Cognac

Cognac, a brandy that takes its name from the commune of Cognac, has much in common with French wine. Familiar characters mark its history, including the British, Eleanor of Aquitaine, and phylloxera.

The region is built on terroir, with six regions whose differing soils, aspects, and climates add complexity to the final product. What sets Cognac apart from wine is that it undergoes the process of distillation. Wine from Cognac is distilled twice in alembic Charentais pot stills, named after the Charente River, which is the heart of the Cognac region. Furthermore, unlike French wine, Cognac is almost exclusively an export product. Together, 4,300 winegrowers, 120 professional distillers, and 270 merchant firms work to produce a storied beverage that can be found throughout the world.

Geography and Geology

The regions of Cognac (Credit: BNIC)

Cognac is in southwest France, just north of Bordeaux. Like Bordeaux, Cognac has a maritime climate influenced by its proximity to the Atlantic Ocean, which provides moisture to aid in the long oak aging that gives Cognac its characteristic flavor. The heart of the region lies along the Charente River, which provides access to the chais, “cellars,” of the town of Cognac and historically was used to ship the spirit from the region. The river runs low in the summer, requiring flat-bottomed boats, but rainy winters cause it to run very high and even flood. In 1982, the flooding was so severe that the chais were inundated, sending casks of brandy bobbing down the river.

The individual subregions of Cognac were mapped by geology professor Henri Coquand, who conducted the first scientific studies of any winegrowing region in the 1850s. Charentais by birth, he defined the chalky Coniacian, Santonian, and Campanian soils of the region that were noted for producing the best Cognacs. He and an official taster would travel the region on horseback, surveying the vineyards. While Coquand would predict the quality of a vineyard based on its soils, the taster would use his palate, and, as Coquand notes, “taster and geologist never once differed.” Based on these studies, the region is divided roughly into six concentric circles, centered around the Grande Champagne. Note that “Champagne” in Cognac does not indicate sparkling wine; rather it is a reflection of the word’s etymological origin—a derivation of the Latin word for “plain”—and of the similarity in the dominant soil of Grande Champagne and Petite Champagne. These two regions have a high percentage of soft chalk, the preferred soil for Cognac, whereas the outlying appellations have higher proportions of hard limestone, sand, and clay.

View of the Grande Champagne (Credit: Adobe Stock)

Each Cognac region produces distinct brandies with their own characteristics, in part because of the soil types most associated with each area. Cognacs from the desirable Grande Champagne and Petite Champagne make some of the most elegant spirits, while the regions of Borderies, Bons Bois, Fins Bois, and Bois Ordinaires provide the backbones of entry-level brandies.

Planted area based on 2020 harvest statistics from BNIC (79,321 hectares total)

If 100% of a Cognac comes from a region, it is eligible to have that region’s name appear on the label. Often, producers will add “Premier Cru du Cognac,” which is an unofficial term for the region, to the label of a Grande Champagne. If a Cognac is a blend of a minimum of 50% Grande Champagne and the remainder from Petite Champagne, then the Cognac is eligible for the label Fine Champagne.

History

History with the English

When Henry II came to the English throne in 1154, there was reason to celebrate in the Charente region. With his marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine, just two years earlier, English trade shifted focus from regions on the Seine River to regions in Aquitaine, such as the Charente and the Gironde. English control of Aquitaine over the next 300 years ensured the importance of the wines of Cognac, Armagnac, and Bordeaux on the English table, relegating the wines of Champagne and other regions on the Seine to the background.

During this period, Cognac was famous for its salt, which was highly regarded for preserving fish and meat and widely traded by the Flemish, Scandinavians, and Germans. Because of Cognac’s location on the Charente, a tidal river that became very shallow at Cognac, salt and other goods had to be transferred from larger oceangoing vessels to river barges, helping the region become a major center for commerce.

The Charente River today (Credit: Adobe Stock)

Henry II incentivized vine planting in Cognac by encouraging the common practice of renting land to farmers on the condition that if they planted vineyards, they could keep half of the production as an annual fee. Since wines of this era were of dubious quality and would often spoil quickly, producers aimed to complete harvests in early September so that they could ship their wines by October to arrive at markets by Christmas. This timeline benefited Cognac and Bordeaux; because these regions were located near major Atlantic ports, their wines had less distance to travel than those of many others.

Almost two centuries after Henry II ascended to the throne, the Cognac region was devastated by both the Black Death and the Hundred Years’ War. Raiders cut vines—which would take five years to recover—and, devastatingly, killed many of the area’s citizens. In the end, Cognac was unable to return to prominence until the English were driven out in 1453 and a local man rose to the throne.

The Switch to Distillation

Francis I, born in Cognac in 1494, ascended to the French throne in 1515. He granted Cognac exemptions from many taxes, forced loans, and army levies. This tax advantage coincided with the first records of distillation in the region, with a record of sale for a barrique d’eau ardente (barrel of burning water) being shipped from Bordeaux in 1517. Although the first distillers in the region were probably in Armagnac, the Cognacais were able to leverage their long history of mercantile trade to establish their distilled wines in foreign markets. Still, this was at a time when much of the raw wine, fuel, and oak for casks was being shipped to the Dutch, who were using it to distill their own beverage, which they called brandywijn (which translates literally as “burnt wine”).

