{"id":10241,"date":"2022-10-20T19:48:51","date_gmt":"2022-10-20T16:48:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/?p=10241"},"modified":"2022-10-20T19:48:55","modified_gmt":"2022-10-20T16:48:55","slug":"cognac-the-worlds-leading-spirit-of-wine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/?p=10241","title":{"rendered":"Cognac: the World’s leading Spirit of Wine"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The world’s leading spirit of wine. With devoted aficionados, cognac has a long past, glorious present and serious expectations for the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more than three centuries, from the 17th to at least the last decades of the 20th, cognac was identified with economic prosperity and a sophisticated lifestyle. A favorite drink of the English aristocracy, it gained immense fame during the 19th century and, naturally, correspondingly high prices. And to think it started out as\u2026 a disinfectant. The story goes back to the Renaissance, when the Dutch traded salt from the coast of Western France, mainly around the port of La Rochelle. Together, they also bought wine from the hinterland, which they transported to their homeland and distilled in copper stills. The distillate – they called it burnt wine – was added to the barrels of water that the sailing ships carried on their many-month journeys. They thus achieved a rudimentary disinfection of the water while the crews also had\u2026 head!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later, they found it more economical to install the vats in the area where they sourced the wine and do the distillation on site. Except that’s how the locals learned the secret. Active and perceptive people, often favored by nature and luck, exploited the potential of their land, improved techniques, developed their own type of still, established a complex production method and succeeded in establishing their product as the premier wine spirit in the world. Speaking of which, not without reason.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What makes it so special?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is a spirit of wine. It is produced exclusively within a strictly demarcated zone, centered on the city of the same name, in Western France, about 80 kilometers north of Bordeaux.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vineyards, wineries, distilleries and aging facilities must be located within the zone.
The base wine comes from specific grape varieties, with Ugni Blanc being the dominant one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the \u2013 mandatory double \u2013 distillation, the characteristic copper discontinuous still is used. The aging of the spirit takes place in oak barrels, usually from the forests of neighboring Limousin or the more distant Tronche and lasts from at least 2 years to several decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Any spirit that does not meet the above conditions does not have the right to use the name “Cognac”.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Reading the labels<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cognac, with few exceptions, is a product of blending stocks from different vineyards, different years and with different aging times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the label of each bottle we find the information that states the age of its content and possibly its origin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

V.S. (Very Special or Very Superior)<\/strong> or *** (three stars)<\/strong>: It means that the newest spirit used in the composition has remained in an oak barrel for at least 2 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

V.S.O.P. (Very Special Old Pale)<\/strong>: Accordingly, the aging of the newest distillate exceeds 4 years. The term reflects the English preference for lighter, pale cognacs. Napoleon,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

X.O., Extra, Hors d\u2019\u00e2ge<\/strong>: Here, the youngest spirit used has spent at least 6 years in barrel. As of 2018, the last three indications (X.O., Extra and Hors d\u2019\u00e2ge) require 10 years of aging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rules and exceptions<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beware of Napol\u00e9ons that do not say Cognac. The French “sell” the emperor as and where they can! Good Cognac Houses usually use older spirits than those required by law, seeking to create quality products with a stable and recognizable personality. Among them the 4 big ones: Hennessy, R\u00e9my Martin, Martell and Courvoisier, but also the smaller Delamain, Frapin and Camus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Very rarely are spirits from a single vintage used, so you may see it listed on the bottle label. Even more rarely, we will see the name of a specific vineyard on the label.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mentioning one of the 6 sub-zones into which the cognac region is divided and which give different characteristics to the final product is not uncommon. Especially when the spirits come from the two top sub-zones, Grande Champagne or Petite Champagne, which stand out for their high price!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A common indication is also Fine Champagne, which states that at least 50% of the cognac comes from the Grande Champagne region.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The world’s leading spirit of wine. With devoted aficionados, cognac has a long past, glorious present and serious expectations for the future. For more…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2993,2995,2996],"tags":[3773,3774,3775],"class_list":["post-10241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life","category-wine-and-foods","category-wine-and-spirits","tag-alcohol","tag-brandy","tag-spirits"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10241"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10241\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10245,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10241\/revisions\/10245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}