In Western France, the districts of Cognac and Armagnac produce a portion of the world’s most adored grape brandies. In spite of the fact that they share proximity—Cognac against the Atlantic, north of Bordeaux, about 90 minutes from landlocked Armagnac toward the south—they produce two altogether different styles of brandy distinguished by history, grapes, soil, technique and maturing.
What is Cognac?
Cognac is a brandy explicitly produced using wine in the Cognac region of France. The essential grape used to make Cognac is Ugni Blanc, however, littler measures of Folle Blanche (additionally called Picpoul) and Colombard are permitted.
Since it, outskirts ocean ports, brandy from Cognac has consistently been progressively prominent and commercially accessible. England was a significant early destination for the spirit during the 1700s. A large number of the legacy marks in Cognac are named for foreigners like Richard Hennessy, an Irish trader, and Thomas Hine, an Englishman who married into a family with a distillery.
As opposed to French wine, Cognac is as yet known by its brands, as opposed to individual producers or estates. The four greatest houses, Hennessy, Courvoisier, Rémy Martin and Martell, are worldwide substances whose bottles are found behind practically any bar. Be that as it may, the majority of generation is contracted from producers everywhere throughout the region. A considerable lot of these grape growers and distillers work with various brands. Some additionally bottle their own Cognac.
What is Armagnac?
Armagnac is progressively rustic underway, which brings about a full-seasoned brandy that importer Charles Neal, of Charles Neal Selections, calls “a bit increasingly… forward and punchy.” The brandy used to create Armagnac was made historically by roving distillers. Stills close by, they would travel to farms in the hinterlands, enabling the farmers to make brandy from their wine without purchasing equipment of their own.
The major distinction among Cognac and Armagnac is the distillation. While Cognac is twice distilled utilizing a pot still, Armagnac undergoes column distillation, however very different from the large, modern mechanical stills regularly used to produce neutral spirits like vodka.
“These are column stills that are 15 plates or less,” says Leonardo Comercio, sales manager for PM Spirits, a shipper that represents considerable authority in brandy. “They are not there to strip and transfer raw material into the neutral distillate. They purify it and give it a high aromatic tone that would, in any case, a delightful distillate before it even goes into the barrel.”
