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The word
Brandy comes from the Dutch word brandewijn, ("burnt
wine"), which is how the straightforward Dutch
traders who introduced it to Northern Europe from
Southern France and Spain in the 16th century
described wine that had been "burnt," or boiled, in
order to distill it. The origins of Brandy can be
traced back to the expanding Moslem Mediterranean
states in the 7th and 8th centuries. Arab alchemists
experimented with distilling grapes and other fruits
in order to make medicinal spirits. Their knowledge
and techniques soon spread beyond the borders of
Islam, with grape Brandy production appearing in
Spain and probably Ireland (via missionary monks) by
the end of the 8th century. Brandy, in its broadest
definition, is a spirit made from fruit juice or
fruit pulp and skin. More specifically, it is broken
down into three basic groupings.
Grape Brandy is Brandy distilled from fermented
grape juice or crushed but not pressed grape pulp
and skin. This spirit is aged in wooden casks
(usually oak) which colors it, mellows the palate,
and adds additional aromas and flavors.
Pomace Brandy (Italian Grappa and French Marc are
the best-known examples) is Brandy made from the
pressed grape pulp, skins, and stems that remain
after the grapes are crushed and pressed to extract
most of the juice for wine. Pomace Brandies, which
are usually minimally aged and seldom see wood, are
an acquired taste. They often tend to be rather raw,
although they can offer a fresh, fruity aroma of the
type of grape used, a characteristic that is lost in
regular oak-aged Brandy.
Fruit Brandy is the default term for all Brandies
that are made from fermenting fruit other than
grapes. It should not be confused with
Fruit-Flavored Brandy, which is grape Brandy that
has been flavored with the extract of another fruit.
Fruit Brandies, except those made from berries, are
generally distilled from fruit wines. Berries tend
to lack enough sugar to make a wine with sufficient
alcohol for proper distillation, and thus are soaked
(macerated) in high-proof spirit to extract their
flavor and aroma. The extract is then distilled once
at a low proof. Calvados, the Apple Brandy from the
Normandy region of Northwestern France, is probably
the best known type of Fruit Brandy. Eau-de-vie
("water of life") is the default term in French for
spirits in general, and specifically for colorless
fruit brandy, particularly from the Alsace region of
France and from California.
Brandy, like Rum and Tequila, is an agricultural
spirit. Unlike grain spirits such as Whisky, Vodka,
and Gin, which are made throughout the year from
grain that can be harvested and stored, Brandy is
dependent on the seasons, the ripening of the base
fruit, and the production of the wine from which it
is made. Types of Brandies, originally at least,
tended to be location-specific. (Cognac, for
example, is a town and region in France that gave
its name to the local Brandy.) Important
Brandy-making regions, particularly in Europe,
further differentiate their local spirits by
specifying the types of grapes that can be used and
the specific areas (appellation) in which the grapes
used for making the base wine can be grown.
French Brandies: Cognac and Armagnac
Cognac is the best known type of Brandy in the
world, a benchmark by which most other Brandies are
judged. The Cognac region is located on the
west-central Atlantic coast of France, just north of
Bordeaux, in the departments of Charente and
Charente-Maritime. The region is further subdivided
into six growing zones: Grande Champagne, Petite
Champagne, Bois Ordinaries, Borderies, Fins Bois,
and Bons Bois. The first two of these regions
produce the best Cognac and will frequently be so
designated on bottle labels. Cognacs labelled Fine
Champagne are a blend of Petite and Grande
Champagne. The primary grapes used in making Cognac
are Ugni Blanc, Folle Blanche, and Colombard. The
wines made from these grapes are thin, tart, and low
in alcohol; poor characteristics for table wines,
but oddly enough, perfect for making Brandy. Cognac
is double distilled in pot stills and then aged in
casks made from Limousin or Troncais oak. All
Cognacs start out in new oak to mellow the fiery
spirit and give them color. Batches that are chosen
for long-term aging are, after a few years,
transferred to used, or "seasoned," casks that
impart less of the oak flavor notes while the Brandy
matures.
