Reviews

Cognac science
«Vinnaya Karta» №10(101) December 2008

If you know your wine and want to know your cognac, I suggest you forget about the system of values for the former and start from a blank sheet.

Certainly, good wines and cognacs have a lot in common: both are made from grapes, both carry the idea of a place of origin and demonstrate the skill of people who created the product. Yet, there are many differences between the wine and the cognac worlds, and they are not only about production know-how. It is important to remember that winemakers and cognac masters have differing philosophy and work approaches. I recently saw it for myself, during the first trip around the Cognac region.

Beautiful Charente

Foreign guests usually arrive to Cognac, first having landed in Bordeaux airport. The easiest way to get to the final destination is by car. You get on the ring road, cross a huge bridge, leaving behind Bordeaux traffic jams, and then head north on the motorway. It takes about an hour and a half to get to Cognac.

The first and rather precise impression of the region is made once you turn from a motorway on a usual road. The landscapes are much nicer than those in Bordeaux. It is not a boring flat grey plain, but softly rolling low hills, making a pleasant sight. There are some parcels with whitish chalky soils that are typical for best Cognac vineyards. Stone Roman churches, a famous sightseeing attraction of the Charente area, can be seen here and there. The river is not as wide as the Dordogne that you cross outside Bordeaux. There are no big ships on the Charente — it looks almost tame, with its soft slow flow, coloured fishing boats and lovely low banks, often hidden behind trees and bushes.

My favourite river view of the Charente is in Jarnac. After a narrow stretch of road squeezed by trees or houses on both sides, opens a beautiful vista. A stone bridge is in the front, a strict line of classical two-storey houses on the embankment is to the left across the river. One of them belongs to Maison Hine. To the right of the bridge, on the same embankment is a richly decorated baroque-style Chateau Courvoisier. It is followed by two twin buildings in a laconic modern design, with clean rectangular shapes and huge glass windows, behind which rows of barrels are seen. These are the Courvoisier cellars. The river is then split in two, and there is a well kept park in the middle. The picture is unforgettable if it is first seen in the twilight. General view is not absorbed by the darkness yet, while architectural details are nicely lit up.

This place in Jarnac is a suitable symbol for the entire Cognac industry. Thanks to the Charente, local wines and later eau-de-vies and aged brandies conquered international markets. Exports brought wealth and prosperity, as well as international fame.

Cognac jargon

Before digging deep into the process of cognac making, it is important to learn the language which Cognac producers use. There are many special words in their professional vocabulary. There are also terms used by winemakers, but having a different meaning when applied to cognac production.

Let’s take a cru, for example. In Bordeaux it means a vineyard owned by an estate (like in a famous Bordeaux classification of crus from the first to the fifth classes). In Cognac a cru is a sub-region within a general appellation Cognac AOC. There are six in total — Grande and Petite Champagne, Borderies, Fins Bois, Bons Bois and Bois Ordinaires. If we draw a parallel, the equivalents of Cognac crus in Medoc would be Saint Estephe, Pauillac, Margaux and others.

Winegrowers-winemakers in Cognac wouldn’t normally bottle and market their production. Instead, they sell base wine or spirit (eau-de-vie) to large Cognac houses which, in fact, work as negociants. Small growers who distil wine are called bouilleurs de crus. There is a growing interest to such independent producers, especially if they age and sell their cognac themselves. However, one should remember that a total share of their products on the market is negligible.

There is also a special vocabulary to describe the process of distillation. Wine is distilled in a still adapted for obtaining a spirit of a certain quality, suitable for the birth of a future cognac. It is called a Charentais still. It is easily recognised by a traditional onion-shaped head. This type of head is used in other types of stills, but the Charentais is slightly different from the others.

The liquid after the first distillation is known as brouillis, and the second stage is called bonne chauffe. I won’t discuss the technological process, as it is well known, but later we will talk about how certain stages can influence the style of a finished product.

All cognacs have birthday on the same date — 1 April. This is not a joke. According to the rules, distillation can be done only until 31 March of the year following the harvest. Then eau-de-vies are moved to age in barrels. Even if an eau-de-vie gets in a barrel before the date, the official time count known as compte will start from the 1st of April. The easiest way to understand this system is to think of a cognac as a human being. Vinification and distillation are the prenatal period (compte 00), moving an eau-de-vie to a barrel is akin to cognac birth (compte 0). After 12 months a young cognac celebrates one year (compte 1), then — 2 and so on. So, when the age of cognac is mentioned, it is counted as a compte, but not from the vintage.

