Is brandy wine?
The raw material of brandy is also grapes, but it is not the same as the wine in our general impression. It is not the same in terms of variety, production methods, etc.
Brandy usually means "the soul of wine." The brandy of Brandy is made from the Brande.
The word brandy is narrowly defined and broadly defined. In a broad sense, all wines that have been fermented and distilled from fruit as raw material are called brandy. However, it is now accustomed to the use of grapes as raw materials, fermented, distilled, stored and blended wine called brandy. In the case of distilled spirits made from other fruits, the name of the fruit is preceded by brandy, such as apple brandy, cherry brandy, etc.
Brandy first originated in France.
At the beginning of the 18th century, the port of the Charente in France became a port of call for wine exports due to its convenient transportation. Because of the large space occupied by the whole box of wine at that time, the French people came up with a double steaming method to remove the moisture of the wine, increase the purity of the wine, reduce the space occupied and make it easy to transport. This is the early brandy. In 1701, France was involved in the Spanish War. Brandy sold a lot and wine was accumulated in oak barrels. After the end of the war, people found brandy wine stored in oak barrels. The wines were more mellow, aroma richer, and crystal clear amber. In this way, the world famous brandy was born. Therefore, the age of storage and storage in oak barrels has become an important link in the production of brandy.
Two manufacturing processes
Distillation of brandy with white wine. The fermentation process of raw wine and white wine produced by traditional methods (white wine not suitable for red grapes is used to distill brandy due to the formation of more fusel oil during fermentation and rough texture of steamed liquor). When it is completely stopped, the residual sugar has reached 0.3% or less, static clarification is performed in the tank, and then the upper sake is separated from the foot of the wine, and the distilled liquor is taken out for distillation (distillation of the wine stem alone). Brandy is a special style of beverage wine, which has a low demand for alcoholicity, generally in 60-70% (v/v) alcohol, can preserve its inherent aroma, so the distillation method of brandy remains On a pot-type distillation machine (still with the pot-type distillation is another advantage is that the pot is made of copper, in the heat distillation process, the formation of copper butyric acid, acetic acid, octanoic acid, capric acid, lauric acid salt. These salts are insoluble , so it removes these acids that are not good enough for the quality of brandy).
Pot-type distillation uses direct fire heating for two consecutive distillation steps. That is, the original wine is first steamed into a low-alcohol wine, and a newly fermented raw wine is added to a pot having a capacity of 150-500 liters, and is heated and steamed until the steam contains little alcohol, which takes about 8 hours or more. The liquor (ie Crude Brandy) alcohol content was 24-32% (v/v). Take some of the drinks and store them separately, empty the pot, add the new wine and the last distilled wine to make a second distillation. The same method, the third distillation. The main distillates from the 3 distillations are reconstituted and re-distilled. The re-steaming time will be longer. After about 14 hours, 1%-2% of the wine or some of the wine ends will also be divided. The average of the main distillates Alcoholicity is 58-60% (v/v).
That is the original brandy. The original brandy is blended and blended, after storage and a series of post-processing, and finally bottling and leaving the factory.
Second, use grape skin or grape slag as raw material to make brandy. The skin dregs were placed in a bucket and the container was sealed and allowed to ferment. Since the skin dregs itself contained yeast, it was possible to add no yeast. When the container is full, the mouth is closed and a hole is left at the top to allow the carbon dioxide gas to escape. The fermentation time generally takes 10-15 days and the temperature is suitable, only 7-8 days. After the fermentation is completed, it can be placed in a distiller and distilled in the same manner as above.
The brandy features
Brandy has an elegant, mellow taste and a special fragrance.
The fragrant substances in brandy originate primarily from raw materials. The famous French Kognac brandy is made from the raw materials of white jade, white blessing, and grenba of the Cognac region. These fine grape varieties contain a unique aroma that is fermented and distilled to give the original brandy. Original brandy refers to brandy that has not yet been prepared by distillation.
The source of the elegant aroma of high quality brandy is also a very important source and it is oak barrels.
Original brandy wine is stored in oak barrels and undergoes a series of changes to become elegant, soft, mellow and mature. In the wine industry, this is called “natural and matureâ€. In the process of "natural aging," two changes have taken place: one is the change in color, and the other is the change in taste. The original brandy is white. It continuously extracts the wooden components of the oak barrels during storage, and the tannins contained in the brandy are oxidized. After five years, ten years and even longer, they gradually turn golden yellow and dark. Golden to strong brown. The newly distilled original brandy has a very hot and pungent taste. It extracts the aroma of oak from the lignin of the oak barrel and oxidizes with its own tannins.
