élevage , or “nurturing,” is a term sometimes used to encompass the unique, extraordinarily complex, and closely held system of maturation employed in making cognac and some other French spirits, such as Armagnac and calvados. The deliberate aging of brandy in oak barrels is a French, and specifically Cognacais, innovation of the seventeenth century, and French blenders and cellarmasters have spent the succeeding centuries perfecting the process.
Élevage is a slow and gradual process, as is all maturation in wood, but unlike the practice that prevails when aging many spirits, where the new spirit goes into the barrel and sits undisturbed in a warehouse until mature, it is also a dynamic one, involving strategic choices and interventions throughout the aging cycle and even before.
The process begins with choosing the characteristics of the casks: the type of oak used for the staves, the level of their toasting or charring, and the age of the casks—are they new or old? Depending on the style desired for the finished product, the cellarmaster will opt for fine-grained staves (annual growth of the tree lower than 2 mm) or looser-grained ones (annual growth greater than 3 mm), for the nature of the tannins will vary between these, as will the oxidation rate of the spirit. The heating of the barrel (toasting or charring), a technique also known as “bousinage,” is practiced in cooperages, which enables the extraction of the aromatic compounds of the wood (e.g., vanillin) responsible for the “toasted” aromas of spirits.
Evaluation
Élevage itself begins with evaluation. When it comes off the still, each batch of new eau-de-vie brings with it its own nuances of flavor, texture, and structure. These nuances bring with them different aging potentials, which must be detected so that the spirit can reach its full development. This detection of potential can only be done by taste, and indeed the ability to project the development of a new spirit many years into the future is at the heart of the master blender’s craft. It is the fruit of very long training and apprenticeship and much experience.
By tasting, the blender will determine, for instance, that a certain batch will reach its fullness of expression quickly. Conversely, another one will present a brioché (basically, “rich like a brioche”) character, a mouth structure that indicates a predisposition to aging. It will be routed to a longer aging, either alone or in an intermediate blend with other batches, to take advantage of its exceptional character.
The First Year in the Barrel
The first year of aging is a crucial phase for the future of the spirits. For the élevage technique, it is generally believed that a period spent in new barrels is decisive for the future maturation of the spirit. This period can vary from three months or so to a year, with different types of barrels used for spirits on different aging paths. A spirit intended to be sold fairly young will generally go into a barrel made from the relatively porous, high-tannin oak from the Limousin forest, while one intended for longer aging will go into one made from the tighter-pored, less tannic oaks of the Tronçais forest. For such spirits, the period of contact with new oak is usually on the shorter side, and indeed some producers use no new oak at all for spirits destined for maximum aging, lest the wood rise up to overpower the flavors of fruit and terroir in the spirit when it has become concentrated through evaporation.
After its time in new oak, the spirit will be moved to older, already-used barrels (called fûts roux, “red casks,” in cognac production), from which much of the tannins and other wood compounds have already been extracted.
The élevage technique also includes specific techniques for micromanaging the barrels, such as redouellage, or “restaving,” which involves changing one or a few staves or the head of an old barrel to bring a delicate touch of newer wood to the spirits, or the use of grooved staves in a new barrel to increase the surface area of the oak in contact with the spirit.
Wet Cellar, Dry Cellar?
Once the spirit’s initial contact with wood is over and it has been rebarreled, it enters its oxidative aging phase, characterized by slow-acting physical and chemical exchanges between the spirit, the wood, and the air admitted by the porosity of the barrel. This is where the atmosphere of the cellar, its temperature, and humidity, come into play. Wet cellars, where the humidity means that more alcohol evaporates from the spirit than water, bring roundness and mouthfeel. Dry cellars, favoring the evaporation of water, will confer a certain tannic brightness as well as elegance and finesse. A considered alternation decided by the cellarmaster between the two types of “breathing” will give a spirit the subtlety required for a fine brandy. Some fine cognac houses have cellars with up to six levels of humidity to achieve a perfect aging.
Contrary to popular imagery of spirits “forgotten” in a dark cellar, élevage is anything but static. Unlike a simple aging, where a spirit is left to age undisturbed until maturity, élevage involves a series of actions and transfers based on regular assessments by the cellarmaster. The spirits can change barrel and cellar several times; indeed, many are blended with other batches several times during the process, creating preliminary blends, or “coupes,” that are the building blocks of the final ones. All of this requires enough storage space and proper cellars of different types. The storage of spirits is highly capital-intensive, demanding the means to build the necessary cellars and buy casks. Assuming both are available, storage decisions are based on the regular tasting of the spirits. The fear of the cellarmaster is that the early potential of the spirit is lost through inadequate aging, and gold will turn into lead.
Full Maturity
When, after three, six, ten, fifteen, twenty, or fifty years (depending on its properties and aging potential), a cognac reaches its full maturity, it will be incorporated into a final blend (very, very few cognacs are sold unblended). The blending of spirits of different ages and from different barrels represents the final stage of élevage—unless, that is, the spirit is destined for preservation in the firm’s paradis, or “paradise,” where it will be preserved alongside other exceptional cognacs in glass demijohns for special use. For the rest, the blending represents its own process of nurturing. The best practice has it taking place over several months or, better, several years, so that different spirits can marry perfectly and show a perfect integration (a quality also referred to as fondu, “melted”). This holds true for other components that go into the blend besides brandy: the caramel coloring, the permissible amount of sugar syrup, if any, and even the very water used to reduce the spirit to proof. The best practice is to barrel age each of these components on their own, blended with some eau-de-vie to act as a preservative and make it blend more easily.
See also Armagnac; blending; calvados; cognac; and maturation.
Faith, Nicholas. Cognac. London: Mitchell Beazley, 2004.
By: Alexandre Gabriel and David Wondrich