Best Cognacs of the World and Russia: a Brief Overview

What is cognac and how does it differ from othersstrong and fortified alcoholic beverages - the same brandy, for example? It is made by double distillation of dry wine and prolonged aging of the product in oak barrels. What then it turns out: the best cognacs can be produced anywhere, for the benefit of growing vines? But no! No matter how highly developed winemaking is in this or that country, not all vines give a good product for this fragrant drink.

Even if the manufacturer has not stepped away fromClassical manufacturing technology, its products still can not be called the same as those created in the French province of Charente, where the drink once originated and still thrives.

The small town of Cognac, which gave the namedistillate, rose exclusively on the production and marketing of products of nearby vineyards. And according to the decree of 1909 adopted in France, only that drink, the raw material for which is grown in the Charente department, can be cognac. There are many excellent vineyards in the world. But the best cognacs are still in France. It is here, even here, in the west of the country, that a real, authentic drink can be born. Therefore, cognacs made in other regions of this country are called Armagnacs, vignacs or simply brandy.

The best French cognacs are sold in limited quantities.in circulations, in intricate crystal and even gold bottles. The prices for them, you know, transcendental. By the way, the most expensive, got on this occasion in the Guinness Book, was Henri IV Dudognon. The bottle was sold for $ 2,000,000!

Alcohol was used to make it.a century of exposure. For the sake of justice, it should be mentioned that the packaging played a very, very important role - the bottle is made of gold and platinum, moreover, it is decorated with six and a half thousand diamonds. But the average consumer should know that the best French cognacs have on their labels the following abbreviations: V.V.S.O.P. (which stands for Very-Very Superior Old Pale) U and H.O. (Extra Old). Names like Napoleon, Hors d 'Age, Vieille Reserve and Tres Vieux also mean that the distillate has matured in oak barrels for at least six years.

But we do not live in France, but we wanttry a good inexpensive cognac. How to choose it? Of course, the phrase “Russian brandy” is similar to guinea pigs: these rodents have nothing to do with pigs or ocean. So with the production of our distilleries. It can be attributed to cognacs only with great stretch. But if you still want to support the domestic manufacturer, choose the names regulated by GOST of Russia.

In accordance with this document, years of exposureare made out of asterisks. But good Russian products do not have stars: on its label it is KVVK (which stands for “aged brandy” - at least eight years) or KVVK - the last two letters mean “Super”. The age of this - nine or ten years. And the best cognac in Russia is the KS and OS - the old and very “ancient”. Such an abbreviation ensures that alcohols matured in oak barrels for at least ten and twenty years, respectively.