The Cognacais began steadily increasing brandy production during this period. The first mention of a distiller is from 1571: Jehan Serazin, marchand et faizeur d’eau-de-vie, from the area of La Rochelle. Records from 1622 show that brandies from Cognac paid 9 livres tax, while brandies from Bordeaux paid 8.5 livres, and other regions in Spain and France paid 7 to 7.5 livres—a testament to the quality of the distillate. In many areas, distilled wines had to go through the distillation process multiple times, resulting in rectified, neutral spirits. Although the cahier des charges for Cognac celebrates the local soldier-poet Chevalier de la Croix Maron for inventing a quality spirit from double distillation (he wrote about having “distilled the springtime of my spirits” in La Muse Catholique in 1607), it is more likely that the quality of Cognac’s base wine was so high that it needed to be distilled only twice. With the shift toward distillation, Cognac producers were attracted to Folle Blanche, which yields an acidic, low-alcohol wine suited to distillation and was easier to grow and harvest when compared with Colombard, the previously dominant grape for sweet wines.

While Cognac was marked by hardships in the Nine Years’ War and the War of the Spanish Succession, the resulting drop in supply seemed only to enhance its status in markets such as London. This desire for Cognac, combined with the loose financing available in the early 1710s, generated an economic boom and led to the establishment of many new Cognac firms, including Jean Martell and Rémy Martin. In 1720, production hit a peak that would not be seen for the rest of the century, with almost no wine exported. All the region’s production was in spirit, and the transition to distillation was complete.

The Role of the British

In the early 1700s, Cognac was extremely popular in Britain, drunk as a cordial or an aperitif and used as an ingredient in punch; later in the 18^th century, it was also served as a tall drink with soda. Taxes, wars, and harvest shortfalls, however, could cause demand to vary widely with the British. The Irish market, which was very price sensitive, would use up the surplus, since it did not have ready access to substitutes like gin or rum—although demand cratered when the whiskey boom came to Ireland in the mid-1700s. In the decades that followed, demand for Cognac spiked whenever there was a grain shortfall, a drop in rum production, or a war that cut off trade with alcohol producers. Cognac became a niche product with opportunities for mercantile minds.

Cognac eventually found stability with London merchants and consumers who were interested in quality. By the 1770s, although the Dutch bought the greatest quantity of Cognac, London was the largest market for the best “champaign brandy” and had over 60 importers. The influence of the London market ultimately determined the style of Cognac as it is known today. Northerners such as the Dutch and Germans wanted colorless brandies, but the British preferred a brown brandy. Shipped from Cognac to Britain, brandies would often age in barrels at London warehouses, where the constant low temperatures and high humidity yielded a lightly floral and delicate style of Cognac. At the time, Cognac aged in France was a rarity, and most of the aged product in Britain was in this “early landed” style, with a Cognac being designated as “old” after three to four years.

The Revolution and Cognac’s First Major Houses

The hailstorms and harsh winter of 1788 to 1789 that decimated grain production also damaged Cognac production. The 1789 harvest, the third consecutive poor harvest, was only a twentieth of normal. Shrewd operators like Richard Hennessy noted that merchants with enough capital would buy up a year’s production and did not sell until they saw whether the next vintage would be good or not. Hennessy created a duopoly with Martell that lasted until 1954, emerging as the dominant force in Cognac as it built up enough capital to concentrate on brandy. During the Revolution, the Martells commanded the local national guard, while Hennessy made money by selling to the revolutionary government, even trading its brandies for grain to import for the French Republic.

Merchants in Cognac benefited greatly from the rise of the French First Republic, established when the monarchy fell in 1792, by purchasing cheap property confiscated from the aristocracy. Even the subsequent Napoleonic Wars were not a barrier to success, as the abolition of royal taxes made Cognac’s prices competitive in British markets, where French merchants were able to use neutral shippers—such as those from America—to send their product to London via Germany.

The larger merchant houses composed most of the trade. In response, in 1838, Pierre-Antoine de Salignac organized winegrowers into the Société des Propriétaires Vinicoles de Cognac (SPVC), a cooperative to challenge the influence of Martell, Hennessy, and Otard Dupuy. Salignac had modern ideas, including grading by age and quality, arguing that markets such as Britain could afford higher prices. The cooperative was so successful that it soon joined the other three firms in dominating the market. 

The rise of Emperor Napoleon III was a boon to the Cognacais. As exporters, they spent considerable effort skirting trade barriers and taxes, and Napoleon III’s free-trade policy was unprecedented at the time. The population of Cognac doubled during his rule, and the region was successful even when faced with the major challenge of oidium. During the late 1840s, sales were at 200,000 hectoliters per year; with the advance of oidium, sales dropped to 110,000 hectoliters per year in the 1850s. But the discovery of copper sulfate as a treatment allowed Cognac to bounce back quickly. By the early 1870s, sales had risen to 450,000 hectoliters per year and the region was extremely profitable. Even so, Cognac remained a top-heavy enterprise, with Hennessy, Martell, Otard Dupuy, and SPVC controlling nearly 60% of exports.

During the 1840s and 1850s, most production was exported immediately. Growers reserved their older brandies, while the larger firms traded in younger brandies. At the time, nearly 90% of Hennessy’s brandies were less than five years old and over 70% less than two years old. But as production rose, it began to outpace sales by a wide margin. Between 1861 and 1876, 4.5 million hectoliters of Cognac were exported and 11 million hectoliters were produced. Most of the excess was kept by the peasants who were growing the grapes—valuable assets that made them some of the richest peasants in all of France.

Phylloxera, War, Depression, War

Cognac was a ripe target for phylloxera. With 285,000 hectares planted in 1878, Cognac was France’s largest vineyard. First noticed in the Charente in 1872, phylloxera spread rapidly, and by 1885 the region had only 85,000 hectares under vine. By 1893, Cognac was down to only 41,000 hectares. As the vines died, land value dropped by 90%, forcing growers to sell off their stores of old Cognac. When those ran out, many could not afford to replant, so they sold their stills and made wine instead. Production of Cognac plummeted, and it became an extremely scarce luxury good. Both Martell and Hennessy could have used the crisis to become major landholders in the region by purchasing vineyards from distressed peasants, but both opted not to do so. Instead, the two firms responded by using credit from financiers to build up their stocks and purchase brandy from growers, protecting themselves from the challenges others experienced during this period. 

