The classic coincidences that occur on the vast timeline, only time is used to estimate it in the end.
"Yo roo~Yo roo~" Accompanied by the strong and powerful sailor horn, a Dutch merchant ship slowly approached the port of Southampton in the UK. Large wooden barrels were unloaded from the boat by sailors. Suddenly, a scent of wine wafted out, and the crowds of people were immediately attracted. The merchant ship owner took out a cup of amber liquid from the barrel as if showing it to the onlookers. The rich and exquisite aroma and the long silk taste make everyone amazed. This cup of amber liquid is brandy .
Around the 16th century, the Dutch relied on their clever navigation technology and smart minds to become the main force in navigation trade. When using ships to transport wine, the wine was oxidized or corrupted due to the bumpy voyage and the violent sunlight. In order to facilitate transportation, the smart Dutch merchant distilled and concentrated the wine and stored it in wooden barrels. After it arrived onshore, it was blended with water and sold. Unexpectedly, this concentrated alcoholic beverage is more popular. It quickly became popular in the UK, Nordic and other places. From then on, brandy has become a world-renowned spirit. Brandy "Brandy" is also derived from the Dutch word, and the name "Brandewijn" is called this concentrated alcoholic beverage.
"Wine Soul"
fermented grape juice , or base wine , through a series of distillation, a wine with higher alcohol content and more volatile aroma substances are obtained. During this process, eight liters of wine can get about one liter of brandy . Because during the distillation process, only the middle part with the most exquisite and pleasant part is collected, , so brandy is also called "Wine Soul" . The brandy that has just been distilled is basically colorless. To get amber-like wine, it takes years or even decades to oak barrel aged. During the aging process, the pigments in the oak barrels slowly enter the wine, and the flavor of oak is also integrated into the wine. The slow oxidation effect makes the wine body round and various aromas gradually become a whole.
The picture shows Hennessy's wooden barrels
Cognac and Armagnac
Just like the sparkling wines produced in the French Champagne (Champagne) region, it is specifically called champagne, and the brandy produced in the French Cognac and Yamai regions will be specifically called cognac and Yamai. Sometimes many people even know about cognac first before they know brandy. This is also related to the long history of brandy brewing in these two regions, and is also closely related to one of the most famous brandy producers in the world.
Four Cognac brands: Hennessy , Martell , Head Horse , Napoleon (from top to bottom)
(feel the wallet trembling)
Brandy is divided according to the time of aging in the barrel. There will be more or less a little different in each production area. Here, the grading standards for the French cognac region are:
"XO sauce or XO?"
is divided according to the minimum year of the original wine because a bottle of brandy is mixed with wine from many years in order to pursue a balance of flavor.
So buying a bottle of X.O. grade brandy basically means that the youngest ingredient in the bottle has been aged for more than 10 years, and the price will be quite high. Therefore, when Hong Kong people invented X.O. sauce, they used a lot of ingredients and were so sophisticated that they could compare with the luxurious X.O Cognac. Maybe many people misunderstand that X.O. sauce is made of X.O., but in fact they have nothing to do with each other.
In addition to the skill of ingenious brewing, time and patient waiting are the most precious. The precipitation of time has made brandy-the soul of wine.
