| Brandy
& Cognac
is wine that has been distilled. The most important thing
to know is that all Cognac is brandy, but not all brandy is
Cognac. Brandy is made from any fruit anywhere (grapes included).
That is why you see several flavores of brandy like apple,
peach, strawberry, etc. Cognac is only made from grapes grown
in the Cognac region of France. |
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Cognac
uses grapes from Cognac, that are distilled
twice then poured into oak casks made from Limousin or Troncais
oak. Limousin and Troncais are forests in the Cognac region
of France. The aging process is very expensive because almost
60% of the Cognac evaporates. |
| A
term called The Angels Portion or
the Angels Share is associated with the evaporation.
They say that when you visit Cognac, you can actually smell
the evaporating Cognac in the air from the casks below. |
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Popular
Cognac brands are; Courvoisier (core-VAS-see-A)
, Hennessy (HEN-na-see) , Martell (mar-TELL) , and Remy Martin. |
THE KING OF COGNACS
King Louis the XIII
produced by Remy Martin is considered the King of Cognacs.
Only grapes from the Grande Champagne region are used and
it's aged in barrels that are several hundred years old. It
can range in age from 40 to 100 years and it's packaged in
a Baccarat crystal bottle. It sells for $1500 or more and
in bars across the globe it can sell for $120-$300 a serving.
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Every
Cognac bottle is graded
and the grade is put on the label. Maurice Hennessey was the first
to begin a labeling system for Cognacs in 1865. The grades include:
VS
= Very Special also known as three star and aged for a minimum
of 3 years.
VSOP = Very Superior Old Pale also known as five star and ages
for five years.
XO = Extra Old aged for six plus years.
Cognac Facts
| Courvoisier is said to be Napoleon’s
favorite Cognac. In 1869 graned Courvoisier the title of Official
Supplier to the Imperial Court. |
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Grand Marnier is
a Cognac- based orange liqueur that was invented in 1880 by
Louis Alexandre Marnier-Lapostolle. |
Brandy
The
word brandy comes the Dutch word brandewijn, meaning burnt wine.
Brandy has a short stemmed big bowled curvy glass named after
it called a brandy snifter. Another taller stemmed glass is used
in high end bars called a tulip glass.
Spanish
missionaries brought brandy to California.
The most popular grape brandies are; Armagnac, (ar-mahn-YAK) and
Pisco (PEE-skoh) from South America. Armagnac (ar-mahn-YAK) Fine
French Brandy from Gascony. Cognac’s only real rival. Comes
in Three Star, V.S.O.P, Napoleon, Extra, and Hors d’ Age.
Armagnac
is a high-end brandy made from grapes in the Armagnac region of
France.
Armagnac is the oldest distilled wine in France, dating back to
the 1300s It is the only true rival of Cognac.
Only ten varieties of grapes are authorized to be used for Armagnac.
The most popular fruit brandies are; applejack from America, Calvados
(KAL-vah-dohs) apple brandy from France, Framboise (frahm-BWAHZ)
raspberry brandy from France, Kirsch (KEERSH) cherry brandy from
Germany, Poire (PWAHR) a Swiss pear brandy, and Slivovitz (SLIHV-uh-vihts)
a German plum brandy.
Pomace Brandy is made from the residue of wine, stems and seeds.
The most popular are Grappa (GRAHP-pah) from Italy, and Marc from
France.
The most popular drinks made with brandy are; Stinger, Brandy
Alexander, Apricot Sour, Between the Sheets, and Sidecar.
| Some bars only serve 1 1/2 ounces and others
serve 2 ounces pricing accordingly. Still others turn a brandy
snifter on its side and pour until the spirit reaches the
rim then sets back upright. Brandy snifters can range from
5 ounces to 23 ounces. |
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Fortified Wines
Back
in the old days, brandy
was added to wines (fortify) to help preserve them for long sea
voyages. here are some examples of that.
Port
Port is made in the Douro Valley,
which is in North Portugal, however other countries make versions
of it. It was invented out of the need to have wine that could
survive long sea voyages without spoiling. It was the first fortified
wine by adding brandy to it then aged. A proper serving is 2 1/2
-3 ounces.
The
word Port is short for the name of the port townof Oporto, not
Portugal.
The
two basic groups of Port
are wood-aged and bottle-aged. The most popular wood aged ports
found in most bars are tawny and ruby. Ruby is sweeter then tawny.
Popular Port brands are; Sandeman, Lindemans, and Noval.
There
is one difficult factor
about making Port, and that is the growing conditions of the grapes.
The vineyards are located on remote, steep slopes that drop down
to the Douro
River in Portugal. It is by far the most difficult wine-growing
region in the world.
Sherry
Most sherry comes from Jerez, in Southwest
Spain. It also has brandy added to fortify
and preserve it. There are two types of sherry; fino (fee-NO,
light and dry) and oloroso (O-lo-ROW-so, dark and full-bodied).
A proper serving is 2 1/2-3 ounces.
Making
sherry isn’t as cut and dried
as making port. With Port, winemakers just add brandy to prematurely
stop the fermentation of the wine, then age it. Sherry is made
with
the solera system, which is a time-consuming blending of older
wines and younger wines little by little by hand while they’re
aging in the barrels. The wines are also exposed to air as they’re
aging, which is monitored. Another difference is that Sherry is
fortified with a grape-based spirit, but brandy is not.
Popular sherry brands are; Dry Sack and Harvey’s Bristol
Cream.
Madeira
(ma-DEER-uh)
Madeira fortified wine is produced
from grapes grown on southern coast of Madeira
Island, which is about 360 miles west of Morocco in Northern Africa
and 540 miles southwest from Portugal. Portugal has owned it since
only 1974.
The
first thing you should know about Madeira
is that was used to toast the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
Madeira was looked upon as something very magical and special.
To reach the New World, ships had to pass through the tropics
and the heat literally baked the Madeira giving it a soft yet
deep pleasant burnt taste. Soon pipes filled with Madeira were
installed with ship ballasts and sent on tropical voyages. The
heat mixed with the constant rocking made this wine last for years
without spoiling.
Vermouth
Vermouth is a fortified white wine that has a spirit added (usually
brandy) then aromatized with herbs and botanicals like seeds,
plants, flowers, etc. It comes in two types; dry (white) and sweet
(red). Sweet vermouth has caramelized sugar added to make it sweet
and give it its color.
The most popular drinks made with vermouth are a classic Martini
and Manhattan.
Popular brands are; Martini & Rossi (Italy), Cinzano (Italy),
and Noilly Prat (Noy-ee praht, France).
Dubonnet (America) and Lillet (lee-LAY, France) are aperitif wines,
but are often used in the place of vermouth in Martinis. The most
popular Martini that uses Kina Lillet is from Ian Fleming’s
first book, Casino Royale where James Bond asks for a Dry Martini
in a deep Champagne goblet. He says; three measures of Gordon's,
one of vodka, half a measure of Kina Lillet. Shake it very well
until it's ice-cold, and then add a large thin slice of lemon-peel.
Got it?
