Distillation

Alembic Charentais is the name of distiller used in Cognac, which is identical with the pot still used for whisky production. The regulation specifics the alembic needs to made out of pure cobber, the reason being that copper is strong enough to withstand the high acids of the wine as compared to other metals and it does not affect the taste of the spirits.

Two separate distillations are used in the making of Cognac the first one called the premier chauffe and the second one called the bonne chauffe.

First distillation – la premier chauffe

The unfiltered wine is put the boiler and the heater raises the alcohol to 78C when at which time it begins to vaporize. The alcoholic vapors pass through the swan neck to finally condense when they come in contact with the cool air in the coolant or the pipe. The condensed liquid, called "broullis," is reduced one-third from the original amount. The first of the distilled wine  is called the heads (le téte) which taste unpleasant and is therefore removed and re-distilled together with new wine. The second part is called the heart (le broullis) which the part kept for second distillation. The heart normally has alcohol content between 25 and 30%. The last part called the tails is full of impurities and joins the head for re-distillation with new wine. The entire first heating or the first chauffe takes between 8 and 10 hours.  

Second distillation – la bonne chauffe

The still is carefully cleaned and the brouillis (the heart) of the first distillation is returned back to the boiler for a second heating. It is during this second heating that the eau-de-vie finally extracted from the liquid. In this process the distiller performs the difficult task of separating the heart from the head and the tail - know as cutting. During this process, the vapors that arrive first (the heads) have too high alcohol content and are therefore separated from the rest of the liquid. The next part is the heart or the eau-de-vie with a 70% alcohol per volume. The distiller needs to cut the heart correctly to ensure that that only the purest spirit will be used to make Cognac. The tail is then cut off as well because the alcohol content is too small. The entire process lasts approximately 12 hours.

The eau-de-vie is now ready to be aged.