Brandy

A beginner's guide to Cognac & Brandy

While Brandy is any distilled spirit made from fruit juice – including apple, plum, peach, pear or cherry – by far the most popular variety of brandy is made from grapes.

In simple terms, grapes are crushed to create juice, which is then fermented to make a wine and then distilled to make brandy. The devil is in the detail - which grapes, how it’s distilled and even how it is then blended and aged all influence flavour. Some styles of brandy must be aged in wooden casks by law, but others are un-aged and showcase bright characters that are perfect for cocktails.

Here’s a little guide to help differentiate the major regions and the predominant styles of brandy to help you find the perfect bottle.

Understanding Cognac

Cognac is the best known and most revered style of brandy anywhere in the world.

Production is heavily regulated with both a strict Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée (AOC) and governing body. This body ensures that producers meet certain standards in terms of quality and origin, as well as dictate the minimum aging period.

Hennessy, Martell, Rémy Martin and Courvoisier account for over two thirds of global Cognac sales but it’s a far more complex category than just a few famous houses. There are over 4000 winegrowers in the region and around 300 producers create a brand of Cognac under their name.

That doesn’t mean the rest of the region’s vignerons use their harvest for wine either – the majority sell their base wines and eaux-de-vie to the bigger brands. Indeed, it is easier to appreciate the complexity of Cognac and the importance of the micro-terroirs within the region when you think of it as an ecosystem, not a single estate farm-to-bottle operation where each producer controls every step.

The Cognac Region

Many labels state where the grapes originated from, as not all are of equal quality or prestige. Just like with fine wine, certain terroirs deliver better quality than others.

Finding the right combination of eaux-de-vie to produce both exceptional and consistent expressions is why being a cellar master is considered one of the most highly skilled professions in the spirits industry.

Grande Champagne is the most prized area, famed for crumbly chalk soils and located to the south of the Charente River. It accounts for just under 20% of production and is known for lighter eaux-de-vie with predominant floral bouquets, which are traditionally considered at their best following a long maturation.

Petite Champagne is as the name suggests, similar to Grande Champagne and accounts for just over 20% of production. With slightly less porous soils, the grapes produce similar floral and light Cognacs but with less elegance.

The Borderies is a small enclave north of the Charente and contributes about 5% of the total volume of production. While the geography is small it is known for producing aromatic and round eaux-de-vie, better suited to less time ageing and used for younger expressions of Cognac.

Fins Bois is by far the largest area and accounts for the bulk of the volume going into Cognac – over 40% of production. The thin clay and limestone soils produces fruity and fresh notes.

Bons Bois and Bois Ordinaires are the two other areas, contributing up to 15% of volume to total production. It’s a varied terroir with certain parts bringing a strong saline influence (they are on the ocean front) and others more rustic earthy notes that suit short stints aging.

Cognac production

Now that you’ve wrapped your head around the region’s geography, let’s add a layer of complexity… the different types of grapes used.

As a heavily regulated spirit, Cognac is made exclusively with grape varieties from the Cognac region of France, including Ugni Blanc, Folle Blanche and Colombard. More recently, other varietals have been permitted but are limited to only being a small percentage in any final blend. The most interesting of which is Folignan, a new cross-varietal of Ugni Blanc and Folle Blanche with a bold aromatic character.

The two main grape varietals that influence the taste and style of Cognac are:

Ugni Blanc - the predominant grape which covers over 90% of the region’s vineyards. It produces a light, neutral and acidic wine that’s ideally suited to distillation and ageing.

Folle Blanche - which was once Cognac’s dominant variety but due to its sensitivity to disease, now only makes up a fraction of blends. What it lacks in quantity it makes up for in appeal, helping to produce aromatic and well-balanced Cognacs.

Cognac Styles and understanding labels

Most Cognacs are blends, composed by the cellar master from eaux-de-vie of various ages and origins to create a Cognac that is balanced and complex. Therefore, you often see a couple regions named when they talk about grapes. The ages you see on labels always refer to the minimum age of the youngest used in the blend.

