COGNAC RENAISSANCE

The secret of cognac is in the soil from which it comes. For this reason, Rémy Martin only uses grapes from the most respected growing regions - the Grande Champagne and Petite Champagne.

These regions contain a unique type of chalk-flecked soil that reflects light and ripens the grapes to absolute perfection.

Like the Fine Champagne Cognac, only made with Grande Champagne and Petite Champagne grapes, which is the only blend of two crus protected by the Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée.

The legal alliance between winegrowers, distillers and Rémy Martin started in 1965. It was the first contract between Grande Champagne & Petite Champagne and Rémy Martin, finally forming the Alliance Fine Champagne.

FOR NOVICE COGNAC DRINKERS? They can start to drink the cognac as a long drink like VOSP and add some ginger ale, ice cubes and a bit of orange juice. Cognac is very intense in aroma, you don't have to drink a lot. Drinking cognac as a long drink or on the rocks is a nice way to start.

MORE ABOUT THE TYPES OF COGNAC AND THEIR ORIGINS

The VOSP cognac is a fine champagne cognac. It is between four to 14 years old. The Cognac region is divided into six growth areas according to the soil. The soil is very important as the type of soil will give you a certain type of quality.

For Remy Martin are concentrating only on the two growth areas: the petite champagne and the grande champagne, which are located in the heart of the cognac region. they buy grapes from these two areas which are rare and the best. They  make fine champagne cognac which is the superior quality Fine champagne, cognac means it is only blended from petite and grande champagne l'eau de vie. If your cognac contains more than 50% grande champagne, you are then entitled to carry the appellation of fine champagne cognac.

WAYS TO APPRECIATE COGNAC?

Before drinking cognac,need to inspect the colour. When nosing, you are not going to rotate the glass like when you are doing the wine tasting. Just let the aromas come up to you. Once you detect the aroma, you stop. For sipping, just take one small drop. After swallowing, you can open the mouth and let the air breathe in and breathe out and feel the fruitiness. At Remy Martin,a well-balanced cognac. It has a burning sensation and very intense. But if you compare it to tequila, whiskey and vodka, they are stronger. The finish is persistant.

WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN XO AND VOSP COGNAC?

For cognac, have different grading. It needs minimum ageing of four years for VOSP grade. For XO, minimum ageing is six years. Compared to VOSP, XO is darker in colour because it spends more time in the oak barrel.they age it for 10 to 37 years. more layers, more aromas, thanks to the long ageing. There is more depth. There are notes of oak, walnut, cinnamon, hints of honey. older cognac is like an older person, more mature, more multi-faceted. It covers the whole palate.

It's best to match frozen cognac with seafood, like oysters. You can also match blue cheese with VOSP. You cannot use a mild cheese. For Asian food, you can match cognac with shrimps.

COGNAC RENAISSANCE

Bordeaux Wine
Is any wine produced in the Bordeaux region of France, centered on the city of Bordeux and covering the whole area of the Gironde department, with a total vineyard area of over 120,000 hectares, making it the largest wine growing area in France. Average vintages produce over 700 million bottles of Bordeaux wine, ranging from large quantities of everyday table wine, to some of the most expensive and prestigious wines in the world.

Some Bordeaux Wine

Chateau Canon 2000
Very dark red, a rich bouquet of very ripe, plummy orange fruit, an intense palate, great density, full of extract, rather compact body. Intense flavor but tight and brooding, very complex, very pro-found. Power with grace, with the capacity to become even more complex and rich. Quintessential Can-on, not just back to its former heights but scaling higher heights.

Chateau Pichon Lalande 2000
Very dark red, hardly any brown tints. A slow starter, it took some time for aroma and palate to develop. It took 20 minutes in the glass for the characteristic cedar and blackcurrant bouquet to show, albeit a trifle light, not at all lush, just a gentle and soft bouquet.
The palate was somewhat modest in volume and density, well balanced though with good freshness, not quite as complex and concentrated as befits a 2000 wine. A gentle version of Pichon, already drinking well, but not quite the Pichon of old.

