My World of Brandy

  What is Armagnac? Armagnac is a brandy produced in the Armagnac region in Gascony, southwest France. It is the oldest brandy in France but the production is much less volume than Cognac, like 30 times less. Also a another difference to Cognac is that in Armagnac a lot is being sold as vintages. It is distilled from wine usually made from a blend of grapes including Baco 22A, Colombard, Folle blanche and Ugni blanc, traditionally using column stills rather than the pot stills used in the production of cognac, which is made only from Ugni blanc grapes. De Montal is an Armagnac producer which has the start from the middle of 18-hundreds when the noble family De Montal bought the castle Le Rietourt and the production of the grapes are from the area Bas-Armagnac. Their oldest Armagnac for sale are from 1893. The Armagnac Hors D'Age from De Montal has an ABV of 40%. It is a mix of the grapes Baco 22A, Colombard, Folle blanche and Ugni blanc. The ages is 12 years and older. It is a ...

 Fantinel is a big wine producer in Friuli in the north eastern part of Italy. This grappa is made from wine pressings from the Fantinel wine Refosco which is a Friulian wine. It has an ABV of 38% and has been aged for a short time in Barriques. Otherwiese I cannot find so much information about this grappa. Colour: Light straw. indicating a small influence of the barriques. Nose: A sprit grappa smell.  Taste: Grappa, citrus and some light fruit. Aftertaste: Medium length showing off the distinctive Grappa taste. with some alcohol despite the low ABV. A nice Grappa however I can find better ones at this price range.  

Luigi Francoli Grappa Nebbiolo Del Piemonte is a grappa that I bought in one airport in Italy. The distillery was founded in 1875 in the village of Campodolcino above Lake Como. Over the years the company grow into Gruppo Francoli and nowadays they produce and distribute grappa, liqueurs, distillates, wines, dried ham (prosciutto) and electrical energy. All the grapes used by Distillerie Francoli come from the Piemonte region. They uses a slow distilling process, ensures that the grappa is smooth and has a distinctive flavour. Luigi Francoli Grappa Nebbiolo Del Piemonte has the ABV of 41.5% which is higher than normal. The grape remains used to produce this grappa is Nebbiolo. After the distillation the grappa has been stored for 8 months in inert tanks. Since this a young un-oaked grappa the colour is clear. The nose is strong with notes of sage and liquorice. The taste is of a full bodied grappa with a long finish. A very good white young grappa.    

 Nonino is a grappa producer in the Friuli Venezia-Giulia regionsituated in northeastern Italy. The distillery was started by Oraio Nonino in 1897 and today the distillery is run by the sisters Cristina, Antonella and Elisabetta. They are the fifth generation Nonino. The grappa has been distilled in the traditional discontinual method. For the Antica Cuvée the grapppa has been aged in barriques and small casks under seal and permanent surveillance by the Customs and Monopoly Agency in the seven Grappa Ageing Warehouses of the Nonino Distilleries. They are bottled without the addition of color additives. No E150 is used here. The Antica Cuvée aged five years is a blend of Grappas from fresh pomace among which Cabernet, Merlot and Refosco, aged from 5 to 20 years in barriques and small casks. The ABV is 43%. Colour: Light amber Nose:  Rich aromas of grappa and spices Taste: Rich warm taste with notes of orange, brioche, spices and oak. Aftertaste: Long and lasting w...

Villa Zarri is an Italian producer who makes brandy (brandy italiano) very similar to Cognac and Armagnac but with a bit more experimentation since the rules are not as hard. The wine Villa Zarri uses for distillation, is made of Trebbiano and the still used are the Charentais copper stills using a discontinuous production method. Then the brandy is put into oak casks made from French oak trees from Alliers or Limousin. This 16 year old brandy is a traditional blended brandy. The indiviual components of this brandy comes from different years but all are at least 16 years old but the mean age of the vintage is higher than that. The colours is like amber. In the nose I get caramel, apricots and and some spices. Quite deep and rich smell. In the taste I get apricot, some cinnamon, sweetness and coffee and some tannins in the back. In the aftertaste I get spices and tannins in the back of the mouth. A balanced and elegant brandy. More spice in the taste than the limited 23 year old.

Nismes-Declou is an Armagnac brand owned by the Castarede family. The regulations for an Armagnac stipulate that a VSOP Armagnac is made from a blend of eaux-de-vie of which the youngest has been aged for at least 4 years in oak.  In practice, the Armagnac houses can use older Armagnacs to bring in a richer taste. This VSOP has a mean age of eight years and the youngest eaux-de-vie is six years old. So Nismes-Declou has brought some older stock to give it more taste. The ABV is 40% which is normal for Armagnac. Colour: Light amber Smell: Sweet dried fruits and grapes. Taste: Dried fruits with some spice Aftertaste: Long lasting with hints of spices A good VSOP. In comparison with the XO I would choose the XO, but then the XO cost 45% more than the VSOP.

