Spirits based on grapes transformation are also name brandies. Brandy comes from brandywine, derived from Dutch brandewijn, gebrande wijn or "burned wine") is a spirit produced by distilling wine or wine pomace. The familly is old and wide.
Brandies which use wine as base
The word Brandy* is used when the spirit is made from the distillation of wine for example for ARMAGNAC (in France) COGNAC (in France) PISCO (in Chili and Peru) METAXA (in Greece) STRAVECCHIO (in Italy) or BRANDY DE JEREZ in Spain. |
Spirits which use grapes or wine distillate as base but ignore their characteristics.
Eau-de-vie can technically be made from any fruit, among them, grape even though quite rare, like the AGUARDIENTE in Portugal or ARZANTE in Italy. Brandies which use wine as a base with high proof alcohol added.
SHERRY, PORT, MADEIRA, MARSALA and other Vins Doux naturels are not cover in this section whereas they may be considered as spirits. As they are also existing under their own "fortified wines" category, they gonna be excluded here. Keep them in mind if you want to work on a exhaustive grape based alcoholic beverages though! |
Spirits which use wine must (pomace) as base
Pomace is the leftover from wine making, the must made of skins, stalks, seeds, stems everything left once the fermented grapes are pressed. The most famous of grape pomace is the italian GRAPPA Every country producing wine has developed its own “Grappa”. In France this is called MARC, BAGACEIRA in Portugal, ORUJO in Spain, TRESTER in Germany, LOZOVAČA in Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia, ZIVANIA in Cyprus, CHACHA in Georgia, TSIPOURO in Greece, TÖRKÖLY in Hungaria, GROZDOVA in Bulgaria... In Spiritsfully we are only going to cover Grappa, Fine and Marc for the moment. They all taste different but all follow the same production processes. |
"Claret is the liquor for boys; port for men; but he who aspires to be a hero must drink brandy." – Samuel Johnson
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By extension the term "brandy" is also used for spirits obtained from the "wines" of other fruits such as mirabelles, cherries, apples, plums, williams pears... They are called fruit brandies. They are cover in their own section HERE.
Of course gin and vodka producers can also add distillates from wine to their products but we're not covering them in that section.
Of course gin and vodka producers can also add distillates from wine to their products but we're not covering them in that section.