The region’s recovery from phylloxera was slower than that of many European regions, as the first generations of American rootstock did not take well to the chalky soils of the Grande Champagne and Petite Champagne regions. Further, Folle Blanche proved to be a poor partner for American rootstocks, its bunches becoming too compact and susceptible to rot. Ugni Blanc, however, performed well and ultimately became the dominant grape in Cognac. Eventually, Pierre-Marie Millardet at the University of Bordeaux produced a rootstock called 41B, a hybrid of Chasselas and Vitis berlandieri Planchon, which would become the workhorse of the region until the 1970s. To assist with the replanting efforts, France’s first viticultural research station was created in Cognac in 1889.

Meanwhile, merchants in the region had to contend with industrial spirits—distilled from sources like beets, grain, or potatoes—that filled the market and were often marketed as Cognac. A common tactic of French merchants trying to label other spirits as Cognac was to establish an address in Cognac and have their mail forwarded there. In 1889, nearly 180 firms existed for this purpose. Germans would relabel fortified wine as Cognac or even ship industrial alcohol to a French port, then ship it back to Germany and label it as Cognac. By 1900, fraudulent sales of Cognac were 15 times greater than Cognac’s annual production. This fraud led to the 1909 legislation that created AOC Cognac, which, 10 years later, was followed by a law that made it a criminal offense to label as Cognac anything that did not meet legal standards. Merchants, in the meantime, were adding their own guarantees of quality. Hennessy created the star system and, later, the XO designation, while Martell utilized an elaborate system that had eight tiers, including the now familiar VSOP.

Although World War I had little effect on Cognac, import tariffs spread throughout the world and Prohibition wiped out the American market, with the Great Depression soon following. While Martell and Hennessy remained on top, every other firm struggled. It was in this era, in 1924, that Rémy Martin, nearing bankruptcy, was taken over by André Renaud. A legendarily harsh leader, Renaud brought focus to the firm and helped position it to eventually become a member of the big four, the name given to the dominant houses in Cognac: Hennessy, Martell, Rémy Martin, and Courvoisier.

With the end of Prohibition and the Great Depression, there was some improvement for the region, but this progress was quickly reversed by German occupation during World War II. In Cognac, the occupation was supervised by Gustav Klaebisch, brother of the Champagne Weinführer, Otto Klaebisch. The Klaebisch brothers were uniquely suited to their roles: both were born in Cognac and spoke French, but their family left during World War I, after their Cognac firm was seized by the state. Gustav’s approach to Cognac reflected his understanding of the importance of reserves to the category’s future success, and the Germans wanted Cognac to be economically viable after a quick war. Although the German commanders who conquered the area immediately seized Cognac destined for England, when Klaebisch arrived he implemented a requisition system with quotas and levied taxes at many stages of production.

Between 1941 and 1944, the Germans requisitioned 27 million bottles of Cognac. With the shortage of labor and materials in wartime, production began to drop, resulting in nearly one-third of a year’s harvest being taken by the Germans by the end of the occupation. Klaebisch ensured that the Germans paid well for their purchases, and, under his oversight, the region’s infrastructure remained largely intact. The war also led to the creation of the Bureau de Répartition, the forerunner of the Bureau National Interprofessionnel du Cognac. Founded in part by Maurice Hennessy, the Bureau de Répartition helped manage the sales of Cognac to Germany, supervising Klaebisch’s quota system.

During this period, all holders of Cognac had to declare their stocks to the Bureau de Répartition or risk outright forfeiture. This led to many small growers coming forward, even if they had only a few barrels in their cellars. Before the war, the major firms believed they controlled 90% of Cognac stocks, but these declarations revealed that they held just 60%.

The Glory Years

Cognac emerged from World War II relatively intact and ready for expansion. Many companies had increased their stocks during the German occupation, because fewer foreign markets were available. The era from 1945 to the 1973 oil crisis was known as les trente glorieuses, “the glorious thirty,” and production thrived. Nine million bottles of Cognac were exported in 1945, jumping to 21 million in 1946 and to 120 million by the early 1970s. In 1971, shipments surpassed the pre-phylloxera era for the first time.

The Bureau de Répartition gained independence from the Ministry of Agriculture in July 1946 and became the Bureau National Interprofessionnel du Cognac (BNIC). Though the structure of the BNIC gave locals power, it would often be caught between the desires of the big four and smaller producers; mounting a generic campaign to promote Cognac, for example, would be perceived by the larger firms as helping smaller ones.

For decades, Martell and Hennessy had been operating effectively as a duopoly, collectively controlling the market. In 1922, the two families created an ownership structure that tied their interests together, based on the relationship between Maurice Hennessy and Maurice Firino-Martell. For the next 25 years, they operated in unison, but when the agreement expired, in 1947, the BNIC began to exert guidance over the region. In 1954, Martell and Hennessy’s price control over Cognac ended. Then, in 1960, after gaining expanded powers, the BNIC created the system of designated ages that is still in place today, and implemented pricing based on the region where the base wine of a spirit was grown. When Firino-Martell died, in 1962, the relationship with Hennessy was over, and the power of the companies had waned.

During this period, firms were losing market share of spirits within France because of lower taxes on rum, and French colonial markets were disappearing. When the EU Common Market was established, in 1957, it provided tremendous opportunities for Cognac’s growth in Europe. Sales rose dramatically, with those to West Germany increasing by a factor of 10 over the next 15 years. Similarly, sales to Asian markets rose rapidly. By 1970, Hong Kong was the largest consumer of Cognac per capita in the world. The same year, Cognac was France’s largest single export to Singapore. Even with a 200% import tariff, the Japanese were avid buyers, with many avoiding taxes by making their purchases at duty-free stores.