As Hine cellar master Eric Forget likes to say, “It’s quite simple”. It is indeed, once you know all production secrets.

Vineyards come first

Production process is the same, yet cognacs from different houses have distinct individual taste. How can this be explained? There are many reasons — raw materials, distillation conditions, aging environment and, finally, a certain style to which a company has historically adhered to.

Grapes are the first pre-requisite of success. Vineyards designated for cognac production grow on around 75,000 hectares. Natural and climatic conditions cannot be the same on such a vast territory. Only four out of six crus have a potential for high quality cognacs — Grande and Petite Champagne, Borderies and Fins Bois. Leading Cognac houses work only with grapes from these areas, but not necessarily with all of them. Hennessy, for instance, uses harvest from all four crus, while Rémy Martin — only from Grande and Petite Champagne.

There are known links between a place where vineyards are located and qualities of a cognac. Grande and Petite Champagne yield the longest lived, well structured examples. They are particularly refined in Grande Champagne, if shy on aromas when young. Cognacs from Borderies and Fins Bois are used for categories with shorter aging, especially VS, while Grande and Petite Champagne are reserved for longer aged cognacs — VSOP, XO and other special designations, but there are no strict rules. Cordon Bleu by Martell, one of the best selling premium cognacs, is made mostly from the Borderies eau-de-vies, and rare Initiale Extra by Courvoisier, with an average age of eau-de-vies over 50 years, is blended from Grande Champagne and Borderies.

Vineyard ownership is not obligatory for large Cognac companies. Some buy all grapes by contracts. If there are vineyards in use, their size is relatively small. Companies with own vineyards like to use a statement, “Our vineyards cover X% of our production needs”. Then one can solve mathematical problems. Rémy Martin has 4 estates owning 200 hectares of vineyards. They cover between 1 and 2% of the company’s needs. How many hectares of vineyard does Rémy Martin need in total? Or another one. Hine has 70 hectares which account for 22% total needs. How much smaller than Rémy Martin is Hine?

Frapin is an only sizeable company that relies solely on own grapes (in fact, it is the largest bouilleur de crus in Cognac). It owns 216 hectares of vineyards in Grande Champagne, known as a premier grand cru du Cognac. The cellars are located in Segonzac, the centre of this prestigious cru. No need to say that the most detailed information about vineyards and base wine for Cognac production our journalist group got in Frapin, from technical director Patrice Piveteau. He’s been with the company for 17 years.

It is important to understand the difference between a ‘normal’ wine and the one for distillation. The latter is a transitional product, its taste is not suited to our idea of a good wine. It is light, low in alcohol (the ideal level is 8-9%), and very acidic. Acidity provides structure for a future cognac. For this reason grapes are picked only slightly ripe, at early stages of maturity. Production rules for base wines are much stricter than for usual ones. Grapes are pressed only in certain types of presses, and it is forbidden to add sugar to musts. Winemakers don’t use sulphur (even when its levels are negligible in wine, they considerably increase with distillation), but rely on a wine’s acidity to protect it from oxidation.

Quite a few white varieties were cultivated in Cognac before phylloxera, but nowadays 90% of all vineyards are planted to a well suited Ugni Blanc. As for other grapes, Folle Blanche is of interest. It gives elegance to cognac. Unfortunately, Folle Blanche is highly susceptible to rot. Winemakers say that only one vintage of ten is successful for this grape, so very few are prepared to take the risk. Three years ago a new grape called Folignan was permitted. It is a cross between Ugni Blanc and Folle Blanche, and winemakers believe it has a good potential.

Tested by fire

Distillation is the next key stage. People can exercise more control over this and the following processes, than over grape growing, as the influence of the natural elements is cut to a minimum. Distillation masters know how to add certain qualities to a future cognac so that later it can develop them into signature traits.

First distillation is unremarkable unless we mention that different volumes of wine are distilled by different companies. In Martell, for example, the volume is quite large, at 10,000 litres. An important decision that a company has to take is whether to use filtered or unfiltered (on lees) wine. It wouldn’t be correct to say that one is better or worse than the other, although distilling wines on lees is more labour intensive. Eau-de-vies have different aromatic characteristics depending on the type of wine. If a wine is filtered, an eau-de-vie has a light, refined bouquet. When a wine on lees is distilled, an eau-de-vie receives richness and complexity. Martell works with filtered wines, while Frapin, Rémy Martin and Hennessy — with wines on lees.

