Vine cultivation

Vine as a essential raw material for wine production was brought to the present territory of France at the end of the 3rd century AD byThe Romans, who were authorized to do so by the emperor himself. With the right to plant vine, the Roman Emperor Probus (ruled from 276 to 282 AD) then also granted consent to wine production. As time went on and the years flew, wine became the second commercial item in the area where cognac is produced today.

Salt trade

The first commercial and export item was salt, which was extracted from the sea near the town of La Rochelle. However, buyers from northern Europe also discovered local wine and began trading with it. At the end of the 12th century, the area of ​​today's Cognac became the center of the salt and wine trade.

Beginning of distillation

However, low-alcohol wine has not lasted a long time journey on the sea, so the Dutch have come up with a solution called distillation and it's results is "brandwijn". The widespread use of distillation dates back to the 15th and especially the 16th century. At the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries, French distilleries came up with a novelty and introduced double distillation of wine (in 1600).

Ageing

The distillate was transported in wooden barrels, which during the journey passed part of their taste and aromatic elements to the transported distillate. Both traders and manufacturers have noticed this change, and the process of aging in barrels has seen the light of day. From the middle of the 19th century, cognac began to be shipped in bottles.

Phylloxera

At the end of the 19th century, vineyards in the current Cognac production area were hit by a phylloxera disaster, which destroyed almost 85% of the vineyards. The vineyards were restored after several years of looking for a solution, which was found in grafting the vine varieties previously used in the Cognac area into vine rootstocks from Texas, USA.