To fuel this growth, more Cognac was needed. With the introduction of improved Ugni Blanc clones and modern chemical treatments, yields had increased by a factor of 2.5 between the late 1940s and the late 1950s, rising from 20 hectoliters per hectare to 50 hectoliters. But more land was needed as well. Only 60,000 hectares were in cultivation from 1940 to 1959, but that number quickly peaked at 110,000 hectares in 1976. Most holdings remained small, with less than 12% larger than five hectares, and many growers found it advantageous to transfer their planting rights from lesser crus to greater crus. Between 1965 and 1972, over 1,700 hectares transferred from the Bons Bois and the Bois Ordinaires to greater crus. By this point, over 60% of the cultivable land in the Grande Champagne and the Borderies was planted. Yet because of the capital needed to convert stills to gas, upgrade to larger stills, purchase more equipment, and buy land, many farmers were in debt even as the price of brandy was rising. Hoping to reap the eventual benefits of higher prices for aged brandy, farmers continued to take on new financing and hold their brandies rather than sell them. This raised the overall pressure to increase plantings in Cognac—and it also left farmers struggling when the market turned.

The Modern Era

The OPEC oil shocks, beginning in 1973, and the Arab-Israeli conflict sparked a worldwide recession that significantly affected demand for luxury goods, with Cognac sales immediately declining by 22% in the two years after 1973. Big houses were cutting back on purchases even as yields continued to increase, with average yields in the early 1970s of 87 hectoliters per hectare, and record yields in 1973 of 149 hectoliters per hectare. By 1976, while only a third of the land was used, production equaled pre-phylloxera levels. The BNIC provided vine-pull incentives and introduced caps on the distillation of brandy, which diverted nearly half of the region’s production to industrial alcohol.

During this time, tension between Rémy Martin and the rest of the big four developed over the use of the Fine Champagne label, a term that Rémy Martin had been using for decades to describe its blend of Grande and Petite Champagne brandies. Although Courvoisier, Hennessy, and Martell also used the Fine Champagne designation, when Rémy began to expand production of its VSOP Fine Champagne in the 1970s, the other houses felt that undue attention was being placed on terroir, countering the long-held strategy in Cognac of emphasizing producer and house style. Courvoisier, Hennessy, and Martell responded by removing the term Fine Champagne from their labels, arguing that Rémy’s use of VSOP along with the Fine Champagne label suggested that any other Cognac style labeled with the Champagnes, but without the VSOP indication, was of lower quality. The BNIC agreed that it was “dangerous” to suggest that only certain regions produced superior Cognac. The director of Rémy Martin, André Hériard-Dubreuil, resigned his presidency of the Syndicat des Exportateurs, a group of the 11 most important firms in Cognac, and set up a rival group called Tradition and Quality. Meanwhile, the 3,750 growers in the Champagne regions walked out on the Growers’ Federation, where they had always been a minority.

This disunity made it difficult to resolve overproduction problems in Cognac. Growers could still store extra spirit at their own expense, but the carrying costs would become difficult to bear. Shortly after World War II, growers needed only four hectares of vines each to provide for their families. Fifty years later, those same families would require around 15 hectares each. With the average landholding around 10 hectares in the Champagnes, many growers could still rely on Cognac to make a good living. In the outlying regions, however, growers had to find other outlets for their grapes, such as table wine, table grapes, or sparkling wines.

Sales globally were slumping in the 1970s. One prosperous spot was the US market, where sales tripled, but this did not outweigh declining sales overall, and overproduction continued while the carrying costs of storing extra brandy rose. Interest charges on this stored brandy doubled between 1973 and 1982, rising to 11% of sales. Once Cognac producers recognized the scope of the problem, they made dramatic changes. Courvoisier halved its staff between 1980 and 2002. Hennessy brought in a former brewer from Hoegaarden, Gerald Navarre, who modernized the business with sweeping changes such as layoffs and renegotiating contracts with growers.

Throughout Cognac, producers were consolidating. As markets began to opt for cheaper Cognacs and costs continued to rise, the big four’s structural advantages allowed them to control 80% of the market, up from 50% in the 1940s. The big four used their position to form alliances with larger spirits brands and take profits from distribution that would have once gone to foreign agents. Hennessy, meanwhile, increased its market share from 17% to 30%, and Rémy Martin went from 9% in 1985 to 16% by 2000. But success was not shared equally among the big four. In 1988, Martell was purchased by Seagram, which was sold to Pernod Ricard after sales dropped in the 1990s. Courvoisier suffered from successive takeovers of its parent companies: in 1981, Hiram Walker merged with Allied-Lyons, which was then taken over in a 1994 merger with Pedro Domecq, becoming Allied Domecq. In 2005, Pernod Ricard acquired Allied Domecq, which sold off the Courvoisier brand to Jim Beam.

Sales in France started to decline by the turn of the century, in part because of massive taxes on Cognac. Sales in Europe also fell, by 28% between 1985 and 2001, mirroring a global fall of 25% during that same time. As in previous decades, growers left with rising levels of stocks had to cope with the carrying costs. Land prices declined as sales of brandy slowed. Since the declines were concentrated at the higher end of the production range, land prices in the Grande Champagne fell at nearly double the rate as those in the Fins Bois. When demand rose again in the early 2000s, growers were slow to catch on, and they were lacking the four-to-five-year-old brandies that composed the heart of a VSOP blend. These shortages were exacerbated by growers not wanting to pay tax liabilities on their brandies, causing land prices to spike. Part of the solution was for the BNIC to introduce a réserve de gestation, which is only allowed to be sold when it reaches the VSOP level of aging (four years), and a réserve climatique, a brandy kept in stainless steel that can be used only in years when yields aren’t met.

