Brandy Archives - Winervana

June 6, 2026June 9, 2026

Gran Gala VS Cognac

Is this one of the best bargains in French brandy? Maybe. Maybe not.

When most spirits enthusiasts hear the name Gran Gala, they immediately think of the popular Italian orange liqueur often compared to Grand Marnier. What many drinkers don’t realize is that Gran Gala also produces an authentic French cognac—a surprisingly affordable bottle. At a time when many well-known cognac brands command prices of $40, $50, or significantly more for their entry-level offerings, Gran Gala VS often sells for less than $25. That price alone makes it worthy of a closer look.

Gran Gala VS is produced at Domaine Breuil de Segonzac, an estate in the heart of the Cognac appellation in southwestern France. The brand traces its roots to Trieste, Italy in 1884 and is now owned by the Sazerac Company, which acquired it in December 2016. Following the strict regulations governing Cognac production, the spirit is distilled from ugni blanc grapes using traditional copper pot stills and aged a minimum of two years in French oak barrels — the baseline requirement for the VS designation. While this represents the minimum aging requirement for cognac, skilled blenders can still create an enjoyable spirit from younger components. According to the producer, Gran Gala VS may contain blends of dozens of individual Cognacs, carefully assembled to create a consistent flavor profile.

Gran Gala VS Cognac

This brandy pours a somewhat pale golden amber. On the nose, expect floral aromas accompanied by golden raisin notes, hints of almond, and subtle oak influences. The palate is approachable, if a bit hot, delivering light fruit flavors and gentle spice before finishing with modest warmth. But, that floral quality is present as well, which I did not enjoy because it brings a certain weirdness. ABV is 40%.

Gran Gala VS is probably better suited to cocktails rather than sipping neat. Its lighter profile works nicely in classics such as the Sidecar, French Connection, or Brandy Alexander, where it provides authentic Cognac character without overwhelming other ingredients or straining the budget.

Interestingly, Sazerac, home to 76 brands, including the more well-known Gran Gala Italian Orange Liqueur, makes no mention of the VS Cognac on their web site.

Listen to my podcast about brandy, Cognac, and Armagnac here.

sidecar

1 oz. brandy
1 oz. triple sec
1 oz. lemon or lime juice

Shake with cracked ice and strain.

A note about brandy vs. Cognac. Brandy is a liquor distilled from wine and aged in wood. (Brandy can be made from fruits other than grapes as well, but that’s a story for another time.) Cognac is brandy that specifically comes from the town of Cognac and the delimited surrounding areas in western France. (The one which has the most favorable soil and geographical conditions is Grande Champagne.) So, all Cognacs are brandy, but not all brandies are Cognac. For more detail on Cognac, click here.

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April 6, 2026June 2, 2026

Germain-Robin XO Brandy

Germain-Robin XO Brandy

The Maverick That Redefined American Brandy

In the world of fine spirits, few American producers have challenged Old World orthodoxy as boldly—or as successfully—as Germain-Robin. Long before “craft distilling” became a marketing buzzword, Germain-Robin was quietly rewriting the rules of brandy in Northern California, proving that greatness didn’t have to come from Cognac to rival it.

The story begins in 1982 with an unlikely partnership between Ansley Coale, a California rancher and former academic, and Hubert Germain-Robin, a French distiller from a Cognac-producing family dating back to the 18th century. Their meeting—reportedly by chance along a California highway while Germain-Robin was hitchhiking—sparked a shared vision: to apply traditional French distillation techniques to exceptional California wine grapes.

That decision changed everything.

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September 30, 2025December 30, 2025

Wollersheim Distillery Press House Brandy

Wollersheim Brandy

Wollersheim Press House Brandy. Click here for tasting notes.

Wollersheim Winery is located on a scenic hillside overlooking the the Wisconsin River, across from Prairie du Sac, Wisconsin, about 30 miles northwest of Madison. In addition to the winery, the property now includes a distillery and a bistro.

