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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.
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