Sleeping Beauties

The spirits running out of the alembic are transferred directly in oak barrels, and put in cellars. They can stay there from 2 years to 50 years....

During this period, the liquid will undergo many changes:

• Intense evaporation: water evaporates, but it is mainly alcohol (about 2% of the volume of each barrel) that vanishes in the air of Cognac every year.I t is the famous "angels' share".
  
• Decrease of the alcohol content: the young eaux de vie contain about 70% alcohol. By natural evaporation, after 50 years, the degree has reached usual consumption alcohol content: 40%
• Oxidation
• Absorption of wood compounds: tannins, colours, aromas
  
• And series of other chemical reactions

As time passes, the eaux de vie will get suppler, rounder. They will gain colour, tannins, and new aromas. The liquids initially clear as day will get darker. Their aromas of fresh flowers and fruits will slowly change, into rare delicacies, ripe fruits, spices. They will also become more complex and concentrated.

Ageing is of course a question of time, but time only would not make great eaux de vie. Men’s knowledge is essential. You cannot close the doors of your cellars, take a 20 year break in a tropical island, and then come back and find great cognacs or even great eaux de vie … The spirits mature under the strict control of bouilleur de cru or of the cellar master (in the case of a bigger Cognac house)

First, the choice of the woods and barrels is crucial, just as for wines: type of wood, origin of the wood, methods used to dry it, process used to heat the barrels and toast them ….

Then, during their maturation, the eaux de vie can be transferred from one barrel to another: different wood, older barrel… Cellar masters are looking for the best influence of oak on the eau de vie.

The architecture of the cellars itself is important; and their atmosphere also affects the ageing: transporting the eau de vie from one cellar to another will change their evolution. Therefore, this phase is really controlled, or at least observed. For the more demanding ones, nothing is left to chance. And in Cognac, you will find many demanding houses.

This explains why people in Cognac will give you many precisions concerning their cellars: just consider that the greatest Bordeaux wines spend hardly two to three years in casks, when a Cognac, after two years in a barrel, is just a baby.