Germain-Robin , considered by many the premium producer of California brandies, was born of a chance encounter in California’s Mendocino County in 1981, when professor-cum-rancher Ansley Coale picked up a hitchhiker who turned out to be Hubert Germain-Robin (1950–), the ninth-generation scion of a legendary cognac-making family. The two men hatched a plan to produce artisanal brandy from local wines on Coale’s ranch, drawing on Germain-Robin’s extensive distilling expertise. Germain-Robin returned to his native France to procure a vintage alambic Charentais cognac still, and soon he was distilling brandy for his eponymous label from wine made with locally-sourced pinot noir and other high-quality wine grape varieties. (In contrast, cognac is made mostly from ugni blanc, a grape that yields undistinguished wines.) Aged in French oak barrels, the inaugural 1982 vintage was released five years later. Though acclaim for Germain-Robin’s brandy wasn’t immediate, its enthusiastic embrace by Ronald Reagan and subsequent US presidents soon helped to solidify its reputation as America’s answer to fine cognac.
Hubert Germain-Robin left the company in 2006 to pursue a consulting career, turning over the production reins to his assistant, Joe Corley. In 2017, Germain-Robin was purchased by E. & J. Gallo, and production was subsequently transferred to the historic McCall distillery near Fresno. There the brandy is distilled in traditional cognac stills installed by Suntory in the early 1990s and recently refurbished by Gallo—under the direction of none other than Hubert Germain-Robin.
Boyd, Gerald. D. “French Twist.” San Francisco Chronicle, November 25, 2001.
Prial, Frank J. “A Choice Encounter.” New York Times Magazine, September 4, 1988.
By: David Mahoney