The best cognacs of the world and Russia: a brief overview

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

What is cognac and how does it differ from other strong and fortified alcoholic beverages - the same brandy, for example? It is made by double distillation of dry wine and long-term aging of the product in oak barrels. What happens then: the best cognacs can be produced anywhere, if only the vines would grow? But no! No matter how highly developed winemaking is in a particular country, not all vines give a good product for this aromatic drink.

Even if the manufacturer has not deviated one iota from the classical manufacturing technology, its products still cannot be called the same as those created in the French province of Charente, where the drink once originated and still flourishes.

The small town of Cognac, which gave the name to the distillate, rose solely on the production and marketing of products from nearby vineyards. And according to the decree of 1909, adopted in France, only that drink, the raw materials for which are grown in the Charente department, can be called cognac. There are many excellent vineyards in the world. But the best cognacs are still created in France. It is here, even only here, in the west of the country, that a real, authentic drink can be born. Therefore, cognacs made in other regions of thiscountries are called armagnacs, vinacs or simply brandy.

The best French cognacs are sold in limited editions, in intricate crystal and even gold bottles. Their prices are outrageous, you know. By the way, the most expensive one that got into the Guinness Book on this occasion was Henri IV Dudognon. Bottle sold for $2,000,000!

For its manufacture, spirits of a hundred years of exposure were used. In fairness, it should be mentioned that the packaging also played a very, very significant role in pricing - the bottle is made of gold and platinum, moreover, it is decorated with six and a half thousand diamonds. But the average consumer should know that the best French cognacs have the following abbreviations on their labels: V. V. S. O. P. (which stands for Very-Very Superior Old Pale) Yu and H. O. (Extra Old). Names such as Napoleon, Hors d'Age, Vieille Reserve and Tres Vieux also mean that the distillate has been aged in oak barrels for at least six years.

But we don't live in France, but we want to try good inexpensive cognac. How to choose it? Of course, the phrase “Russian cognac” is similar to guinea pigs: these rodents have nothing to do with pigs or the ocean. So it is with the products of our distilleries. It can be attributed to cognacs only with a big stretch. But if you still want to support a domestic manufacturer, choose the names regulated by GOST of Russia.

According to this document, aging years are marked with asterisks. Butgood Russian products do not have stars: on its label there is KV (which stands for “aged cognac” - at least eight years) or KVVK - the last two letters mean “Highest Quality”. This one is nine or ten years old. And the best cognac in Russia is KS and OS - old and very "ancient". This abbreviation guarantees that spirits have been aged in oak barrels for at least ten and twenty years, respectively.