The cognac is the youngest from all currently known drinks. And though ethyl alcohols, on which basis it is being made, were known already to ancient Greeks, the history of this elitist drink counts only 300 years.
Vine-growing appeared in the last quarter of III century, when roman Emperor Probus allowed Galls to deal with wine-making, which was earlier spread only in several cities. At the beginning of XVII century the distillation process, used by the alchemists and pharmaceutists to obtain alcohol medicinally, was for the first time used on a large scale in wine-making. In 1641 in France there were increased the taxes on white jug wines, which were imported in great amount by the wine merchants to England, Sweden, Norway and Finland. To avoid payment of high taxes they decided to reduce the amount of their products by the way of wine distillation, thinking that after they can dilute obtained product with water and get the wine in full amount. The French handymen from the department of Sharant invented special distillating device for obtaining cognac alcohol – the key raw material in producing cognacs. However the liquid, obtained after distillation, which was aged in oak barrels, tasted to the producers themselves. The cognac became especially popular after Louis XIV tasted and appreciated it. From that moment the wine-makers learned to obtain completely new drink. In 1701 during the French-English war the English Marine blocked France, interrupting the transportation of cognac alcohols. So they had to stay in oak barrels for quite a long time, but in result of long-term ripening their taste qualities became only better. That was the way of opening one of the key secrets of the cognac production technology. Until 1860 the cognac was transported solely in barrels and the producer’s name remained unknown for the customer. Then they began to deliver it in original bottles, supplied with brand labels.
Nowadays the cognac trade is on the up grade. France remains the widely acknowledged country of classic cognac production, its experience is studied accurately and used in Ukraine by the company «Alef-Vinal ».
