What is cognac?

Cognac is the legally protected name for a wine distillate that meets the French specification of the appellation d’origine contrôlée Cognac.

That name is not a style designation but a legal one. European Regulation 2019/787 determines how spirit drinks may be named and presented and how geographical indications are protected. Within that, the French specification lays down what must be in the bottle.

If cognac is on the label, the distillate is made from wine from the delimited area, distilled by the prescribed method and matured for the prescribed period. A wine distillate from outside that area may not bear the name, however carefully it is made. The names eau-de-vie de Cognac and eau-de-vie des Charentes are protected in the same way.

Cognac may only come from the delimited area around the town of Cognac, which lies mainly in Charente-Maritime and Charente and extends into Dordogne and Deux-Sèvres.

The delimitation goes back to a French decree of 1909 and is still in the specification of the appellation. Within that area lie six crus: Grande Champagne, Petite Champagne, Borderies, Fins Bois, Bons Bois and Bois Ordinaires, which may also be called Bois à terroirs.

Fine Champagne is also permitted as a designation, but it is not a region. It is a blend of Grande and Petite Champagne. The maturation is also tied to the area: the first two years must take place within the boundaries of the area. If you want to know how those regions differ from one another, you will find that on our page about the cognac regions.

Cognac is made by distilling white wine twice in a copper alambic charentais, a still whose specifications prescribe the shape and the method.

The first run yields a rough brouillis. It goes back into the still for the second run, the bonne chauffe, in which the distiller removes the heads and tails and keeps only the middle part.

For the wine, ugni blanc, colombard, folle blanche, montils and sémillon are permitted, with folignan up to a maximum of ten percent of the vineyard area. Ugni blanc is dominant: the specification states that this variety covers almost 98 percent of the vineyard. That variety gives a pale wine with plenty of acidity and little alcohol, so that a lot of wine goes into a liter of distillate. Only wine from the current harvest campaign qualifies, and the distillation must be completed by 31 March of the year after the harvest at the latest.

Before being sold to the consumer, cognac must mature for at least two years without interruption in oak casks, and those first two years take place within the delimited area.

Maturation begins no later than one month after the end of the distilling campaign and takes place exclusively in oak wood. The specification links every age statement on the label to a minimum age, expressed in the French compte system.

Converted into years, it comes down to this: Very Special stands for a minimum of two years, Very Superior Old Pale for a minimum of four years, Extra Old for a minimum of ten years and XXO for a minimum of fourteen years. When placed on the market, a cognac must also contain at least 40 percent alcohol. Lower is not permitted within the appellation.

Cognac, armagnac and brandy are all three wine distillates, but only cognac and armagnac are protected designations of origin with their own French specification.

Brandy is a general designation for spirits distilled from wine. That name says nothing about a region, nothing about a grape variety and nothing about a distillation method. Armagnac comes from Gascony in the south-west of France and falls under its own appellation with its own requirements.

Cognac is thus the most narrowly defined of the three: a delimited area, a fixed list of grape varieties, double distillation in a copper alambic charentais, at least two years in oak and at least 40 percent alcohol. Anyone who sees only the word brandy on a label therefore knows much less about the bottle than someone who sees the word cognac.