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The Cognac region is home to a variety of producers, each playing a unique role in creating the spirit we hold nearest and dearest: Cognac. From cultivating vines all the way up to the final bottling, the journey of Cognac requires the involvement of several - sometimes many - different players with different roles and expertises. What we so often and broadly call “producers” range from grower-distillers, which oversee every step of the process, to pure negociants, who specialize in selecting and blending finished products - and everything in between.
In this article, we will explore these various roles and give a few examples of houses or producers that fall into each category. Of course, we then think it is necessary to highlight the unique contributions of the grower-distillers, including a short listing of all the tasks they need to handle at their domaines.
We focus on products of the small producers of the region who do everything on their own: from grape to bottling. Explore the unique craftsmanship and dedication that these local heroes bring to the creation of Cognac, often overseeing each meticulous step from the soil to the sip.
So let’s explore the fabric of the Cognac region and all of the different players in terms of production. No one is better than the other, or more deserving of attention. Each has its place and is indeed part of the intricate fabric of the Cognac region making this great spirit.
The winegrower begins his or her work by planting vines, and overall managing the vineyard day-in-day-out, for twelve months out of the year. They are responsible for maintaining and guiding the vines throughout their development until harvest time, the culmination of the winegrowing year. Often, the winegrower sells his or her wines after completing the winemaking process, to later on in the campaign be distilled by whoever purchased those wines. But, in many instances, the winegrower might also handle all aspects of production, from planting, to distilling, to aging the spirits. They may also choose to sell their entire output, or a portion of it, in bottles. These are the so-called grower-distillers, and the kind of producers that we have gotten to know and love throughout the years.
There are 4400 viticulteurs in the region according to the BNIC. If this number strikes you - as it strikes us - remember that the Cognac region is first and foremost a wine region. In fact, the region represents 10% of France’s land dedicated to wine growing and it is the number one French white wine region. It’s just that dry white wines are rarely produced and bottled; rather the wines are distilled to eventually age and then later become Cognac.
Cognac Prunier
Cognac Vallein Tercinier
Cognac Raymond Bossis
The distiller turns wine into eau-de-vie and concentrates its aromas via the ever so important and fascinating double distillation process. This distiller’s role can vary, including either being a bouilleur de cru or a professional distiller.
A bouilleur de cru is a winegrower who distills his or her own wine or has it distilled by someone else. There are 3395 bouilleurs de cru in the region according to the BNIC. This does not mean that all bouilleurs de cru age their own Cognac and bottle it. Case in point, 3395 bouilleurs de cru far surpasses the number of Cognac brands from actual bouilleurs de crus. In fact, this number far surpasses the total number of Cognac brands, period. Many bouilleurs de cru have no brand or bottled production whatsoever. The term simply means to state that they cultivate their own vines and then distill their own wines or otherwise have their own wines distilled by someone else.
A professional distiller, on the other hand, is someone who makes a living from distillation. They purchase wine and sell the resulting spirits, or they may distill wine for others. There are 120 professional distillers in the region according to the BNIC.
It’s also important to note that it’s not always easy to categorize each Cognac house into one of these categories. Sometimes there are hybrid cases. For example, Marancheville, principally makes their living by distilling. But, they have their own vines too in prime Grande Champagne territory, which they make wine from and which they distill. Sure, they also distill other people’s wines, but the fact that they have their own vineyard, make the wine, distill it, age some of it on site in their beautiful chai, and bottle some of it, means they cannot be classified purely as a professional distiller. They are a hybrid. And we are glad for that since we love Marancheville bottled Cognacs.
There are 270 negociants in the region according to the BNIC. But not all négociants have exactly the same roles, or function in the exact same way. Here is a brief overview of some general differences. The names are kept in French as they do not correspond one-to-one with their English translations.
Négociant Propiétaire: From cultivating the vines all the way up to bottling, these houses encompass all aspects of the production process. The producer may decide, based on market demand and stock fluctuations of certain age qualities of Cognac, to purchase bulk Cognac for aging or direct bottling.
Examples:
Négociant: These houses are involved in and oversee the Cognac production through all its stages, but they do not actually possess vines and nor do they distill any wines. These negociant houses have established strong - and sometimes contractual - relationships with growers who follow strict guidelines for managing their vineyards and for their wine production. Once the wine is produced and distilled, the trading house most often takes over all subsequent steps. They can age some spirit on their own premises or they can have the producer store and age the Cognac for a determined amount of time. This approach allows them to maintain close control over the final product, similar to Negociant Proprietaires described above.
Examples:
Although Godet and Prunier can indeed fall into the next category as well.
Jean Pasquet
Jean-Edouard Godet
Negociant-Eleveur: This model allows a negociant house to outsource the distillation stage but primarily keep control over the aging of the eaux-de-vie. These houses often begin their Cognac production by purchasing eau-de-vie, sometimes young spirit but also old specific lots of Cognac or vintages, which they then continue to age in their own cellars. From the moment they take possession of the purchased Cognac, they can guide those eaux-de-vie as they wish, perhaps adapting the oak barrel, changing the cellars, or blending as desired. Their expertise revolves around cask aging and the overall maturation process of Cognac.
Examples:
Négociant à l'État Pur: This model involves buying finished products, distilled or aged. The role of this type of negociant starts with selecting casks, which are then either directly bottled or sold off to other negociants in need of certain eaux-de-vie with a certain profile and/or a certain age quality.The transfer of the eaux-de-vie from one set of hands to another set of hands tends to be faster here. There is not so much of an aging aspect. It is somewhat of a Cognac as commodity situation - although we recognize unfortunately that that is not a romantic way of phrasing things.
It’s important to point out and stress that no one of these categories of producer described above is more deserving than the other of attention. All of these categories make the region and the spirit what it is today and without any one of them, the region would be diminished. As we said above, they all are the very fabric of the region.
We would like to highlight some of the tasks that a grower-distiller, that actually has his or her own brand, needs to undertake throughout any given year. Again, these are the producers that do everything from A to Z on site at the domaine, including making the wine, distilling the wine, aging the spirit, blending it in certain cases, and bottling it under their own brand. These are the small and authentic producers we have gotten to know and love. In fact, in our rural corner of the Charente this is the kind of producer we come into contact with on a regular basis. Take some of our neighbors for example: Andre Petit, Conte & Filles, Choloux, and Maine Giraud. There are hundreds of others, but that small list gives readers an idea.
What exactly does a grower-distiller with its own brand have to do around the year? The following is a list of tasks a small grower-distiller will typically have to undertake (in no exact order):
The above list is not intended to be an exhaustive list of what a small producer has to do in a given year. The smallest family producers may have only 1-2 people to handle all of the above tasks. Slightly larger houses may have the luxury of having several employees to divide the tasks. And what has largely been ignored in the above list is actually selling the products. Tending the vines, distilling, and making the products is one thing, but selling the products is another story and hugely demanding of a producer’s time and attention. Let’s also not forget when devastating climate events sweep through the region in one night and ravage a part or most of the production.
Concerning negociants, they too will have many of those tasks to complete as well. And what they do not have to do in the vines - since they do not have any vines - they make up for by maintaining their longstanding relationships with their grower partners in the region, which is indeed no small task and takes time to visit each grower and to continue to nurture each relationship.
In short, our dear Cognac producers, regardless of what category they fall into, have a workload that is nothing short of impressive - dizzying even. All of this makes us and hopefully you too better understand and appreciate our beloved spirit, Cognac. We absolutely mean it when we say the producers are the fabric of the region, making Cognac the authentic, qualitative spirit that fills our glasses and lingers in our memory.
Cheers to the producers and Cognac's diversity!