Wollersheim is considered one of the more established wineries in Wisconsin, and is known for producing both wine and distilled spirits on site.

The Winery

The vineyards were first planted by Agoston Haraszthy (a Hungarian nobleman) in the 1840s. However, finding Wisconsin winters too inhospitable for what he wanted to do. Haraszthy left the state in December of 1849, and headed west. He brought close to 100,000 grapevine cuttings from Europe, (predictably, mostly vines from Hungary) to Sonoma, California, in 1852. This was the introduction of the first European vines and grape varieties to California. He then founded the first commercial winery in California, Buena Vista Winery, in 1857, and went on to be known as “The father of California viticulture.”

Portrait_of_the_Hungarian_Count_Agoston_Haraszthy — Agoston Haraszthy

Following Haraszthy, German immigrant Peter Kehl took over. He planted American grape species better suited to the cold climate, and built a winery in 1876. In the late 1800s, Kehl’s son Jacob made brandy as well as wine, mostly used to fortify some of the wines, much like Port, rather than as a stand-alone spirit. But after Jacob’s death in 1899 and a difficult winter, the vineyard/winery operations ceased, and it reverted to a conventional farm.

In 1972, Robert and JoAnn Wollersheim purchased the property from a Kehl’s great-grandson, and began restoring it as a working winery. The property was added to the National Register of Historic Places as “Kehl Winery” in 1976.

Philippe Coquard, from the Beaujolais region of France, arrived at Wollersheim in 1984 as part of an agriculture exchange. A year later he became the winemaker. He later married Julie Wollersheim, the daughter of Robert and JoAnn, and continues to co-own and operate the facility.

The Wollersheim cave. Photo: Karin Miller

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August 23, 2024June 5, 2026

H by Hine

H by Hine VSOP Cognac

H by Hine is a selection from Hine Cognac, a distinguished brand with a rich history which traces its origins back to the 18th century. Thomas Hine, a young Englishman from Dorset, traveled to France to learn French and the art of making cognac. He settled in the town of Jarnac, in the heart of the Cognac region, where he fell in love with and subsequently married Françoise Elisabeth Delamain, the daughter of a famous cognac négociant (a person or firm that sells or ships wine as a wholesaler).

Hine was made a partner in his father-in-law’s business, and developed a reputation for seeking out only the finest cognac. He expanded what was to become the traditional business of the Hine company: making bespoke cognacs for English wine merchants. In 1817, Thomas Hine officially took over the family business, renaming it Thomas Hine & Co. Continue reading “H by Hine”

January 27, 2023June 5, 2026

Rémy Martin 1738 Accord Royal Cognac

Rémy Martin 1738

Rémy Martin is one of the world’s oldest and best known cognac brands, with selections that range, at my local liquor store at least, from the $13 St. Remy French brandy to the $9000 Rémy Martin Louis XIII Time Collection: City of Lights – 1900. (I have tried one of these, but not both.)

Rémy Martin was founded in 1724 in the Cognac region of France by Paul-Emile Rémy Martin. He was born in 1695 near Rouillac in southwestern France, the son of a vine grower. At 19, he married the daughter of a local notary, and 10 years later, in 1724, he established a cognac trading house. On his death in 1773, the business passed to his grandson, also named Rémy, who was also the local tax collector. In time, his son inherited the business, which saw a four-fold increase in the region’s trade between 1810 and the early 1820s. In 1841, Paul-Emile-Rémy Martin (the family gave just about every male heir the same name, apparently) assumed control and oversaw even greater growth. He introduced the innovation of selling in bottles as well as the traditional casks. An early skilled marketer, he added a logo to the bottles and cases; a centaur after Sagittarius, Martin’s zodiac sign, and registered the firm’s first trademarks in 1874. Following him, as so often happens in dynastic families, the fifth-generation proprietor nearly bankrupted the operation.
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January 14, 2023June 3, 2026

Asbach 8 Year Old German Brandy

Asbach 8 Year Old Brandy

Asbach (formerly Asbach Uralt), one of Germany’s oldest and best known brandies, celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2017.

