How to make brandy

• How to make cognac

Cognac ... French explanatory dictionary "Petit Larousse" calls it "living water." The birth of brandy - a complex process that lasts for years and decades.

In the words of Jean-Paul Camus: "Produce beautiful cognac is easy All you need to do - great-grandfather, grandfather and father, who devoted his whole life ....

Today's story is from the cool, damp and smelling of oak, cellar with hundreds of carefully stacked barrels of ripening golden drink ..

This report was made in the south of Crimea, at the foot of Mount Castel. Here, in 1871, the estate of a retired professor of the St. Petersburg Medical-Surgical Academy EA Golubev was founded winery, vineyards laid down European varieties and cut tunnels for aging wine in barrels.

Today it is a modern brandy and wine factory "maglev", specializing in the production of brandy and grappa.

The material was prepared with the assistance of the Ministry of resorts and tourism of Crimea.

We call it the cognac. The same stated on the label, but the right to say "brandy", if the drink is not made in the vicinity of the city of Cognac in France. Who allowed the writing of a drink called "cognac" in Latin script, and in our countries of brandy and still be called cognac.

The main white grapes from which the produced brandy is uni blanc - slowly maturing variety with high acidity, high productivity and resistance to disease - botrytis and phylloxera.

Furthermore Bottom Blanc sometimes grown and used in the production of cognac varieties Fol Blanche Colombar and Montile. They give a more aromatic and rich in flavor alcohols than Ugni Blanc, but very difficult to grow. The harvest in the farms usually occurs in October.

The collected grapes are subjected to pressing in the traditional flat horizontal presses. The resulting juice is left to ferment without the addition of sugar. After three weeks, longer young dry wine Blanc de Blanc (about 8% alcohol) is sent to distillation (Charentais method, which came to us unchanged), where it undergoes two stages of boiling, which resulted in brandy alcohol appears.

Brandy alcohol produced in the Charentais alembic, consisting of a heated over an open fire of the extraction of the boiler, the boiler cap and a curved tube, which is then transformed into a coil passing through the cooler.

The enterprise "maglev", the classical copper stills of the Swiss company "Arnold Holstein", which gives up to 50 hours gave an ethyl alcohol each. During the distillation period (from December 1 to April 1), distillation plant of the plant to 100 thousand dal. Cognac.

Since 1 April (which is allowed in the past, but the report are precisely on this date), brandy spirit aged in oak barrels (from 270 to 450 liters) at a constant temperature of 15 °. In these barrels it can ripen from 2 to 50 years. The natural moisture, which stores the barrel is one of the determining factors in the aging process. During this time cognac spirit loses some of its strength, and the oak gives an amber color and pleasant flavors. The transition of natural oak qualities develops cognac bouquet, produces a special taste, known as the ranch.

For cognac maturation in casks used by the gallery, professor Golubev laid back in the XIX century. They were reconstructed and equipped according to modern requirements and used for aging brandy in old and new barrels. Now in these galleries are aged over 80 thousand. Gave the future of the amber beverage. Against the far wall of the gallery you can see the silent observer - a huge brass corkscrew.

who stands leaning on the wooden handle damp basement walls

After the drink passes through all the stages of the "miraculous" transformation is the turn of the most important stage - blending of cognacs with different features. The most important role in this process is played by the Master to create bouquets, or as it is called - the master of the cellar.

In most cases, cognac, as the final product which reaches the consumer, prepared by assamblirovaniya (or mixing) eaux various years of exposure. In this excerpt of the final product is determined by the minimum period of exposure components. With mass production of cognac assamblirovanie keeps its organoleptic properties identical regardless of the quality of the grape harvest.

And only then carried the latest stage - filling

Modern technological bottling lines allow spilling drinks membrane cold way. First, an empty bottle is mounted on the process belt ...

... for which it enters into a special chamber, where it is filling with an inert gas before filling. This prevents subsequent oxidation with air space of the beverage inside the bottle, both during filling and during subsequent storage in the bottle after capping.

Cognac falls into sterile bottles at the expense of membrane filtration that occurs in the installation of a two-stage filtration Candle. Installation The idea is that it removes from the beverage all viable microorganisms, while maintaining the organoleptic properties of cognac.

Next, the line filled bottles arrive at the closure

The machine with the necessary force compresses the cork

The next time the drink will breathe fresh air already on someone's desk ..

A mandatory procedure on filling lines - brokerage. "Specially trained person" stares at the bottle of brandy, slowly drifting in front of the light screen. The purpose of this notice party girl impurities that are not allowed in the beverage according to standard HASSP 22000. Female replaced on schedule to avoid the effect of fatigue and zamylenny glance

Sticker labels. Today it is the brandy "Alushta"

Stamps.

Laying in boxes.

On the territory of "maglev".

From the terrace of the galleries with beautiful views of the Black Sea

Here, on the territory of the plant, is a cozy tasting room.

Full collar factory production

The classic-style room with a shop-factory products

Incidentally, an interesting fact - during the reconstruction of tunnels, in the cache was found the key to the wine cellars of Professor Golubev. Employees of enterprises consider this finding a good sign and carefully store it in a glass