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Cognac Production

After the grapes destined to become base wine for Cognac are harvested, they are immediately pressed and fermented, and distillation must be completed by March 31 of the following year. By law, all Cognac must be distilled twice in a copper Charentais pot still. To begin the first distillation, the wine is placed in the head of the still, where a boiler heats the wine to the point at which the solution vaporizes. The vapor (which includes ethyl alcohol along with acids and congeners) rises and collects in the head of the still and searches for a place to escape, just like a teakettle; its only exiting point is a hole that leads to a curved pipe called a swan’s neck. Gravity then pulls the vapor downward through another pipe coiled within a holding tank filled with cold water. There it reconverts to a liquid known as the brouillis with an alcohol content of 28-32%. Several batches of brouillis are returned to the boiler to be distilled a second time, and here the distiller must make some crucial judgments. The first liquids to emerge from the still, known as the têtes or heads, usually contain such high levels of impurities that they are discarded. Likewise, the wine that takes the longest to distill and emerges last, the secondes or second cuts as well as the queue or tails, is normally too weak and stripped of flavor to contribute to the spirit. The coeur or heart of the distillate (about 40% of the brouillis by volume) alone becomes Cognac and is retained. This colorless spirit has an alcohol content of 67-72%, and is immediately transferred to oak casks.

The oak casks in Cognac are sourced from the Limousin and Tronçais forests, and are traditionally 350L in size. Within the barrel, the spirit undergoes several key changes, extracting color and aroma from the wood and taking on the rancio flavor of candied fruits and nuts that comes from slow oxidation. Because it enters the barrels at about 140 Proof, the alcohol content of the maturing Cognac must be gradually reduced by the addition of distilled water or petites eaux, a mixture of distilled water and finished Cognac around 30% ABV. These additions usually occur once or twice a year, but over longer periods of time, the angel’s share of evaporation through pores in the oak will also reduce the volume and alcohol content. When the spirit reaches 40-42% ABV, it is ready to be bottled, and at this point, the distiller can add any of four permitted additives to create the final blend: water, sugar syrup, caramel, or boisé, a brown liquid made by boiling and reducing oak chips.