Cognac is one of the most "noble" strong alcoholic drinks. It is customary to drink it not in one gulp, but in small sips, in order to feel all the nuances of taste. There are many subtleties in cognac production technology.
Many people in the post-Soviet space still perceive cognac as a cross between vodka and herbal tincture. However, there are also real connoisseurs of this noble drink. No wonder they say that the ability to enjoy its taste increases in proportion to age. And there are more and more types of cognacs on the shelves in stores.
True, in fact, a significant part of the products that are sold today in stores under the name "cognac", in fact, is brandy. The fact is that all over the world cognac is an alcoholic drink made from grapes grown exclusively in one of the six regions of the French province of Cognac, located around the city of the same name.
In France, there is strict legislation governing the process of cognac production, from the grape variety and the borders of the region of its cultivation to the bottling of the noble drink.
So what is real cognac?
For the production of cognac, it is permissible to use only eight white grape varieties, the main of which is Uni Blanc. After harvesting, the grapes are squeezed out and the resulting juice is fermented. On average, the process takes four weeks. Then there is a process of double distillation according to the "Charentes" method. The resulting distillate - "the water of life" - is poured into Limousin oak barrels and kept in cellars for two years. There, in a special microclimate, at a constant temperature of 150 degrees Celsius and humidity up to 950C, cognac spirits interact with wood, enriching their taste and aroma. Over the years, some of the alcohol evaporates through the pores in wood barrels. This loss is romantically called the "angels' share."
The final stage of cognac production is blending - this is the process of mixing cognac spirits, different in age, harvest, region, grape variety, etc., to obtain a blend (taste and aroma) characteristic of a particular brand of cognac.
If on the label of a bottle of cognac there is a marking "aging for 5 years", it means that exactly five years is the minimum age of this cognac. In this case, the blend, as a rule, contains older alcohols. In addition, many cognac houses are raising the age of the cognac spirits in their cognacs to enhance their status. For example, V. S. - make three years old, V. S. O. P. - five or six years old, and X. O. - eight or ten years old.
Is it possible to make cognac at home?
Considering all of the above, it becomes obvious that it is impossible to make cognac at home. Cognac is a product of the distillation of grape alcohols, infused in a special way, and the conditions for this cannot be provided outside of industrial production.
On the Internet you can find recipes for "homemade cognac", but they all boil down, as a rule, to repainting vodka or moonshine with tea and flavoring them with vanilla or cinnamon. These mixtures are usually not infused. Such products, of course, have a right to exist, but they not only have nothing to do with cognac proper, but also does not resemble it either in taste or smell.