Today, Cognac has a syndicate of growers working with a syndicate of merchants, as in Champagne, though the BNIC is not as actively involved in managing the AOP as the CIVC is in Champagne. Instead, the BNIC acts as a moderating body, working to elevate the region. It has modernized its promotional efforts and is working to broaden interest in Cognac through events and education, including La Part des Anges, the International Cognac Summit, and, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the virtual Cognac Connection.

According to the BNIC, in 2021, only about 3% of all Cognac produced was consumed in France. The largest export market by far is the United States, followed by China, Singapore, and the United Kingdom. Of the 223.2 million bottles of Cognac exported in 2021, 115 million were shipped to the United States, and 37 million to China. Of those shipped to the United States, 74.3 million were in the VS category, and 38.2 million in the VSOP category.

Cognac Production

Viticulture

Initially, the Cognac region was planted with Balzac. Though highly productive, this grape was a Mediterranean variety susceptible to late spring frosts and often would not ripen completely. Historically, Colombard was also used to produce Cognac but went primarily into the region’s sweet wines. In the 19^th century, both Balzac and Colombard were replaced by Folle Blanche (also known as Gros Plant). Folle Blanche was ideal for making Cognac, with its acidic, low-alcohol wines producing distillate that was cherished for fine, aromatic bouquets.

Phylloxera, however, signaled the end for Folle Blanche. The Cognacais tried working with hybrids but found that the resulting brandy smelled unpleasant. Eventually, they settled on Ugni Blanc, known in Italy as Trebbiano Toscano. Though it is a late-budding and late-ripening variety, it presents high acidity and delicate aromas at the low alcohol levels required for Cognac’s base wine. Today, 98% of the region is planted with Ugni Blanc. Other permitted varieties are Colombard, Folle Blanche, Montils, Sémillon, and Folignan (a cross between Folle Blanche and Ugni Blanc). Folignan, however, is limited to 10% of any blend. Other varieties, such as Jurançon Blanc, Meslier-St-François, and Sélect, were allowed to be added until the 2020 harvest, so long as the grapes were planted before September 18, 2005.

Cognacais are focused on high-yielding, productive vineyards. The target ABV for Cognac’s base wine is around 8.5% to 9.5%, while yields are generally around 100 hectoliters per hectare—significantly higher than yields for most quality table wine—resulting in about 10 hectoliters per hectare of distillate. The optimum age for vines is around 20 to 30 years, and vines are often dug up after 35 to 40 years. Older vines produce fewer grapes, leading to an increase in potential alcohol and wines that are less suited to Cognac.

With distillation amplifying choices made in the vineyard, viticulture is a key component in Cognac production, but it has been seriously examined only in recent decades. A turning point was the heat waves of 1989, when the hot summer extended into October and resulted in harvests with 11% ABV, extremely quick ferments, and too-powerful apple aromas in the resulting distillate. In modern vineyard layouts, the space between rows has increased to 3 meters, with 1.2 meters between vines, yielding about 3,000 vines per hectare. Growers typically limit fruit buds to 60,000 per hectare, although up to 80,000 per hectare are permitted. Vines are trained to two meters in height on trellises using double Guyot to assist in mechanization, which is nearly universal in Cognac. This combination of factors helps limit hydric stress on the vines, lower alcohol levels, and provide shade for the vines in hotter weather. During the growing season, the amount of work done in the vineyards of Cognac is small when compared with that of a quality winegrowing region—no green harvesting, thinning, or leaf removal is performed. When combined with new pruning methods, yields have been reduced and the quality of distillate has improved. Climate change continues to be an issue, reflected in a shift in harvest dates, from mid-October historically to late September more recently.

Vinification

After rapid mechanical harvesting, winemakers use either traditional horizontal basket presses, the most common presses in Cognac, or modern pneumatic presses to crush the grapes, with yields at about 80%. Using pneumatic presses helps minimize skin contact and influence from the skins and seeds. Once the must is pressed, it will undergo a quick alcoholic fermentation in 100-to-200-hectoliter vats, typically epoxy-lined iron or fiberglass containers, using selected yeasts to help ensure a rapid fermentation, lasting four to eight days. No chaptalization is permitted. Rapid, warm fermentation is desired, as it helps produce the esters that yield the fruity and floral aromas that are prized in Cognac; however, the fermentation must be carefully monitored to ensure that it stays within the range of 20 to 25 degrees Celsius. Ferments that become too warm will not produce enough aromatic esters, while lower-temperature ferments risk an overlap of primary and malolactic fermentation, resulting in ascensence and creating a buildup of acetic acid in the wine. The use of selected yeasts, temperature controls, and nitrogen, when needed, helps ensure steady, rapid fermentation.

One challenge with the vinification process in Cognac is how to stabilize the base wine, as sulfur dioxide cannot be added. Sulfur dioxide encourages yeasts to produce aldehydes, which combine with alcohol during fermentation to create acetal, giving the distillate an unappetizing smell some compare to that of a hospital. Producers must use other methods to ensure a clean base wine for distillation. The natural acidity and low alcohol levels of the grapes have a minor stabilizing effect, but producers must distill the wine before malolactic fermentation begins, as distilling a wine undergoing malolactic fermentation results in unpleasant aromas. A producer might also wait until malolactic fermentation is completed, but since the process does not naturally start until the weather warms in the spring, this approach is not typical.