The picture-perfect town of Rüdesheim sits along the Rhein river, the old town seeming as though it has always existed. It was here, in 1892, that the ambitious, 24-year-old Hugo Asbach (1868–1935) founded his distillery. In 1908, he registered the brand name “Asbach & Co. Uralt” at the Trade Registry of the Imperial Patent Office. Uralt is German for “ancient.” and has since been dropped.

Asbach, a native of Cologne, learned the distillery trade at a local firm named “Export-Company for German Cognac,” and further improved his knowledge in France. Like other brandy producers of his time (as well as ours), Cognac was the ideal he aspired to in his own brandy distilling. And “Rüdesheim Cognac” was what he called his product, which soon became popular. After World War I, however, the Treaty of Versailles decreed that the word Cognac could only be used for French products, specifically from that region. Asbach pivoted and coined the term “Weinbrand,” literally wine brandy, for German brandy, which in 1923 became an official classification according to German wine law.

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March 7, 2022June 5, 2026

Pierre Ferrand Ambre Cognac

Ferrand Ambre

First, let’s talk about brandy vs. Cognac. Brandy is a liquor distilled from grape wine and aged in wood. (Brandy can be made from fruits other than grapes as well, but that’s a story for another time.) Cognac is brandy that specifically comes from the town of Cognac and the delimited surrounding areas in western France. (The one which has the most favorable soil and geographical conditions is Grande Champagne.) So, all Cognacs are brandy, but not all brandies are Cognac. For more detail on Cognac, click here.

Cognac has been sold under the Ferrand name since the 18th century, spanning 10 generations of producers, beginning with the birth of the first Elie Ferrand in the small town of Segonzac in 1630 (nine more Elies would follow). In 1989, Alexandre Gabriel partnered with Pierre Ferrand, the living heir of the family, to develop a line of Cognacs. Once Pierre Ferrand retired in 1993, Gabriel became sole proprietor.

In short order, Gabriel bought the Logis d’Angeac distillery, built in 1776 and located in the heart of the Grande Champagne region of Cognac. He also purchased the 18th century Chateau de Bonbonnet, once owned by the Martell family, and turned it into his home as well as Ferrand’s state-of-the-art blending facility and offices.

Photo: Alexandre Gabriel

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February 21, 2022June 3, 2026

Gran Duque d’Alba Solera Gran Reserva Spanish Brandy

Gran Duque d’Alba Brandy

For those who don’t know, brandy is distilled from wine and aged in wood to give it its characteristic flavor and color. The word brandy comes from the Dutch brandewijin, meaning “burned (distilled) wine.” It is usually made from grape wine, but can be distilled from other fruit wines, most often apple, in which case it is called apple brandy or applejack generically, and Calvados in France. (Calvados is in northwestern France, on the English Channel.) Cognac, perhaps the best-known type of brandy, specifically comes from the town of Cognac and the delimited surrounding areas in western France. So, all Cognacs are brandy, but not all brandies are Cognac. For more detail on Cognac, click here.

Of course, wherever you find wine you will likely also find brandy, and Spain is no exception. This brandy was first introduced in 1945 by a wine merchant in Madrid at that time. He was a good friend of the Seventh Duke of Alba, Jacobo Fitz-James Stuart y Falcó, and asked the duke if he could endorse the new brandy he was about to offer for sale by applying the duke’s name to it. After tasting it the aristocrat was pleasantly impressed and suggested that for such a noble product it would be far more appropriate to use the name of his ancestor the Great Duke of Alba, Fernando Álvarez de Toledo y Pimentel, who was a Spanish noble, general, and diplomat, shown here. He was an adviser to two Spanish kings, governor of the Duchy of Milan, viceroy of the Kingdom of Naples, governor of the Netherlands, and viceroy and constable of the Kingdom of Portugal. Continue reading “Gran Duque d’Alba Solera Gran Reserva Spanish Brandy”

January 30, 2022June 6, 2026

A Good Cheap Brandy

If you want a good cheap brandy, For best results blend your own.

