include most of the county of Gers, like some cantons of the Moors and of the Batch and the Garonne. It consists of soft
and quite exposed slopes with sandy, clay or chalky soil.
One distinguishes three areas of production:
- In the West, Low-Armagnac (Bas Armagnac) extends on sandy soils, muddy grounds and acids known as fawn-colored sands, where the delicate and fruity brandies are
produced. It covers appx. 55% of the production. - To the center lays Armagnac-Tenarèze, rich in clay soils that give the brandy sharp and more vigorous taste and express all their richness after a prolonged aging. It covers 40% of production.
- In the East on chalky soils lays High-Armagnac (Haut-Armagnac) where the culture of Brandy making developed in the 19th century in a period of keen demand, but represents today a very weak share of the production about 5%.
Types of wines used in the distillation of Armagnac
Armagnac is obtained from the distillation of white wines primarily starting from the following types:
- White Ugni
- Colombard
- White Fol
- White Baco,
- White Rams (Pale of Gascogne)
- Lubricate
- White Jurançon
- White and rose Mauzac
- St. Meslier François
Production of Armagnac starts with the pressing of the white wines collected in October, month of the grape harvest. Vinified in a traditional way, these wines don’t have any chemical or technological infusions. They are characterized by: a frankness from taste, a relatively small alcoholic strength (from 8 to 10% vol.), and a significant total acidity.
Distillation of Armagnac
It must take place before March 31 which follows the fall harvest. It is done traditionally with the still armagnaçaise developed in 1818 by a patent of the King Louis the 18th: the wine is then distilled continuously. Distillation with double-heating used for example to produce Cognac is practiced for a very small part of the production.
The armagnaçaise method is softer and preferred because it preserves more components of the grape content and has a more particular taste. At the exit of the still, the brandy is colorless and titrates between 52 and 72 % alcohol by volume.
Aging of Armagnac
When the distillation is over, Armagnac is placed in oak barrels called “parts”, capacity 400 to 420 liters whose wood comes from the forests of Gascogne or
the Limousin. The barrels are then stored in wine storehouses and left to age.
Aging in the oak makes it possible for the brandy to be refined and to grow rich,
following complex reactions during which the tannic and aromatic matters of wood dissolve in alcohol.
The young brandies remain in new parts until the moment of dissolution of the substances of wood is optimal. They are then transferred in older barrels to finish the started transformations.
When the Master of wine storehouse considers aging sufficient, he begins the cuts, i.e. the harmonious assembly several brandies of origins and different ages.
They are sold at least to 40 % alcohol by volume (80 proof) and thus reduced by successive steps by means of small water prepared in the secrecy of the wine storehouses. However, some old Armagnacs, generally vintage, are marketed with their natural degree of aging.
