Survey: Cognac and Tasting - Part 1
You may have heard the legendary reply of a Norman to a question…perhaps yes, perhaps no. When asked if there is a difference between tasting Cognac and tasting wine the answer is along those lines.
For wine it is preferable to taste latish in the morning, using a clear glass of adequate shape in a well lit room, without extraneous odours, in silence and following the three time honoured phases; eye, nose and mouth. For memory the following is a definition of tasting proposed by two eminent professors of enology; "tasting attentively a product whose quality we wish to ascertain, this means submitting it to our senses, in particular those of taste and smell, it is trying to discover it by searching for its different defects and qualities and expressing them." Ribéreau-Gayon et Peynaud.
Where Cognac is concerned these principles also apply but depending on the type of tasting; professional, hedonist etc. we can leave to one side the questions of time and place. That which concerns odours remains fundamental for serious tasting, as does the need for objectivity which invariably suffers from the diverse comments made by the participants.
In Cognac the recommended glass is relatively small, clear and tulip shaped. The essential factor is that the mouth of the glass is slightly narrower than the body or bowl, we can observe this same principle in the graduated glass used by Scottish tasters, the graduations are there to allow precise additions of water. This shape allows aromas to rise to the nose in a progressive manner and militates against the use of very large brandy balloons, at least for analytical tasting. One cannot deny the imagery and the pleasure procured by cradling this type of glass in the palm of the hand.
With wine a visual examination will in general provide quite a lot of indications as to the type of wine, its age and even its alcoholic strength and residual sugar content. When dealing with Cognac prudence is called for. Firstly the perfectly legal use of caramel in many spirits makes indications solely linked to colour highly unreliable. For those aged in barrels colour is also tributary to a number of factors resulting from cooperage techniques and the age of the barrels. In short, a darker product is not necessarily older and care must be taken with reddish hues. Some Cognac tasters believe that the greater concentration of aromatic compounds in the older categories of Cognac allow a visual identification via the "legs" which form around the inside of the glass. I must admit to being sceptical because the high alcoholic content will automatically create viscosity as will the addition of sugar syrup, once again perfectly legal and widely practised.
Glossary: Emile Peynaud & Jean Ribéreau-Gayon – former professors at the "Institut d'Oenologie" in Bordeaux
Camus will be presenting a re-designed 'Extra' at the Cannes' duty-free fair, Cyril Camus describes the design as "luxurious but pure".