Brandy VS Congnac: Know The Difference
Recall that in the last piece I shared my little knowledge on the difference between a champagne and a sparkling wine.
In this piece we will be discussing on the difference between brandy and cognac. Some people experience difficulty in differentiating between both.
Just like champagne and sparkling wine, every cognac can be called brandy, but not all brandy can be referred to as a cognac.
What is brandy?
Brandy is a general name for a distilled spirit made from fermented fruit juice. It can be produced using fruit such as grapes, apples etc. brandy can be made in any country.
They are brownish in colour, sweet and it’s alcohol level is usually from 35% to 60%, most have 40% alcohol level.
Now What is cognac?
Cognac is brandy produced in the Cognac region of France, (Charente and Charente-Maritime départements of France ).
This entails that any brandy which isn’t made in France cannot be legally referred to as a cognac. Just like any sparkling wine that isn’t made in the champagne region of France cannot be referred to as a champagne.
Example of cognacs are; Hennessy, Rémy Martin, Hennessy, Courvoisier, D’usse, Camus, Abk etc.
Cognacs are usually differentiated with Acronyms like V.S , V. S.O.P and X.O etc engraved on the bottle or pack, considering how aged it is. The older the wine, the better the taste and expensive it will be.
Let me explain the acronyms and what they stand for.
• VS – meaning ‘Very Special’, this brandy/Cognac are aged for at least 2 years in French oak.
•V.S.O.P. – ‘Very Superior Old Pale’ or ‘Very Special Old Pale’, it must be aged at least four years in an oak.
•X.O. – stands for ‘Extra Old’ aged at least six years in french oak. They are more expensive.
NB: Another type of brandy from France is ‘Armagnac’ which is made from 10 different grape varieties, unlike Cognac that is made from the Ugni Blanc grape only.
In Conclusion, I think the french decided to carve out another name for their products to make theirs unique, and to show the superiority of their product above others made in other countries.
You can also read 👇
