Why is there no year on a bottle of cognac?

Almost every bottle of cognac carries an age class: VS from two years of maturation, VSOP from four years and XO from ten years.

Those classes are laid down in the regulations of the appellation. VS stands for Very Special, VSOP for Very Superior Old Pale and XO for Extra Old.

Besides these three there are house names and additional designations that differ from house to house. The three classes mentioned are the designations that appear on most bottles.

A cognac house blends eaux-de-vie from several years in order to deliver the same taste every year, regardless of how the harvest turned out.

Viticulture has good and less good years. By blending dozens of lots of different ages and from different crus, the cellar master keeps the house style constant.

A vintage year on the label would make that impossible. A millésime can only be bottled once, whereas a house style has to be on the shelf again every year.

The youngest eau-de-vie in the bottle determines the age class, even if there are many older lots in the blend.

The European regulation on spirit drinks prescribes that a maturation period on the label may only refer to the youngest alcoholic component. An XO that also contains thirty-year-old eau-de-vie therefore remains simply an XO.

For the buyer that means: the class gives a lower limit, not an average. What exactly is in the bottle is determined by the cellar master.

Cognac must mature for at least two years in oak casks before it may be sold as cognac, and have at least 40 percent alcohol.

Distillation is tied to a date: it must be finished by 31 March of the year after the harvest at the latest. After that, maturation in cask begins to count.

Adding sugar and sulphite during fermentation is forbidden. The base wine is distilled twice, in two successive runs, and comes mainly from the Ugni Blanc grape, accounting for more than 98 percent of plantings.

Yes. A millésime cognac comes from a single harvest year and carries that year on the label.

Such bottles are rare, because the batch must be kept separate from the harvest onwards and must be recorded separately. A house cannot adjust with it either if the year disappoints.

Naast een jaartal komt u aanduidingen tegen die naar een cru verwijzen. De appellation kent zes crus: Grande Champagne, Petite Champagne, Borderies, Fins Bois, Bons Bois en Bois Ordinaires. NIX18: alcohol wordt niet verkocht aan mensen onder de achttien.