Blending is as important part of the cognac production process as all of the previous. The well or less known cognac brands you might know also use distillates from one or more production areas in the Cognac region to make their cognac, combining the best aroma and flavor characteristics of cognacs of various ages.

Master blender

The master blender (cellar master) is a key person for every cognac producer. It has refined senses, especially smell and taste, on the basis of which it evaluates individual cognacs and determines their proportion in the final blend. The master blender is responsible for creating a blend that guarantees the same characteristics of the resulting cognac. Even though he uses different ingredients each year to create the final mix, the final product must have the same taste, aroma and color. Simply put, your favorite XO bought today must have the same color, smell and taste as the one you bought a year ago and must have the same characteristics even if you buy it a year ago.

Blending procedure

Blending takes place in large wooden containers with a capacity of several thousand liters. Here, the cognac is left to rest for several months so that the blend is balanced and rounded. This process is called "marriage".

 

Reduction of alcohol content

Reducing the alcohol content of the resulting blend is also an important part of the process. Cognac may be sold with an alcoholic strength of at least 40%, with the distillate to be matured after the second distillation having a content of more than 70%. For 2 resp. 4 years spent in the barrel of cognac by evaporation will not significantly reduce the alcohol content. Demineralized water is used to reduce the alcohol content of the young distillate, and no water can be added to the distillate. If this were to happen, there would be a process in food chemistry called saponification, and the resulting cognac would acquire a flavor that the consumer would simply recognize as soapy. Producers therefore use a good practice where by adding cognac to water, they produce a blend with an alcohol content of about 20% and then slowly add more cognac to this blend until the mixture reaches an alcohol volume of 40%.

Cognac age limits

Of the total sales of cognac, the share of young cognacs, ie VS and VSOP is more than 90%. The age limit of the youngest part of the blend is as follows:

VS  2 years

VSOP  4 years

XO  10 years

(until March 30, 2018, the age limit was 6 years)

XXO  14 years

 

Number of years means years spent in the barrel from April 1st. in the year following the grape harvest.