During the second distillation there is only one permitted volume — 2,500 litres of brouillis at a total capacity of a still at 3,000 litres. There is a nuance concerning the first and the last fractions. They are not thrown away after distillation, but returned either to a base wine or brouillis. Where exactly, depends on a producer. Both options are common, but distillation masters cannot come to an agreement which one is better. Some think that if the fractions are added to a base wine, they increase its alcoholic strength, which is undesirable. Their opponents don’t find problems with it in practice.

Oak aging

The famous cognac bouquet is formed during aging in oak barrels. The Cognac industry appears to be even more demanding for the quality of oak than the wine industry. It may be one of the reasons why leading French coopers are based in Cognac. In order to ensure the quality of oak, some houses, such as Courvoisier, own parts of forests. In others cellar masters work in a close contact with barrel makers.

A lion’s share of barrels is made from Limousin and Tronçais oak. The use of local wood was obligatory before the World War I. Thus France was trying to secure its trade channels from Germany. Today a small percentage of oak from other places is used, but it should be similar to the French in technical parameters. One commonly talks about Limousin and Tronçais types of oak. Tronçais is fine grained, with soft tannins. Air penetrates through it very slowly, so Tronçais is more often used for long aging. Limousin oak, on the contrary, has medium pores and facilitates a quicker evolution of an eau-de-vie. Limousin gives more tannins and power than Tronçais. Choice of wood is another very important decision than affects the final quality of cognac. Each producer has own preferences.

Volume of barrels varies between 270 and 450 litres, but the best eau-de-vies with a potential for long evolution are stored in 500-550 litre tierçons. As Rémy Martin international ambassador Dominic Jousson notes, it is possible to know an approximate cognac age just by looking at a barrel.

There are no regulations in Cognac to control how much eau-de-vie should be kept in a producer’s cellar (port shippers, for example, can sell only a third of total stocks each year), but the companies have to keep huge volumes of eau-de-vies at various ages. Rémy Martin, for example, owns 26 cellars, and the stocks of Frapin, considered as a small company in Cognac, are equivalent to 4 million bottles.

Good eau-de-vies develop for several decades. It is commonly accepted that their evolution lasts for 50-60 years, though Hennessy, for instance, has tierçons with eau-de-vies dated 1900 which haven’t finished their development. When aged eau-de-vies reach their evolutionary peak, they are moved to large glass bottles, to preserve unique aromas and flavours. They are later used in premium and rare blends. Every house has a “paradise” where such bottles are kept. Hennessy owns the largest stock of precious old eau-de-vies, dating back to 1800.

Maison Hine has preserved an original aging method known as early landed. Following the 19th century tradition, some eau-de-vies from great vintages are aged in Bristol. Due to high levels of humidity, evolution in the English cellars is slower, and cognacs retain more freshness, fruitiness and elegance than the same eau-de-vies aged in Jarnac.

Cognac artists

Unlike with wine, where vintage variations are particularly appreciated, cognac implies indissoluble consistency of style from one year to another. For each new batch Cognac cellar masters have to make a new recipe in order to create a cognac, whose aromas and flavours are identical to the previous one. In this respect master blenders can be compared to talented artists who can recreate a single palette by using each time different shades of colour. Every Cognac house has own style, own flavour “palette”: Hine — fine elegance, Frapin — graceful aristocratism, Courvoisier — lush forms, Hennessy — power and richness.

The cellar master is the second most important person in a Cognac company after the owner. He is “the memory, the nose and the palate of the house”, as they say in Hennessy. It takes at least 10 years to learn how to taste and understand cognacs professionally. In Rémy Martin, the cellar master is a woman. Pierrette Trichet had worked for 30 years in the company cellars before she was appointed as cellar master in 2003. In Hennessy, Yann Fillioux represents the seventh generation of a family whose members have worked as cellar masters with the company since 1800.

A cognac blend is made following several operations. Firstly, a base is created, on which finer aromas and flavours are layered. The number of eau-de-vies can vary from several dozen to several hundreds. Among rare and prestigious labels, Hine Triomphe is made from over 50 Grand Champagne eau-de-vies. Hennessy Paradis Extra, as well as Martell Cordon Bleu, are blended with 200 eau-de-vies of different ages, while Remy Martin Louis XIII — with 1,200.

These are just a few insights in the cognac production process — which is nothing short of a science. A proper cognac tasting has just as many secrets, but we’ll talk about them some other time.