My World of Brandy

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.

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...