Virtually all Cognacs are a blend of Brandies from
different vintages, and frequently, different
growing zones. Even those from single vineyards or
distilleries will be a mix of Brandies from
different casks. As in Champagne, the production of
local vineyards is sold to Cognac houses, each of
which stores and ages Cognacs from different
suppliers and then employs master blenders to draw
from these disparate Brandies to create continuity
in the house blends. Because there are no age
statements on Cognacs, the industry has adopted some
generally accepted terms to differentiate Cognacs.
It is important to note that these terms have no
legal status, and each Cognac shipper uses them
according to his own criteria. V.S./V.S.P./Three
Star: (V.S., very superior; V.S.P., very superior
pale) A minimum of two years aging in a cask,
although the industry average is four to five years.
V.S.O.P.: (very superior old pale) A minimum of four
years cask aging for the youngest Cognac in the
blend, with the industry average being between 10
and 15 years.
X.O./Luxury:
(X.O., extra old) A minimum of six years aging for
the youngest cognac in the blend, with the average
age running 20 years or older. All Cognac houses
maintain inventories of old vintage Cognacs to use
in blending these top of the line brands. The oldest
Cognacs are removed from their casks in time and
stored in glass demijohns (large jugs) to prevent
further loss from evaporation and to limit
excessively woody and astringent flavors. Luxury
Cognacs are the very finest Cognacs of each
individual Cognac house.
Armagnac is the oldest type of Brandy in France,
with documented references to distillation dating
back to the early 15th century. The Armagnac region
is located in the heart of the ancient province of
Gascony in the southwest corner of France. As in
Cognac, there are regional growing zones: Bas-Armagnac,
Haut Armagnac, and Tenareze. The primary grapes used
in making Armagnac are likewise the Ugni Blanc,
Folle Blanche, and Colombard. But distillation takes
place in the unique alambic Armagnacais, a type of
column still that is even more "inefficient" than a
typical Cognac pot still.
The resulting brandy has a rustic, assertive
character and aroma that requires additional cask
aging to mellow it out. The best Armagnacs are aged
in casks made from the local Monlezun oak. In recent
years Limousin and Troncais oak casks have been
added to the mix of casks as suitable Monlezun oak
becomes harder to find.
Most Armagnacs are blends, but unlike Cognac, single
vintages and single vineyard bottlings can be found.
The categories of Armagnac are generally the same as
those of Cognac (V.S., V.S.O.P., X.O., etc.).
Blended Armagnacs frequently have a greater
percentage of older vintages in their mix than
comparable Cognacs, making them a better value for
the discerning buyer.
Up until the 1970s, portable alembic Armagnacais
mounted on two-wheel carts were hauled among small
vineyards in Armagnac by itinerant distillers called
bouillers de cru. These traveling stills, alas, have
mostly given way to larger fixed-in-place setups
operated by farmer cooperatives and individual
operators.
French Brandy is the catch-all designation for
Brandy produced from grapes grown in other regions.
These Brandies are usually distilled in column
stills and aged in oak casks for varying periods of
time. They are frequently blended with wine, grape
juice, oak flavorings, and other Brandies, including
Cognac, in order to smooth out the rough edges.
Cognac-like quality designations such as V.S.O.P.
and Napoleon are frequently used, but have no legal
standing.
Spanish Brandies
Brandy de Jerez is made by the Sherry houses
centered around the city of Jerez de la Frontera in
the southwest corner of Spain. Virtually all Brandy
de Jerez; however, is made from wines produced
elsewhere in Spain -- primarily from the Airen grape
in La Mancha and Extremadura -- as the local Sherry
grapes are too valuable to divert into Brandy
production. Nowadays most of the distilling is
likewise done elsewhere in Spain using column
stills. It is then shipped to Jerez for aging in
used Sherry casks in a solera system similar to that
used for Sherry wine. A solera is a series of large
casks (called butts), each holding a slightly older
spirit than the previous one beside it. When brandy
is drawn off (racked) from the last butt (no more
than a third of the volume is removed) it is
replenished with brandy drawn from the next butt in
line all the way down the solera line to the first
butt, where newly distilled brandy is added. This
system of racking the brandy through a series of
casks blends together a variety of vintages (some
soleras have over 30 stages) and results in a
speeding up of the maturation process.