Distillation

There are two types of distillers in Cognac. A bouilleur de cru, or grower-distiller, is equivalent to a récoltant-manipulant (RM) in Champagne. About one-third of the 4,000 bouilleurs de cru own their own stills, while the rest rely on mobile stills. The second type of distiller is a bouilleur de profession, or professional distiller, who purchases wine, distills it, and then sells the resulting brandy.

Cognac is made through a double distillation process. In the first distillation, the première chauffe, the base wine is turned into what is called the brouillis. This undergoes a second distillation, the bonne chauffe, to final strength. Cognac must be double distilled in a pot still called an alembic Charentais. The basics of the still have been refined over the centuries to create a tool that is perfectly suited to making Cognac. For the première chauffe, base wine is loaded into the cucurbite, which sits above a natural gas flame and is topped with an onion-shaped, truncated cone that provides a chamber for the heated fumes to expand. The heated fumes rise into the chapiteau, then enter the condenser. The chapiteau helps ensure quality by preventing any froth from entering the condenser and becoming part of the final distillate. The size of the chapiteau has a tremendous impact on the final character of the distillate. If it is too large, the resulting spirit can become too neutral in character, so most producers will limit its size to a tenth of the volume of the still. Growers with poor terroir, however, might use this characteristic to their advantage to compensate for lower-quality base wines.

Alembic Charentais (Credit: BNIC)

Once vapors escape the chapiteau, they enter the bec, a long, gently curved tube of copper that sits atop the cucurbite. Historically, this length of copper turned at a severe angle. The change from an angle to a gentler curve, called a col de cygne, became widely popular in the 20^th century and allowed the bec to act as an extension of the chapiteau, helping it prevent froth from entering the condenser. 

The col de cygne then passes through the chauffe-vin, which allows the warm vapors to preheat wine entering the cucurbite. Some producers, like Martell, do not use a chauffe-vin because of the risk of overheating and oxidizing the delicate base wine, but its use does result in a reduced need for gas to heat the cucurbite.

After passing through the chauffe-vin, the vapor continues into the serpentin. In a standard design for the serpentin, the device is placed in the bassiot and snakes down in large circles at five turns per meter while sitting in the bassiot’s water, which acts as a refrigerant. Here the vapors condense into brouillis before it drains into a barrel. Once enough brouillis has been collected, the entire process is repeated in the bonne chauffe, with the brouillis distilled into young, unaged Cognac.

Stills in Cognac are made from copper, a material that is easy to work with, an excellent conductor of heat, and unlikely to be damaged by fire or acidic substances. Copper also fixes the fatty acids in the wine, creating a hazy solid that can be filtered out after the first distillation. It reacts with many undesirable sulfur compounds, ensuring that they do not end up in the final brandy. Yet this reactivity is also the main drawback of using copper; stills typically have a life span of only around 50 years.

Historically, distillation was usually carried out by growers. In the 18^th and 19^th centuries, most stills were able to hold only three hectoliters of base wine and were fired with wood. During this time, wood was one of the biggest expenses for the bouilleurs de cru. It was also difficult to work with, as fires needed to be maintained and stills would be run around the clock during distillation season, which lasts from November through March. In the 19^th century, as the forests of the Bois were cut down, coal began to replace wood. This source of heat allowed for larger stills, but by 1974 the size of the still was averaging only 16 hectoliters. When the region became equipped for natural gas, in the last half of the 20^th century, gas-fueled stills became the standard for Cognac production. This allowed the average modern still to expand to 25 hectoliters. Other methods of heating, such as steam or electricity, are not allowed for Cognac; it must be distilled over an open flame. 

Stills for Cognac use distinctive brick-lined furnaces to produce even heat and avoid a burnt flavor called rimé. Legally, stills for the première chauffe can be built to 140 hectoliters with a 5% tolerance but may be filled with only 120 hectoliters of base wine. Since it is very expensive to have one set of stills for the première chauffe and a second for the bonne chauffe, most stills in the region are built to the specifications for the bonne chauffe, which allow for a still capacity of up to 30 hectoliters with a 5% tolerance, but limit the fill volume to a maximum of 25 hectoliters of brouillis. Additionally, larger stills tend to create a more neutral spirit, so the size of the still helps preserve the individual character of the brandy.

A still in Cognac (Credit: Adobe Stock)

The première chauffe takes up to 12 hours to distill and yields a brouillis that is about 26% to 32% ABV. Typically, the brouillis is drawn off at around 13 to 15 degrees Celsius, a temperature that helps ensure that most fatty acids and other unwanted chemicals have precipitated out of the brouillis. This first distillation can occur with or without the lees—a subject of much debate in the Cognac community. The inclusion of lees can add fatty acids, contributing roundness and depth of flavor to the finished Cognac. Without the lees, the Cognac will be drier and more delicate. Different houses prefer different approaches to lees inclusion. Rémy Martin prefers to use lees for the rich, fruity quality they add and their integration with the oak during aging. Courvoisier will include lees only from undamaged grapes and will use them only in brandies showing a structure broad enough to frame the extra richness. Hennessy and Martell prefer not to use the lees and are instead focused on encouraging a more delicate character.

The bonne chauffe takes up to 14 hours to distill, with 25 hectoliters of brouillis typically yielding about 7 hectoliters of brandy. The first portion that comes out, the têtes, is full of impurities and often set aside. The coeur starts to flow at around 78% ABV and is cut off at around 60% ABV, yielding a brandy at a maximum average ABV of 73.7%. Typically, the coeur is drawn off at 17 to 20 degrees Celsius, since most of the unwanted compounds were removed when the brouillis was distilled. 