Gevrey-Chambertin "Coeur du Roy" 1999, Dugat-Py
Bernard Dugat-Py is one of Burgundy's finest growers, quiet, soft-spoken, speaking little English. The winery and home are on the edge of the town of Gevrey-Chambertin, the cellar with its high vaulted ceiling being previously the crypt of a church. Makes very dense powerful wines.

Medium dark red, slightly browning; medium intensity bouquet of crushed cherries and straw-berries. Good ripe pinot fruit character on the palate, good freshness and ripeness, medium-bodied, not lush but lightly firm as befits a Gevrey-Chambertin wine.

Mazis-Chambertin Grand Cru 1999, Faiveley
A significant step up in density, concentration, intensity and ripeness. More pronounced and riper fruit bouquet. Much more dense and concentrated palate, crisp freshness, clearly a bigger, more complex and intense wine, still some way from ready. Very good potential, a great burgundy.

Egon Muller-Scharzhof Riesling Kabinett 1996
Very light yellow in colour, with the classic "kerosene" bouquet typical of mature high quality Riesling. Lightly sweet on the pal-ate, with that limpid minerality and attenuated fruity acidity which denotes a mature Riesling, delicate in texture, finishing lingering and clean.

Perfect foil to an Alaskan king crab dish. A lovely wine, exemplifying the oft-repeated injunction that great German Riesling,.Kabinetts are best drunk when at least six years old, preferably at least 10 years!

Champagne Pol Roger "Winston Churchill" 1996
A long-time favourite cuvee, one of the finest of the deluxe cuvees. The first vintage was the 1975, bottled only in magnums, sold only in the United Kingdom, with an etiquette which carried a black border in mourning for the great wartime leader whose favourite champagne this was.

1996 was a great vintage for champagne 
Tom Stevenson, a leading writer on champagne, wrote "... an extraordinary Champagne vintage. ... has been compared to 1928... with average 10.3 per cent potential alcohol with 10g/litre total acidity". It was a winner all the way from the first sip to the reluctant end. Very bubbly, pale yellow, light citrusy, light bouquet of freshly baked bread, a little yeasty. Very fresh on the palate, intense and concentrated, great precision, perfect ripeness and very complex. Very good minerality

Enjoy them this Christmas!

Bordeaux Wine

Wine is basically made from two simple ingredients: yeast and grape juice. Actually, just about any fruit juice can be used, but by far the majority of all wine is made from the juice of the grape. Unfortunately, the subject of wine intimidates many people. Some people have grown shy of wine because they believe that there are right and wrong ways to enjoy it.

How is wine made?

Wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of grapes. Yeast consumes the sugars found in the grapes and converts the grape juice into wine. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeast are used depending on the type of wine being produced. Although other types of fruits such as apples and berries can also be fermented, the resultant wines are normally named after the fruit from which they are produced.

During fermentation, yeast spores will reproduce exponentially until all of the fermentable sugars have been consumed. During this fermentation process, the sugars are converted into alcohol and carbon dioxide.

The yeast will also affect the taste to the finished wine depending on various factors such as the strain of yeast used, the temperature during fermentation. In addition, different environmental factors such as plants and soil, as well as the weather, can also affect the outcome of the wine.

Once all of the fermentable sugars have been consumed, the yeast will fall to the bottom of the container. The wine is removed from the container, leaving the yeast, and is trasfered to another container to mature while waiting to be bottled.

Even though there are very few ingredients in a wine, there are many things which influence the taste of wine. First of all, there are different types of grapes. Each grape variety will produce different flavors, aromas, and even textures.

Besides that, the wine maker can control various things by the technique, temperature and yeast used during fermentation. Other variables such as fermenting or storing in oak barrels will also affect the taste.

Now that you've been introduced to wine, the best way to really get to know it is to drink it. Here, at Wine Actually, we will be doing some reviews on the various types of wine available in the market today. I highly recommend tasting sessions as a way to learn about the different varieties.

In addition to presenting you with good, basic wine information, our goal in this website is to encourage you to trust your judgment. If you find that you like red wine with fish instead of white, or you discover that you prefer your white wines at room temperature instead of chilled, or you decide to serve a dessert wine with your meal, we want you to feel free to do so.

Remember, wine is meant to be enjoyed!

What Is Wine?