Cognac Aug 22

Cognac

We met some very nice people at the villa this summer who happened to live in Cognac. So off we went to Cognac for a visit. The town itself didn't have a lot to see but it did have some nice buildings and we were delighted to see our newly made friends again.  Laurent said unless you are involved with the Cognac industry you are on the outside of the circle!  Cecile and Laurent are both teachers and they have 2 children. We had lunch at their house and then went to take a tour of the Tonnellerie—a place that makes wine casks.

http://www.tonnellerie-allary.com/

I was amazed at the amount of hand labor is used to create these beautiful casks. The casks are generally made of French Oak but they also use some oak shipped in from Missouri in America to keep up with their supply and demand! The 'staves' or oak slats are seasoned when they arrive in large stacks outside the building. They are all equally spaced to allow for maximum drying and weathering. Believe it or not, they are air dried for 18-24 months! They use clean well water to irrigate the wood and turn them frequently for proper aging.

The next step is to use a blow drier to remove 3-5% of the humidity from the wood. This allows for stable conditions to work with the wood at 15-17% humidity. The wood is cut and also sanded on the interior of the staves. Watching these guys work is amazing and very noisy. They all work ear protection but in my opinion it isn't enough. They gave us ear plugs to use for the tour but it was still plenty loud.

They start with a metal ring and “mise en rose” or stack the staves in a the ring. They make it look easy but I think it would be hard holding all the pieces together and getting them all to fit. Then they pick up a mallet and anvil and start pounding the rings down further on the barrel. It takes dexterity and strength to hit that thin piece of metal ring and not hit your thumb! The mallets are heavy and they swing them above their head to hit the thin strip. They have to circle the barrel several times and then go to the next ring. During this time they also have to keep all the staves in line on top of the barrel even as well. It really is an art.

Once they get one end of the barrel done it's time to toast the barrel. They have charcoal fires in little chimney's on the ground that they feed with the scrap wood they cut away from the round tops and bottoms they make. There are 5 different levels of toasting for different flavors. They spray the barrels with water to keep the wood pliable. The barrels are rolled around on their rims to move them from place to place. Even that is an art. The barrels are very heavy I can attest to from my work at Snow Farm Winery where I learned to roll them myself.  It's impossible to move with wine in it unless you have a hydraulic lift.

To finish the barrel they use a cable to pull the bottom of the barrel together and put the last rings on. They turn the barrel over and again start with the pounding of the rings to move them lower on the barrel. Somewhere along the line they do put a hole in the side of the barrel for a cork. Then comes the time for sanding which is done with a automated machine. The wood is so beautiful and when all sanded. What a magnificent work of art.

After our visit of the cask fabrication we stopped back at the house for a taste of Cognac. I generally don't like it but that's because I've never really had a good one! And we were served a good one!