Obviously, I enjoy wine, but I’m a fan of liquor too, especially brandy. Brandy is distilled from wine and aged in wood to give it its characteristic flavor and color. The word brandy comes from the Dutch brandewijin, meaning “burned (distilled) wine.” It is usually made from grape wine, but can be distilled from other fruit wines, most often apple, in which case it is called apple brandy or applejack generically and Calvados in France. Cognac is brandy that specifically comes from the town of Cognac and the delimited surrounding areas in western France. So, all cognacs are brandy, but not all brandies are cognac. For more detail on cognac, click here.

My favorite brandy of all time is Kelt VSOP Tour du Monde. Just a few years ago, it was selling for $40 a bottle; now it’s $60. Brands like Martell, Hennessy, Courvoisier, and Hardy have suffered similar inflation. Capitalism at its finest. Regardless, all of them are too expensive for me to drink on a regular basis. For that, I turn to bottles under $20. American producers include Paul Masson, Christian Brothers, Korbel, and E&J Gallo. And there are readily-available European offerings such as St. Remy from France, Hartley from Italy, Pedro Domecq from Mexico, and Veterano from Spain. Continue reading “A Good Cheap Brandy”

January 30, 2022June 3, 2026

Dunill XO French Brandy

Dunill XO Brandy

Is it possible to get a quality XO brandy for $20? If this Dunill XO is any indication, the answer is no. (For just one comparison, Courvoisier XO costs $170. Most XOs cost at least $100, and go up from there.)

First off, this is Dunill brandy, no doubt named to confuse buyers with the Alfred Dunhill luxury goods company of London. The bottle, with its extravagant design to mimic crystal (it isn’t, of course), and its gold braid around the neck is further intended to convey quality. But, the faux “aged bronze” seal in the center of the bottle even popped off two days after I got it home.

Sadly, the quality just isn’t there. This is what the producer claims, “Produced in the South of France, out of the best grapes, and handcrafted in small batches. Distilled in the pure tradition of the region. The cellar master has extracted the most subtle aromas of the brandy through a very slow distillation and aging for 10 years in French oak barrels, to give the taste of an exceptional brandy. Deep amber color.”

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January 29, 2021November 29, 2025

Riedel Brandy Glasses

Riedel of Austria, famous for its varietal-specific stemware, makes both of these glasses, and both are intended for use with brandy and its variants Cognac, and Armagnac. How is this possible? They could hardly be more different.

The glass on the left is the iconic brandy snifter, as instantly recognizable as a martini glass. Its large balloon bowl is intended to display as much of a brandy’s aroma as possible. And the wide bottom is intended for cradling in the palm of your hand, warming the brandy to further enhance the nose.

The glass on the right, although named by Riedel specifically for Hennessey Cognac, is suited for any brandy, Cognac, or Armagnac, and is the one preferred by connoisseurs and professionals. The bowl still allows for appreciating the aroma, without accelerating the evaporation like a snifter can, and the tulip shape concentrates it. A similarly-sized and -shaped wine glass can work nearly as well.

While I enjoy stemware like this, as always my advice is to use whatever you like. As far as I’m concerned, if you don’t have to slurp your beverage directly off the counter you’re good to go.

Find out more about brandy by listening to the Winervana Podcast Episode 10 – Brandy, Cognac, and Armagnac.

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March 26, 2020March 5, 2026

North Wisconsin Brandy

North Wisconsin Brandy

At Milwaukees’ Miller Park, home of the Brewers, the official brandy served at the ballpark is Central Standard distillery’s North Wisconsin Brandy. Your day of baseball can include an iconic Wisconsin-style brandy Old Fashioned made with a spirit produced right there in town.

