What is pineau des charentes?

Pineau des charentes consists of fresh grape must whose fermentation is stopped by adding cognac to it.

That operation is called mutage. The cahier des charges of the AOC prescribes that the eau-de-vie is a cognac with an appellation of at least 60 percent alcohol, and that it comes from an earlier distilling season. Because fermentation is stopped before the sugar has been converted, the sweetness of the grape stays in the glass. Pineau is thus neither a distilled drink nor an ordinary wine, but a vin de liqueur.

Pineau des Charentes has at least 16 and at most 22 percent alcohol by volume at the end of production.

That is more than wine and far less than cognac itself. The strength comes from the added eau-de-vie: it brings the must above the limit at which the yeast stops working in one go. The percentage is always on the label.

The minimum maturation depends on the colour: blanc 18 months, rouge 12 months and rosé 8 months.

The cahier des charges requires part of this on oak: at least 12 months for blanc, 8 months for rouge and 6 months for rosé. The rest of the time may be in other casks. White pineau therefore has the longest road to travel before it can go into the bottle.

Vieux means more than seven years on oak; Très Vieux and Extra Vieux mean more than twelve years.

Those periods are in the cahier des charges and apply to the time in oak casks, not to the time in the bottle. A Vieux Pineau has therefore spent considerably longer in wood than the eighteen months that are the minimum for white pineau.

Pineau des Charentes comes from the cognac region in western France.

The cahier des charges names 739 municipalities, in whole or in part, in the départements of Charente-Maritime, Charente, Dordogne and Deux-Sèvres. That is the same area as the AOC Cognac, which is logical: the eau-de-vie that stops the must has to be cognac.

Thirteen grape varieties are permitted for white pineau, and four black varieties for rosé and rouge.

For blanc these are cabernet franc, cabernet-sauvignon, colombard, folle blanche, jurançon blanc, merlot blanc, merlot noir, meslier saint-françois, montils, sauvignon, sémillon, trousseau gris (at most 10 percent) and ugni blanc. For rosé and rouge, cabernet franc, cabernet-sauvignon, cot and merlot noir are permitted.

With 16 to 22 percent alcohol, pineau does not behave like a spirit once opened; we recommend putting the bottle in the fridge and not leaving it standing for months.

For spirits of forty percent the headspace in the bottle is hardly a problem. With a vin de liqueur of seventeen percent oxygen works faster, as with port and madeira. We do not give a fixed period: that depends on the colour and the style of the bottle. Drop by at Brink 2 if you want to know what is in your bottle.