The story of cognac,
one of the world's most refined and expensive drinks, begins, oddly enough,
with spoiled wine.
As early as the 13th century, Dutch merchants shipped casks of wine from
French vineyards throughout northern Europe. But the wine often spoiled
during long voyages. In the 1500s, the Dutch solved the problem by distilling
the wine before shipment, creating brandijwin, or burnt wine, a form of
brandy. A century later, the French found an even better solution. They
distilled the wine twice and then aged it in oak casks. The resulting
drink had a smoother, rounder taste than brandy—and voilà!
Cognac was born.
America also plays a role in cognac's history. In 1875, a phylloxera plague
decimated vineyards across France. The diseased French vines were replaced
with more resistant American stock, and the industry was rescued. To this
day the town of Cognac is twinned with Denison in Texas from where the
phylloxera resistant vines originated
Since the 1930s, the French government has strictly limited cognac production
to six areas in Poitou-Charentes around the towns of Cognac and Jarnac,
about 100 miles north of Bordeaux. Under French law, which applies throughout
the European Union—but not in the U.S.—a beverage cannot be
called cognac unless it comes from this region. The world's leading producers,
including Hennessy, Courvoisier, Martell and Rémy Martin all are
based here. Maturing cognac is placed in casks made from oak grown in
specially designated French forests. Cognac is graded according to the
length of aging: VS (very special) for a minimum of two years, VSOP (very
superior old pale) for at least four years, and XO (extra-old) for at
least six years. A great cognac is aged even longer, sometimes for more
than 100 years. The Bar Hemingway in the Hôtel Ritz Paris, boasts
a circa-1865, pre-phylloxera cognac. It can be ordered in a cocktail,
the Sidecar, for a mere $540.
Many hundreds of small family-run cognac producers
are also dotted around Cognac and Jarnac. Most producers, large and small,
offer tours of their distilleries and cognac tastings. The small producers
will generally explain that theirs is the true cognac because it is not
blended to taste as is the case with their larger well-known competitors.
The same is often said of the single and blended whiskies of Scotland.
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