Glossary or Reference Section

Shape of a snifter

A snifter should be of a shape to help bouquet open to the fullest extent. Usually, when serving cognac, one should use ball-shaped glasses for brandy, called snifters (from Eng. “to sniff”), with a capacity of 420—840 millilitres. There are also big glasses (up to 3,000 millilitres), however they let the bouquet spread, instead of concentrating it; besides, a substantial portion of cognac is lost in such glasses due to the fact that the drink remains on the walls. Lately, people have mostly been using special glasses for cognac – small (up to 180 millilitres), with broadened bottom and an elongated upper part.

Each of these shapes (a snifter and a cognac glass) has its followers, so any restaurant should have both. Portions of cognac vary from 20 (for elite marks) to 50 millilitres.

Cognac degustation technique

How the drink looks like — its colour (from light-straw to dark-brown), tints, glitter, transparency, “runs” on walls of a glass – reflects its age, quality, presence of impurities, preservation.

The main role in the process of degustation is assigned to a nose. The thing is that any spirit “burns” a palate with the first sip, it stupefies the mouth-feel and sensation of smell. The task consists in the following: its flavour and taste should be mitigated, emphasizing other aromas. That is exactly why some degustators only smell the cognac without drinking it.

The following story seems to be rather demonstrative and cautionary. During one of the official dinners, when French Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Talleyrand noticed that a Prussian delegator drank the content of his glass at a gulp, the Minister addressed the latter with such words: “Cognac should be drunk differently. They usually hold the glass in palms, warm it up and slightly rotate to let the bouquet out. Then, they bring it close to nostrils and enjoy”. – “And what then?” – “Then, they put the glass on the table and talk about cognac”. This nice anecdote could be found in several versions, and not always it refers to cognac. It is amusing, but in one of such versions the main character is a politician from Andalusia, who explains to the British Delegation members how to degustate sherry brandy.

Among a variety of aromas which may constitute a bouquet of good cognac, we should mention fruity ones (pear, apricot, plum, fig, quince, orange, grapefruit), floral (violet, linden, lavender), herbal (mint, fern, dill, hay, tobacco), woody (oak, pine, cedar), spicy (vanilla, pepper, cloves, ginger), animal (fur, leather, musk), nutty (hazel, peanut, almonds) and those of fried or burnt products (slightly fried bread, rifle firestone, smoke, roasted coffee). After you take some cognac into your mouth, “air” and “chew” it, you can feel velvetiness, roundness, delicateness, and length of the drink. A very important characteristic is the length and pleasantness of aftertaste.

If a number of cognacs are degustated, one should use the same crescendo rule as for a wine tasting: each subsequent drink should not make you regret about the preceding one. In other words, it is not recommended to drink old cognac first, and then proceed to a younger one. Most probably, VSOP will cause regret if it is served after ХО or Extra. In the reverse, ascending order all of them will provoke only pleasant feelings.