The beginnings of the appelation
Wine producers and distilleries awared the uniqueness of the region - terroir - by developing the trade in distillation of their wine and at the beginning of the 20th century (in 1906 the first group of producers was formed and negotiated the need to protect Cognac territory) began to define a set of rules, conditions and regulations to ensure a uniform procedure at all stages of cognac production for each producer. The first and fundamental step in 1909 was to define the area in which cognac can be produced. Today it is a well-defined area in the southwest of France, located 465 km south of Paris, 120 km north of Bordeaux. The town of Cognac is about 100km from the Atlantic coast, where o.i. the city of La Rochelle. Cognac can therefore only be produced in the territory defined by the decree of 1 May 1909, which defined the external borders of the Cognac production region.
Production areas
In 1936 and 1938, the appellation process culminated in the adoption of further decrees defining the boundaries of the six production areas within the Cognac production region. The basic distinguishing criterion became quality resp. soil characteristics in this area. This is an area where the continent's influence meets the sea, which has affected the composition of the land in this relatively small area of the Cognac region.
Grande Champagne, Petite Champagne, Borderies, Fins Bois, Bons Bois, Bois a Terroir
(also known as Bois Ordinaires) are the names of the six Cognac production areas. The mentioned decree of 1938 gives producers the right to indicate on the label the area of origin of cognac if it comes from only one area - e.g. Borderies, or the phrase Fine Borderies. In addition to the six areas mentioned, which are territorial appelation, there is another that is permitted by law and has the designation
Fine Champagne
Cognac with this designation is a mixture of cognacs from the Grande Champagne and Petite Champagne ares, with a proportion of Grande Champagne cognac of at least 50%.