article and photographs by Richard Carleton Hacker

Cognac -- it's a city, a color, a digestif, a state of mind. In fact, it's fascinating how one word can evoke images of crystal snifters, formal dinners, Cuban cigars and crackling fireplaces. And though some may prefer diluting its distinctive flavors with Coca-Cola or mixing them in a Sidecar or Stinger, Cognac remains the ultimate in liquid elegance.

"Cognac is more complex than a wine or any of the spirits," says Patrick Peyrelongue, managing director of Delamain, and a direct descendant of the family that founded one of the smallest yet most prestigious Cognac producers. "Not only is it complex (in the glass), but in five minutes (after aerating) it will be completely different. So if you should try to describe it now, you will have to do it again five minutes later, and then half an hour after that, and so on. It is constantly evolving." Although each Cognac has its own distinguishing aromatic components, commonly used descriptors include nuts, fruit, caramel and various spices. The flavors mirror these elements, with the addition of honeyand vanilla, all in varying degrees. On the palate, good Cognac feels like heavy velvet.

Even with close to 200 different Cognac producers, no two are alike. Each Cognac house has a distinctive style, whether it be the wood-and-leather ambiance of Hennessy, the light fruitiness of Remy Martin or the delicate floral sweetness of Hine. Perhaps that is why this classic after-hours drink can be intimidating, for rather than ask for a specific brand with an unknown flavor profile, most people simply say, "I'll have a Cognac," and wait for the sommelier or bartender to suggest something. Cognac is distilled from wine in copper alambic pot stills, thus giving it many of the complex taste characteristics of the wine grapes themselves. These include a certain amount of acidity, often masked by the higher alcoholic proof of Cognac, plus flavors such as dandelion, red berry and other fruits.

Only a double-distilled wine brandy made in the Cognac region in west France -- just north of Bordeaux -- can be called Cognac. Thus, Cognac is both a distilled spirit and a geographical designation. That is why the excellent double-distilled brandies produced from California grapes by Germain-Robin in Ukiah are not called Cognacs. Ugni Blanc -- known as Trebbiano in Italy -- is the main grape used in Cognac production, and it is prized for its high yields, hardiness and natural acidity. Ugni Blanc is so important in the production of Cognac and other spirits that it is France's most-planted white grape variety.

There are four primary designated districts from which grapes are grown for the production of Cognac. In order of prestige, they are Grande Champagne, Petite Champagne, Borderies and Fins Bois. In this case, the name "Champagne" has nothing to do with sparkling wine or the region where the famous bubbly is made; instead, it's an old form of "campagne," which means countryside.

Cognacs made strictly from grapes from the Grande Champagne and Petite Champagne districts -- with a minimum of 50 percent Grande Champagne grapes in the blend -- are often sub-labeled "Fine Champagne." If Grande Champagne and Petite Champagne are the top two districts, one might wonder why all Cognacs are not made from just these areas -- or from Grande Champagne alone. This is due to the cost of the grapes and the quest of the maitre de chai, or cellarmaster, for a specific taste profile, because the growing conditions of each region impart definite characteristics to the grapes. The grapes are fermented into wine, and that wine is then distilled into what's called eau-de-vie ("water of life"). Eaux-de-vie are then aged in barrels to become the components of Cognac.

Eaux-de-vie made from grapes harvested from Fin Bois tend to be full and forward in flavor, while those from Borderies are more floral. This is where blending becomes crucial, for it influences not only the final taste of the aged Cognac, but its ultimate retail price, depending on which grapes were used for distillation.

By law, Cognac must be aged in French oak cooperage for at least 2 1/2 years, but most age far longer. Cognac doesn't begin to develop until it's at least 5 years old and character rarely builds in less than a decade. In fact, some exceptional Cognacs are allowed to mature as long as 60 years -- the maximum the finest eaux-de-vie can evolve before their flavors become overpowered by the wood. To halt the aging process, the spirits are transferred from barrels to glass demijohns (unlike wine, Cognac will not improve with age in bottles).

These demijohns are sequestered in dark, musty recesses of ancient cellars, waiting to be blended with other Cognacs -- some older, some younger -- to create an assemblage, or blend, that fits the cellarmaster's interpretation of the house style. Often, these prized Cognacs are stored for generations. While exploring the caverns within the 7-foot thick stone walls of Otard's Chateau

de Cognac -- a castle that dates from 1795 -- I discovered demijohns from 1820. In the cellars of Delamain, I sampled the mellow softness of a Cognac from 1893, and the more pronounced presence of a 1914 vintage. Delamain's oldest demijohn, dating from 1847, is used sparingly in its extremely limited Reserve De La Famille. Hennessy has the industry's largest stock of old Cognacs, some of which date to 1800. Its top-of-the-line Richard Hennessy brand is composed of more than 100 Cognacs ranging in age from 75 to 175 years, which produces an unparalleled depth of honeyed strawberry and cherry.

Although Cognac drinkers often refer to "average age" (for example, a 50-50 blend of 10- and 20-year- old Cognacs would have an average age of 15 years), Cognacs are actually categorized by the age of its youngest component eau-de-vie.