North is the first-ever brandy produced by a Milwaukee company. Made at Central Standard’s Clybourn Street distillery, the small-batch brandy is aged and finished in their bourbon barrels. (By the way, North Wisconsin debuted as North 40, but was quietly rebranded shortly thereafter.)

“North is a recipe we’ve been working to perfect since we opened our doors more than four years ago,” notes Central Standard Craft Distillery co-founder Pat McQuillan.

All well and good, and more than 40,000 people will be potential customers for North Wisconsin every game day. Unfortunately, the brandy is mediocre at best. It is pale amber in the glass, perhaps a sign of not enough time in those bourbon barrels (a quirky choice on its own). There are distinct whiffs of acetone on the nose, often indicative of a lower distillation temperature. The taste is hot and one-dimensional. And at about $20 a bottle, there are a number of better values out there, often at about half the price, including Korbel.

“Wisconsin is our number one state,” says Margie Healy, director of public relations for the California-based Korbel. “We export 385,000 cases a year, and 139,000 go directly to Wisconsin. That’s one-third of our total production.”

But perhaps a classic Wisconsin Old Fashioned will mask enough of those flaws for you to give it a try. Here are three recipes:

Old Fashioned Sweet

1 orange slice (never an orange twist)
1 maraschino cherry
1-1/2 ounces maraschino cherry juice
1 teaspoon bitters
1/4 to 1/3 cup ice cubes
1-1/2 ounces brandy
2 teaspoons water
1 teaspoon orange juice
3 ounces lemon-lime soda

In a rocks glass, muddle orange slice, cherry, cherry juice and bitters. Add ice. Pour in the brandy, water, orange juice and soda.

Old Fashioned Sour

1 orange slice
2 cherries and their juices
1-1/2 ounces brandy (or about one shot)
dash of bitters (1 dropper full – 10 drops)
1 teaspoon of sugar
Collins mix, or 50/50 or Squirt soda
ice cubes

In a cocktail glass muddle sugar, orange slice, cherries and bitters, add shot of brandy and stir. Add ice to fill the glass, then top it off with Collins mix, 50/50 or Squirt soda.

Old Fashioned Press

Press is short for Presbyterian, and refers to finishing the drink with club soda. So for a Press, simply substitute club soda for the sweet soda in either of the recipes above.

Listen to my podcast about brandy, Cognac, and Armagnac here.

thecentralstandard.com/spirits/our-spirits

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March 23, 2020June 5, 2026

Kelt Commodore Cognac

Kelt Commodore

First, let’s talk about brandy vs. cognac. Brandy is a liquor distilled from wine and aged in wood. (Brandy can be made from fruits other than grapes as well, but that’s a story for another time.) Cognac is brandy that specifically comes from the town of Cognac and the delimited surrounding areas in western France. (The one which has the most favorable soil and geographical conditions is Grande Champagne.) So, all cognacs are brandy, but not all brandies are cognac. For more detail on cognac, click here.

Until the early 1900s cognac was shipped in barrels. The long sea voyages had a profound effect on the quality of the cognac. When cognac started to be shipped in bottles, many felt something had been was lost. Hoping to recapture that quality, Estonian-born Swedish entrepreneur Olev Keltes established the Kelt Cognac company in 1987. He began his career with the study of the distillation of cognacs as well as madeira, rum, and aquavit. It was this study that led him to rediscover the lost secret that quality improved in spirits that were aged in barrels on a long trip at sea . It is this maturation at sea that sets Kelt apart from other cognac houses.

Kelt continued to expand on this idea, and sent his cognac on its first sea voyage in 1990. The cognac world looked on, many with skeptical eyes. After the voyage, a tasting session was arranged with some of the top names in the cognac industry, and it was with some surprise that the experiment was hailed a great success.

Subsequently, an optimum route around the world was established, and one which all Kelt cognac now follows. The aim of this travel around the world (tour du monde) is to produce cognacs similar to those of the past, where many cognacs and eaux-de-vie were subjected to this epic oceanic journey.

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