Basic Brandy de Jerez Solera must age for a minimum
of six months, Reserva for one year and Gran Reserva
for a minimum of three years. In practice, the best
Reservas and Gran Reservas are frequently aged for
12 to 15 years. The lush, slightly sweet and fruity
notes to be found in Brandy de Jerez come not only
from aging in Sherry casks, but also from the
judicious use of fruit-based flavor concentrates and
oak essence (boise).
Penedès Brandy comes from the Penedès region of
Catalonia in the northeast corner of Spain near
Barcelona. Modeled after the Cognacs of France and
made from a mix of regional grapes and locally-grown
Ugni Blanc of Cognac, it is distilled in pot stills.
One of the two local producers (Torres) ages in
soleras consisting of butts made from French
Limousin oak, whereas the other (Mascaro) ages in
the standard non-solera manner, but also in Limousin
oak. The resulting Brandy is heartier than Cognac,
but leaner and drier than Brandy de Jerez.
Italian Brandies
Italy has a long history of Brandy production
dating back to at least the 16th century, but unlike
Spain or France there are no specific
Brandy-producing regions. Italian Brandies are made
from regional wine grapes, and most are produced in
column stills, although there are now a number of
small artisanal producers using pot stills. They are
aged in oak for a minimum of one to two years, with
six to eight years being the industry average.
Italian Brandies tend to be on the light and
delicate side with a touch of residual sweetness.
Pomace Brandies: Getting to grips with Grappa
Italy produces a substantial amount of Grappa, both
of the raw, firewater variety and the more elegant,
artisanal efforts that are made from one designated
grape type and frequently packaged in hand-blown
bottles. Both types of Grappa can be unaged or aged
for a few years in old casks that will tame the hard
edge of the spirit without imparting much flavor or
color. Marc from France is produced in all of the
nation’s wine-producing regions, but is mostly
consumed locally. Marc de gewürztraminer from Alsace
is particularly noteworthy because it retains some
of the distinctive perfumed nose and spicy character
of the grape. California pomace Brandies from the
United States are broadly in the Italian style and
are usually called Grappas, even when they are made
from non-Italian grape varieties. This is also true
of the pomace Brandies from Canada.
German Brandies
German monks were distilling Brandy by the 14th
century and the German distillers had organized
their own guild as early as 1588. Yet almost from
the start, German Brandy (called weinbrand ) has
been made from imported wine rather than the more
valuable local varieties. Most German Brandies are
produced in pot stills and must be aged for a
minimum of six months in oak. Brandies that have
been aged in oak for at least one year are called
uralt or alter (meaning "older"). The best German
Brandies are smooth, somewhat lighter than Cognac,
and finish with a touch of sweetness.
United States Brandies
Brandy production in California dates back to the
Spanish missions in the late 18th and early 19th
centuries. In the years following the Civil War,
Brandy became a major industry, with a substantial
export trade to Europe by the end of the century.
For a time Leland Stanford, founder of Stanford
University, was the world’s largest brandy producer.
Phylloxera and National Prohibition almost shut down
the industry in the 1920s.
Repeal started things up again, but as with the
bourbon industry, the advent of World War II
resulted in the brandy producers further marking
time. Soon after the end of the war the industry
commissioned the Department of Viticulture and
Oenology at the University of California at Davis to
develop a prototype "California-style" brandy. It
had a clean palate, was lighter in style than most
European Brandies, and had a flavor profile that
made it a good mixer. Starting in the late 1940s,
the California brandy producers began to change over
to this new style.
Contemporary California Brandies are made primarily
in column stills from table grape varieties such as
the Thompson Seedless and Flame Tokay, although a
handful of small new-generation Cognac-inspired pot
distillers, such as Jepson and RMS, are using the
classic Ugni Blanc, Colombard, and Folle Blanche
grapes. California Brandies are aged for two to 12
years in used American oak (both Brandy and Bourbon
casks) to limit woodiness in the palate, although
the pot distillers also use French oak. Several
California distillers, most notably Korbel, have
utilized the Spanish solera method of maturing their
Brandy. California Brandies do not use quality
designations such as V.S.O.P. or stars. The more
expensive brands will usually contain a percentage
of older vintages and pot-distilled Brandies in the
blend.
