In the 18th and 19th centuries, Cognac set out to conquer the world, but it was thanks to the café society in London in the 1700s that Cognac first reached international fame as an after dinner drink or digestive (in France, distilled alcoholic beverages are known as "digestifs", convenient, don't you think?). Therefore, the big trading houses who developed cognac into an internationally recognized liquor were virtually all from the British Isles: Hennessy (Irish), Remy Martin (English), Martell (English), etc... These firms, later, in the age of branding, became the big industrial houses of Cognac.

A few notes about the production of that great "elixir": the areas of principal interest are Grande Champagne and Petit Champagne, taking their name from the Campanian chalk soil, which is very much alike the chalky soil of Champagne. The only permissible grape varieties for the making of Cognac are Ugni Blanc, Colombard or Folle Blanche, which amazingly, if used for winemaking, would make for a very crummy wine! The grapes are brought in the and the juice is fermented, it then goes though double distillation, at the end the product is a colorless, very fruity and flowery infant that is then matured in oak barrels.

At that time, oxidation occurs and evaporation creates what is called "the angels' share": evaporation is between 1 to 2.5% depending on the "chai" (distillation house). One wonders why all the people in town are not walking around like zombies!

In the very end expert cognac makers selectively blend different barrels together to create their particular "house style" of cognac, in fact, some houses like KELT take it a step further: they place the barrels on seafaring ships and take them on around the world trips: back in the 18th and 19th centuries they had noticed that the seas movement, temperature ranges and air pressure changes had many beneficial effects on the cognac, so they perpetuate the custom...

I hope this will entice you to punctuate your fabulous meal at Mille Fleurs or Bertrand at Mister A's with a snifter of Cognac!

A bientôt