Time to go back for a cognac now and the producer Bache Gabrielsen. This producer has an old history and this cognac house was founded in 1905 by Thomas Bache-Gabrielsen and is still today run by the family of Bache Gabrielsen. Thomas was an immigrant from Norway and this cognac house has strong connections with Norway. This cognac the Thomas XO prestige is a bit different from their normal XO cognac. The XO means that the cognac is at least 10 years old or if it was bottled before march 2018 it could be also minimum of six years old. The ABV is 40% and the speciality with this cognac is that it was stored in small oak casks. How small the oak casks were I don't know but probably smaller than the normal sized oak casks used for cognac which are the size of 350l or 500l. But smaller oak casks give away more oak taste to the cognac compared to bigger oak casks so for the Thomas XO Prestige I expect more oak flavours such as cinnamon. Colour: Soft amber Nose: Dried fruits with some...

In this blogpost I return to Armagnac and this time a single vintage 1978 from the producer Samalens. But first a short description on how Armagnac is made. Armagnac is a brandy from France produced in the Armagnac region in Gascony. It is distilled from a white wine which is made from different allowed grapes such as Colombard, Ugni Blanc etc. The big difference from Cognac is that during distillation most producers uses column stills instead of pot stills. Armagnac is distilled once and after the distillation the ABV is around 52%. So compared to Cognac they say that Armagnac contains a more rustic character. Grapes are harvested in the fall and the wine is distilled throughout the winter. All distillation must be finished by March 31. Only French oak barrels are allowed to be used for the ageing of Armagnac. To be released as a vintage the Armagnac must be at least ten years old. The producer Samalens tarted in 1882 in the Bas-Armagnac region of Armagnac. Samalens are one of th...

Now the time has come to try a grappa. Grappa is not truly a brandy as it is made from the pomace that is left over from winemaking. Grappa has to be made in Italy and made from pomace. That means it cannot be called brandy as brandy requires the distillation of grape juice. Grappa has a long history in Italy and it has been done for maybe eight hundred years now. Grappa can be everything a bad tasting moonshine to an excellent aged grappa competing with good cognacs. For this tasting I have chosen the Morbida grappa from producer Poli in in Schiavone near Bassano Del Grappa in the Veneto region of Italy. If you have the chance please visit the Poli museum in Bassano del Grappa. It is very interesting and also have a part just focusing on corkscrews of all things. Poli distillerie was founded in 1898 in Schiavon which is like 8 km from Bassano del Grappa and it has been run by the Poli family since the start. Poli has five principles that they work after.  1. To choose only f...

For the third blog entry it time to visit the worlds most famous brandy, namely Cognac. Cognac is a type of brandy that is produced in the French district of Cognac and there are many rules regarding Cognac, which limits the grapes used to produce the wine and also the rules says that the brandy must be twice distilled in copper pot stills and aged at least two years in Frenc oak barrels from Limouosin or Troncais. But more of this in a later blog post. Pierre Ferrand is situated in the Angeac terroir in the heart of Grande Champagne in Cognac. They make several different cognacs and Selection des Anges jas been aged about 30 years in oak barrels before being bottled. From what I have heard is that this cognac is blended using 4-5 oak casks. So what can be said of this Cognac? Age: About 30 years. Grapes: 100% Ugni Blanc ABV 40% Colour of the Cognac: Amber Nose of the Cognac: Fruity, oaky with some vanilla and spices. Taste of the Cognac: Fresh, deep with spices and vanill...

For my second blog entry I look at the brandy Armagnac from France and here I focus on the Castarede family. The Castarede family in Armagnac in France has been dealing with Armagnac since 1832. What is Armagnac? Armagnac is a brandy produced in the Armagnac region. It is the oldest brandy in France but the production is much less volume than Cognac, like 30 times less. Also a another difference to Cognac is that in Armagnac a lot is being sold as vintages. I will talk much more about how Armagnac is produced in later blog posts. The Castarede family has four different brands of which I have tried three. First up is the Castarede from 1972. This vintage is made of 100% of the grape Folly Blanche. It was bottled on the third of January 2012. That means that this Armagnac is 40 years old. In the nose I get Marzipan and dark fruits. In the taste there is dark fruits, walnuts, Christmas cake and some spices. The aftertaste is long and spicy. An excellent vintage Armagnac. Next up is ...

Welcome to the blog of My World of Brandy. This blog will be all about the alcoholic drink brandy and the close cousins of brandy. What is brandy? It is a spirit produced by distilling wine. The alcohol level can vary and can be anything from 35% up to 65%. The worlds most famous two brandies are Cognac and Armagnac, both from France. But brandy can be produced all over the world. Sometimes the term brandy can also be used for the close cousins of brandy which is alcoholic drinks produced from fruits and the grape press remains after wine production. The French alcoholic drink Calvados is produced from Apple and pear while the Italian grappa is made from grape press remains. In the European Union for an alcoholic drink to be called brandy it has to be distilled from wine. Other countries may have different rules. Normally brandy is stored for many years in oak barrels before being bottled and sold to the public. Here there are many different rules depending on what is being produced...