At this point, the maître de chai needs to decide when to make the coupe to separate the coeur from the secondes. The coupe is generally made at around 60% ABV, but it can be made at an ABV as low as 52%. A higher ABV helps avoid obvious licorice flavors and other impurities, but the tradeoff is that the higher the ABV, the more neutral the spirit will be. Finding the flavor profile that matches the house style requires a delicate balance. The secondes are usually drawn at 13 to 15 degrees Celsius to help achieve a better selection. The next liquid to trickle out of the still after the secondes is the queues. At this point, very little usable product remains, although the maître de chai can save some of the queues, along with portions of the têtes and secondes, to add back into subsequent distillations. All of these decisions help shape the final character of a Cognac.

Aging

Cognac must be aged in French oak, and producers typically use Tronçais or Limousin oak. Historically, these designations represented the forests where the oak originated, but they are now more generally recognized as styles of oak based on the predominant species of the forest, either sessile or pedunculate. Sessile oak is from the species Quercus petraea, a type of oak with stalkless (or sessile) acorns. Pedunculate oak is the common name for Quercus robur, an oak species with stalked (or pedunculate) acorns. Both species are widely found throughout Europe and hybridize quite frequently.

Tronçais oak tends to be mostly sessile, from very tall, old trees. Its grain is extremely fine, about one millimeter, and its tannins are not as easily extracted as those of Limousin oak, but Tronçais oak does add fine aromas of wood, coconut, and clove. Limousin oak tends to be pedunculate, with a wider grain of about three to four millimeters, which allows it to let more air in and allows for more tannins to be extracted, making it less suitable for cheaper Cognacs, which can absorb too much tannin too quickly. Conversely, this higher concentration of tannins makes Limousin oak ideal for long-aging brandies. Though Tronçais was the first type of oak to be used widely in Cognac, Limousin oak has become the preferred style.

Barrels can be between 270 and 450 liters, but most producers use 350-liter barrels. Once a new barrel is purchased by a producer and filled with brandy, it is stored in a chai. In Cognac, chais are located near the Charente River to take advantage of the humid conditions. Humidity promotes more alcohol loss in the angel’s share without reducing the aromatic content of the brandy, accelerating aging and creating a mellow, rounded Cognac. A drier chai will promote more water loss, leading to a spirit that will retain a youthful character. 

About 2% of the volume of Cognac in a barrel is lost each year because of evaporation, and the spirit develops complexity and richness as a result. In the first year of aging, the brandy loses its boiled taste and starts to turn pale yellow. In the next couple of years, it begins to absorb tannins and lignin from the barrel, and by the fifth year about 10% of the lignin and 20% of the tannins have been absorbed. When the brandy is around 10 years old, the rawness of the wood diminishes, the spirit mellows, and notes of vanilla become most pronounced. At this point, alcohol loss from evaporation has been at about 1% ABV per year, but it slows significantly as the Cognac enters the next five years. In this time, the color deepens and the Cognac begins to develop a complexity in its finish, with more pronounced fruit and floral aromas. By 20 years old, Cognac’s color has become even richer, and the flavor develops a pronounced rancio character—a deep, nutty flavor that is prized in older Cognacs. Rancio character comes from the oxidation of fatty acids in the brandy, which results in a rich and luscious feeling on the palate. After 20 years, rancio character will continue to evolve as aromatic compounds begin to emerge at different rates. Although vanilla, a phenolic aldehyde, tends to be almost completely absorbed after five years, other aldehydes emerge later and oxidize, becoming acetals and contributing to rancio character. Meanwhile, volatile acids, such as acetic acid, continue to build as the brandy is aged and exposed to oxygen. After 50 years, the Cognac will be at an alcoholic strength of around 46% ABV. At any point, a maître de chai can stop the aging process by transferring the brandy to 25-liter glass bonbonnes, but this tends to be done for only the most precious brandies. A producer’s rare and precious brandies, whether they are kept in bonbonnes or barrel, are stored in the paradis (literally “paradise”), the heart of a Cognac chai.

The seven age categories for Cognac

The logistics of aging are a constant challenge for a maître de chai. Most Cognacs are not kept in the same barrel during their entire period of aging. Brandies are typically kept in one-to-three-year-old oak for a year to expose them to an initial dose of tannins before being moved into older casks. Brandies that have been designated to age for 50 years or more are spared exposure to fresh tannins and put into old casks from the start. Other decisions that the maître de chai makes about the use of barrels are influenced by the vintage. If the year is extremely wet or the grapes are very ripe, the resulting brandy can be flabby, so the maître de chai might opt to keep it in new oak longer to help build its structure.

These decisions are aimed toward giving the maître de chai a broad palette from which to assemble the final Cognac. Cognac is a blended product, and while a bottle may carry an indication of age, it refers only to the minimum age of the brandy in the bottle. Vintage Cognac was banned by the BNIC from 1962 to 1987. Although allowed today, it is rare and tends to be produced by smaller houses like Hine and Delamain. Most Cognac falls into the seven age categories outlined by the cahier des charges.

After blending, the brandy must be diluted to a final ABV of 40% or higher. If dilution is done too quickly, it can shock the fatty acids, creating an undesirable, soapy flavor. Instead, the slow process occurs over several stages, with each stage separated by a few months to allow the brandy to rest. Each addition uses either demineralized water or petites eaux, a low-strength brandy diluted to 15% ABV, to avoid shocking the Cognac.

Following dilution, brandies are chilled to minus 9 degrees Celsius and filtered to ensure they will not throw sediment. Cognacs can also be adjusted before bottling by the inclusion of additives. Caramel is often used to ensure consistency of color, while a small amount of sugar, about 1.5 grams per liter, can be used to round out the mouthfeel and amplify flavors. Before 1914, Cognac was regularly darkened and sweetened with burnt sugar syrup. The British were particularly fond of rich, brown brandies and would often use prune juice to color them. Boisé is the final permitted additive. It is made by boiling a mixture including oak chips into a dark syrup that can be added to create the impression of greater oak aging. Boisé is typically added during the early stages of maturation in barrel and is often added regardless of the quality of the brandy. This is a common and historic practice, such that, if boisé were ever banned, it would take generations before Cognac could be free of it.