VS (Very Special) has a minimum age of 2 1/2 years, VSOP (Very Superior Old Pale) has a minimum age of 4 1/2 years and XO (Extra Old, a category created in 1870 by Hennessy for the family's private blend) has a minimum age of 6 1/2 years.

However, few Cognac producers confine themselves to these minimums. For example, Courvoisier VS is composed of Cognacs ranging in age from 4 to 8 years, Landy VSOP has an average age of 12 years and Remy Martin XO Excellence is a blend of 350 Cognacs ranging in age from 10 to 37 years, with an average age of 23 years.

There are also numerous prestigious proprietary blends. The elegant meatiness of Hennessy Paradis Extra ($250) comes from its blend of 200 eaux-de-vie aged between 25 and 125 years. The House of Hine, the chosen Cognac of Queen Elizabeth II and thus the only Cognac house holding a British royal warrant, cites a blended average age of "over 40 years" for its spicy fruit-and-tobacco-like Triomphe ($345). And Martell Cordon Bleu ($180), which dates from 1912 and was chosen to toast the Armistice that ended World War I on Nov. 11, 1918, is a blend of almost 200 eaux-de-vie, averaging 25 years in age.

No matter what a Cognac's age or classification, the one overriding factor -- and most challenging aspect for the master blender -- is maintaining its consistency through the years. Consequently, the proportions of any blend will change in order to accommodate different vintages, harvests and growing environments, called terroir.

"Our Hennessy XO ($110), for example," says Maurice Hennessy, eighth-generation descendant of company founder Richard Hennessy, "must taste the same if you drink it in Los Angeles or San Francisco, New York or Hong Kong and whether you drink it now or had it 10 years ago. "But you can't use a formula to recreate a Cognac -- for example, three parts of a 7-year-old eau-de-vie and four parts of a 20-year-old, and so on -- because next year, when you try to remake that same Cognac, the 7-year-old wine will be from a year that is one year later in the harvest, and so the taste will be different. So the blending becomes a matter of trial and error.

"But the master blender has several hundred Cognacs in stock, and knows them all because he's tasted them all. So ... a team of tasters ... do it in small quantities for control. They take notes ... because no one person can remember it all. But then comes the fine tuning. "Blending Cognacs is like composing a symphony. You have to write the score for 100 instruments. But these instruments are different each year. For us, Yann Fillioux (Hennessy's seventh-generation master blender) is the composer and he wants the music to always be the same, year after year. So each time, he has to compose a new recipe."

It is because of this constant balance between aroma, flavor, strength and color that experienced Cognac drinkers develop loyalties to specific brands. But for the beginning connoisseur, the selection can be daunting.

"For someone who has never had Cognac before, I think a VS or VSOP is a great starting point," says Alexandre Gabriel, president of Cognac Ferrand, noted for its Pierre Ferrand 100-percent Grande Champagne single-estate Cognacs. "I might even suggest a VS on ice, as an aperitif. In the 19th century, people drank Cognac with a little bit of water because by diluting it, it becomes more approachable, as it is so packed with flavors.

"Then, slowly try something a little older in a snifter, like an XO or our 30-year-old Selection Des Anges, and you can start to see the difference from one Cognac to another. It's like wine in a way; it's all about experimenting. Of course, if someone is a wine drinker and they favor big reds like a Cabernet, then I might say they could go right into an after-dinner drink like an XO, which has the heaviness that a red-wine drinker might like."

But there is also the matter of price. Not all Cognacs are as expensive as Remy Martin Louis XIII, a blending of 1,200 different eaux-de-vie, ranging in age from 40 to more than 100 years; it sells for $1,500 and comes in a 750 ml Baccarat decanter. With an average age of 70 years, it has kaleidoscopic flavors of honeysuckle, peach, myrtle and wood bark. (According to bartender David Rowe at the lounge in the Mandarin Oriental San Francisco hotel, whoever orders the last snifter of Louis XIII -- at $135 a shot -- gets to keep the empty decanter.)

Landy VS, however, sells for less than $25 for a standard 750 ml bottle and is also available in 200 ml and 375 ml sizes. When making Cognac-based cocktails or drinking it chilled straight up, I recommend Navan, a maceration of black Madagascar vanilla beans blended in Cognac and then aged in barrels. Meukow VS Vanilla Cognac is also worthy of cocktail experimentation.

Most Cognacs are 80 proof, or 40 percent alcohol. For a heavier hit, gently pour Meukow 90 ($37), one of the few 90-proof Cognacs on the market, over a spoon and into a tonic-filled glass; the Cognac will settle on top. Use a straw to drink down to it. I've also had Remy Martin XO served chilled (no ice) as an alternative to wine, an especially fine pairing with lamb. However, for my tastes, there is nothing more convivial that a straight snifter of XO or older.

Without false modesty, one of the finest Cognacs I ever sipped was a blend I made myself -- under the auspices of Hennessy master blender Laurent Lozano. Impossible to duplicate without access to Hennessy's cellars, it consisted of the following vintages: 3 ml of 1983, 5 ml of 1978, 10 ml of 1970, 7 ml of 1893 and 10 ml of Richard Hennessy (which normally sells for $1,800).

I pour from my personal blend sparingly, for as Ferrand's Gabriel told me, "The only problem with a very good Cognac is it's hard to go back to drinking something else."