Cognac has four primary age categories: V.S. (Very Special), V.S.O.P. (Very Superior Old Pale), XO (Extra Old), and Hors d'Age (Beyond).

V.S. means that the youngest Cognac in the blend has been aged for at least two years.

V.S.O.P. means that the youngest Cognac in the blend was aged for at least four years.

XO. requires that the youngest Cognac be aged for at least ten years.

Hors d'Age and Napoleon Cognacs are terms used for bottles that have been aged for much longer – often over 20 years. It’s worth noting that the age of a spirit is measured by the time spent in cask, not in bottle – so a vintage 1970’s VSOP distillate that’s been stored in glass carboys, remains that – four years old, not 40 despite being a radically different liquid after so long oxidising.

Armagnac

Armagnac is the oldest brandy in the world and is produced in the Armagnac region of France. Despite its heritage and being Cognac literal neighbour, it often falls under the radar of most drinkers. Ignore it at your peril!

It is made from a variety of grape varieties, such as Baco, Colombard, Folle Blanche and Ugni Blanc. Unlike Cognac however, Armagnac does not undergo double distillation. Instead, it is distilled using a continuous column still called an alembic Armagnaçaise and the resulting flavour profile of Armagnac tends to be more robust and livelier than that of Cognac.

Most Armagnacs are blends of different vintages and grape varietals, but it is possible to find eaux-de-vies from single grape varietals as many cellar masters age each separately, using some to make their “coupage” (blend) and releasing others as expressions that showcase unique profiles.

Pisco

Pisco is a brandy made in Peru and Chile.

There are differences between Pisco's made in either country. Peruvian Pisco must be single distilled and must also be distilled to proof between 38 to 48% ABV. That means producers can only distil the base wine once and not add water after distillation.

It’s also limited to eight grape varietals, including non-aromatic vines such as Quebranta, Negra Criolla, Uvina and Mollar, and aromatic grapes like Moscatel, Torontel, Italia and Albilla. Each grape offers highly distinctive characteristics and the combination of them, or the use of exclusive single varietals makes a huge difference between the expressions you can buy.

Meanwhile, Chilean pisco does not need to be distilled to proof and can also be distilled multiple times. Chilean pisco can be aged in wood (Peruvian pisco cannot) and Chilean pisco can be made with a bigger range of grapes - 14 different varieties.

The two regions produce quite different styles, but each has exceptional producers. Both also share many similarities in that most of the expressions exported to the UK are unaged and predominantly intended for use in cocktails like the Pisco Sour.

Grappa

Grappa is an Italian brandy made by distilling the pomace (the seeds, stalks and skin of grapes) which has been leftover from the wine-making process. To be called "Grappa," it must be produced in Italy and made entirely from pomace following a specific distillation method.

The best bottlings can capture the essence of the grape variety used to make it, showcasing robust, slightly sweet flavours.

Unlike cognac and other brandies, to make Grappa, the pomace is added into vapour chambers (like sieves) in a column still and water is then steamed through. The rising vapour helps separate both residual alcohol and flavour from the skins and into the heady mix -which is then recondensed and captured as a spirit.

The type of grape used defines what flavours you will get. Some are blends, (historically producers took a "mix-and-match" approach combining a variety of grapes) but most of the best ones are single grape distillates.

Brandy based cocktails

Forget the clichés of balloon glasses and fireplaces. Brandy is for every occasion, irrespective of whether you drink it neat, with ice or in cocktails.

Some of the most famous brandy cocktails include the Sidecar, the Old Fashioned, the Horse's Neck and the Brandy Alexander. You can use any style of brandy to make these but our advice is to gravitate towards un-aged brandies like Pisco or grappa to make a Sour, a Flip or a Spritz, young Cognacs in the likes of a Sidecar, Weep No More or the famous Champagne Cocktail.

Older cognacs  are great to use in the Sazerac and the Vieux Carré as you don’t need to use much and the quality makes a big difference.

All of these cocktails are easy to make at home and will have others drinking it raising a toast to your skills soon after their first sip!