David on Technical Topics – What is Cognac?

The other day, I was talking to a barman in a hotel and he, like so many other people, wanted to know “what is the difference between brandy and cognac?” Certainly in the trade we all assume that we know the answer to this, so was our barman an exception? I don’t think so.

Brandy is a spirit distilled from a fruit, it can be any fruit, any strength and aged for six days or 60 years, there really are very few rules. Cognac on the other hand is rather more complex and allows experts to differentiate between different crus, grapes, ages, styles and a host of other factors that create so many variations.  It is a great skill and occupational pleasure to identify each of the thousands produced every year.  The term cognac is defined by the Bureau National Interprofessionel du Cognac (BNIC) as a spirit made from grapes, grown, fermented and distilled in the region known as The Charente and Charente Maritime. The grapes used for the wine can be any of eight different varieties; the principal being the Ugni Blanc followed by Folle Blanche and Colombard and the winemaking must be conducted as per the local custom. Cognac must be distilled twice on an Alembic Still, up to 130 hectolitres can be distilled in the first distillation but only 25 hectolitres may be distilled in the second and the distillation range must be between 67 and 72 degrees.  The minimum strength of cognac must never fall below 40% when sold and every shipment must be accompanied by a gold certificate known as an Acquit Jaune d’Or.   All cognacs must be aged in casks made from the oak trees from either Limousin, or Tronçais, for a minimum of 3 years.

So there you have it, there is a lot more to it than you may think.  As they say in Cognac, “every cognac is a brandy but not every brandy is a cognac”.