Combine together to form a unique aroma of brandy. Qualified brandy, there is also a very important procedure, that is, deployment. The deployment is also called blending.
It is the crowning touch of brandy production, which enables a high degree of harmony and unity of the wine's perception, aroma and taste.
How to deploy is the secret of wine producers. Each factory has its own recipe and its own deployment experts. As masters of cognac blending, not only profound knowledge of winemaking, rich practical experience, but also exceptional sensitivity are needed.
Smell, taste and artistic appreciation. Brandy has a feature that it is not afraid of dilution. Put white water in the brandy, the same flavor can also reduce the degree of alcohol. Therefore, people often put ice cubes, mineral water or soda water when they drink brandy. With more tea, the more noble the tea, the better the aroma of brandy and tea, with rich national characteristics.
The best brandy is made up of a variety of brandy of different ages and origins. The wine trader judges the quality and style of the wine by tasting the wines stored in the barrel and determines the blending ratio. Winemakers have their own recipes and are not rumored. The blended brandy can be bottled in an appropriate container for 6 months in harmony. Brandy is not the same as wine, it does not settle in the bottle and it becomes a final product after bottling. As long as the seal is protected from light and stored at low temperatures, it can be retained for a long period of time. The degree of blended brandy is generally 42-43 degrees in the international standard, and the standard of alcoholicity in China is 38-44 degrees.
In order to highlight the age of storage and raise the price of wine, the brandy of good quality should also have distinctive marks on the labels of the bottles. These marks have different meanings.
Brandy's old ripening process
Freshly distilled brandy, the scent is not mature, rough texture, must be aged in oak barrels. Before aging, it should be diluted to about 50% (v/v). Dilution water 50g/100L of iron-free sugar color can be added before use. Wine barrels should be placed on the ground in the wine cellar brandy, and should not be stored in underground cellars. Because of poor ventilation in underground cellars, the brandy can not be fully oxidized, affecting the aging. The optimum storage room temperature is 15-25°C and the relative humidity is 75-85 degrees. The longer the brandy’s shelf life, the better, the longer the aging time, the smoother the brandy’s style, the finer the aroma, and the higher the price, but this does not mean that the brandy can be aged in the barrel without limit, the wine itself also has a Unripe to maturity to the aging process. After aging for one year in the new barrel, it will be transferred to the old barrel and aged for another 5-10 years or even 20-30 years, generally not exceeding 50 years.
Brandy storage
The reason why brandy is preserved after storage is that it tastes alcoholic and aromatic. This is because the used oak barrels have a subtle “exchange effect†on the brandy, which makes the original colorless wine magically changed into the amber color of the oak barrel. The unique aroma of brandy. However, the brandy itself must pay a certain price, because some brandy will slowly evaporate over time. It is said that in the Cognac (Cognac) region of France, about 20 million bottles of wine were evaporated in a year. It is no wonder that some people laughed that these evaporated wines were stolen by angels. Since oak has a great influence on the quality of the brandy, the winery is very particular about the choice of wood and the manufacture of the barrel. First of all, the oak that has been cut down must be dried for more than two years before it can be used as a cask to prevent the water in the oak from oozing out and affect the mellow taste of the brandy; and all the casks should be purely used. Inlaid with oak, there is no need for a nail or a drop of glue, nor can it be cut with a saw to ensure that the storage process does not affect the color and taste of the wine.
This requires the carpenter's master to use the principle of thermal expansion and contraction of natural objects with smart intelligence and skillful techniques. The wood sticks are baked and bent into each other to cause the wine barrels. The size of this wine barrel is 350 liters. Suitable. Loading wine, such as a wooden barrel, into a portion of the air will change the quality of the wine. This leads to complex chemical reactions and the development of aromas; in addition, the dissolved substances of the oak barrels and its micro-organisms have a great influence on the aging of the brandy and the production of aromas. The alcohol in the wine will also evaporate, which will reduce the intensity of the wine, and the color of the oak barrel will gradually infiltrate into the wine, turning the originally colorless wine into crystal amber, and the taste will be greatly improved.