Cognac and Cocktails

There is some debate as to which Cognac cocktail came first, but the earliest reference seems to be Jerry Thomas’s 1862 book The Bon Vivant’s Companion. Thomas noted several brandy cocktails in his text, including the Japanese Cocktail, the Pousse l’Amour, and the Brandy Crusta, a precursor to the modern Sidecar. Vintage cocktail books like this one are often made up of one-third brandy-based cocktails.

Stanley Clisby Arthur, whose 1937 book Famous New Orleans Drinks and How to Mix ’Em, promoted the mythology of the Sazerac originating in pre–Civil War New Orleans, based on the Sazerac de Forge & Fils brand of Cognac. Cocktail historian David Wondrich, however, disputes this, noting that the first recorded mention of the drink came in March 1899, and that it seemed to be a somewhat novel drink at the time. Regardless of the Sazerac’s origin, the use of Cognac as a cocktail ingredient suffered as phylloxera devastated the region and Cognac became scarce. Even if the origin story of the Sazerac as a Cognac cocktail is true, rye replaced Cognac as the latter became unavailable. In the years following phylloxera, Cognac was not a major player in cocktails. During les trente glorieuses, many firms focused on producing and exporting brandies for the British, who were accustomed to drinking Cognac neat or perhaps with soda. In Asia, meanwhile, Cognac tended to be served on the rocks.

It wasn’t until the modern cocktail renaissance, beginning in the mid-1990s, that Cognac’s history as an ingredient in cocktails was reconsidered. Books such as Straight Up or On the Rocks and Cocktail: The Drinks Bible for the 21^st Century were published as bars such as New York’s Angel’s Share, London’s Dick’s Bar, and San Francisco’s Absinthe opened. There, bartenders were reading old, out-of-print cocktail books and creating cocktail menus that included Cognac as a staple ingredient.

Today, Cognac is conscientiously courting the cocktail movement. The introduction in 2008 of the International Cognac Summit sought to increase Cognac’s profile with bartenders, and the BNIC has led sessions at events such as Tales of the Cocktail. Many Cognac houses now have brand ambassadors specifically tasked with promoting their spirit as an ingredient in cocktails. Some houses have even developed bottlings aimed at the cocktail market, such as Hine’s H by Hine VSOP and Pierre Ferrand Original Formula 1840 *** Cognac, developed with David Wondrich.

Cognac Service

The snifter is the vessel most associated with brandy service. Its name comes from the slang term snift, for a shot of spirits, which derived from a Scottish and northern English sniff, for a drink of liquor. The term did not appear commonly in the English language until the 1930s, when it began to apply to the glass from which the shot was consumed. Large, wide, and squat, the snifter is designed to be cupped in one’s hand, warming the spirit contained inside. To further warm the spirit, stands are sometimes used to prop the snifter above a lit candle.

A snifter (top) and a tulip glass (Credit: Adobe Stock)

Although this type of service might be considered traditional, it is not ideal. The exaggerated bulbous design of a snifter provides a large surface area, allowing a significant amount of alcoholic evaporation. Thus, one’s experience of Cognac in a snifter is primarily a burning sensation from the alcohol, muting the fruit and other characters. Warming the Cognac only exacerbates the intensity of the alcohol. 

In 2009, a BNIC tasting panel settled on the tulip glass as being ideal for tasting Cognac. The basic design consists of a small bulb, narrowing near the top, which allows the aromas to be concentrated. The glass can be either stemmed or stemless, but stemmed is preferred, helping maintain the temperature at which the Cognac is served.

The ideal temperature for Cognac served neat is 18 degrees Celsius (about 64 degrees Fahrenheit), as this is where Cognac’s aromas will seem most in balance with the lift from the alcohol. Younger Cognac can be served colder to help tame the rawness of the spirit, and some firms recommend serving younger Cognac from the freezer when it is being paired with food. Although most purists turn up their noses at the idea, dilution with ice or water can enhance the flavors of a Cognac, especially for rare cask-strength or more intense bottlings.

When tasting, nosing the spirit is the primary method of experiencing the Cognac, especially if you are tasting many Cognacs in succession, since tasting high-proof spirits can quickly tire your palate. It’s best to begin by lifting the glass and spinning it instead of swirling. This will gently release the aromatics in the Cognac and allow assessment of its visual qualities. Then sniff the spirit, first with your nose slightly away from the glass. After a short pause, take another sniff but with your nose in the glass. This allows you to experience the more volatile aromas away from the glass, then to smell the more subtle aromas within the glass. Finally, taste the Cognac and assess the components as you would those of a wine, considering fruit, secondary notes, balance, complexity, and length of finish. When evaluating a Cognac, consider age; terroir; style, which can be related to oak usage; choices made during vinification, such as malolactic fermentation; and decisions made during distillation, such as distilling on the lees.

Bibliography

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Von Olfers, Max. “The 6 Crus of Cognac: Growth Area and Region.” Cognac Expert (blog). May 21, 2018. https://blog.cognac-expert.com/six-zones-cognac-crus-champagne-bois-borderies-fine/.

Wondrich, David. “Is the Sazerac a New Orleans Cocktail?” The Daily Beast. May 5, 2017. https://www.thedailybeast.com/is-the-sazerac-a-new-orleans-cocktail. 

Compiled by Martin Beally (April 2022)

Edited by Sandra Ban and Stacy Ladenburger