Latin American Brandies
In Mexico a surprising amount of wine is made, but
it is little known outside of the country because
most of it is used for Brandy production. Mexican
Brandies are made from a mix of grapes, including
Thompson Seedless, Palomino, and Ugni Blanc. Both
column and pot stills are used in production whereas
the solera system is generally used for aging.
Brandy now outsells tequila and rum in Mexico.
South American Brandies are generally confined to
their domestic markets. The best known type is Pisco,
a clear, raw Brandy from Peru and Chile that is made
from Muscat grapes and double-distilled in pot
stills. The resulting Brandy has a perfumed
fragrance and serves as the base for a variety of
mixed drinks, including the famous Pisco Sour.
Other Brandies from around the world
Greece produces pot-distilled Brandies, many of
which, such as the well-known Metaxa, are flavored
with Muscat wine, anise, or other spices. Winemaking
in Israel is a well-established tradition dating
back thousands of years. But Brandy production dates
back only to the 1880s when the French Jewish
philanthropist Baron Edmond de Rothschild
established what has become the modern Israeli wine
industry along French lines. Israeli brandy is made
in the manner of Cognac from Colombard grapes, with
distillation in both pot and column stills and
maturation in French Limousin oak casks. In the
Caucasus region, along the eastern shore of the
Black Sea, the ancient nations of Georgia and
Armenia draw on monastic traditions to produce rich,
intensely flavored pot still Brandies both from
local grapes and from such imported varieties as
Muscadine (from France), Sercial and Verdelho (most
famously from Madeira). South Africa has produced
Brandies since the arrival of the first Dutch
settlers in the 17th century, but these early
spirits from the Cape Colony earned a reputation for
being harsh firewater (witblits, white lightning,
was a typical nickname). The introduction of modern
production techniques and government regulations in
the early 20th century gradually led to an
improvement in the quality of local Brandies. Modern
South African Brandies are made from Ugni Blanc,
Colombard, Chenin Blanc, and Palomino grapes,
produced in both pot and column stills, and aged for
a minimum of three years in oak.
Apple and Other Fruit Brandies
Normandy is one of the few regions in France that
does not have a substantial grape wine industry.
Instead it is apple country, with a substantial
tradition of producing hard and sweet cider that in
turn can be distilled into an Apple Brandy known as
Calvados. The local cider apples, which tend to be
small and tart, are closer in type to crab apples
than to modern table apples. This spirit has its own
appellations, with the best brands coming from
Appellation Controlee Pays d’Auge near the Atlantic
seaport of Deauville, and the rest in 10 adjacent
regions that are designated Appellation Reglementee.
Most Pays d’Auge and some of the better Appellation
Reglementee are produced in pot stills. All
varieties of Calvados are aged in oak casks for a
minimum of two years. Cognac-style quality and age
terms such as V.S.O.P. and Hors d’Age are frequently
used on labels, but have no legal meaning. In the
United States, Applejack, as Apple Brandy is called
locally, is thought by many to be the first spirit
produced in the British colonies. This colonial
tradition has continued on the East Coast with the
Laird’s Distillery in New Jersey (established in
1780 and the oldest distillery in America). Apple
Brandies that are more like eau-de-vie are produced
in California and Oregon.
The fruit-growing regions of the upper Rhine River
are the prime eau-de-vie production areas of Europe.
The Black Forest region of Bavaria in Germany, and
Alsace in France, are known for their Cherry
Brandies (Kir in France, Kirschwasser in Germany),
Raspberry Brandies (Framboise and Himbeergeist), and
Pear Brandies (Poire). Similar eaux-de-vies are now
being produced in the United States in California
and Oregon. Some Plum Brandy is also made in these
regions (Mirabelle from France is an example), but
the best known type of Plum Brandy is Slivovitz,
which is made from the small blue Sljiva plum
throughout Eastern Europe and the Balkans. |
