Although it s a pot still, the French type of alambic is far different in design from the pot stills used to make single malt Scotch. But it s just as work-intensive, and just as difficult to master. Indeed, it s akin to nurturing the baby in utero before the rearing process begins. I m not as great a genius as the people who make Cognac they can make a great product from mediocre grapes. I, on the other hand, have to use the best grapes, and I try to get them to show through in the spirit, he says.
Barrel aging American distillers quickly turn very French when it comes to aging their brandies.
With only one exception, all the new-age distilleries mentioned here use barrels made from Limousin oak, the same wood used in Cognac, to rear their babies. Rupf, however, is the dissenter here he uses barrels made from Burgundian oak, which, according to Rupf, is much favored by winemakers. The Chardonnay wine that Rupf distills is delivered in these barrels, so they are convenient vessels for him to use, but more than this, he claims that the wine takes the green character out of the oak, thus making the Chardonnay barrels perfect for aging his brandies. Often the new spirits are initially entered into brand-new barrels, where they will take on quite a lot of tannins during infancy. But these brandies are constantly monitored, and as soon as the distillers deem fit, the brandies will be transferred to older barrels that have already lost most of their tannins.