2011 - a remarkable year for cognac

For a long time, the cognac market has spread pretty equally over three important geographical zones. One of them is Southeast Asia (Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand) as well as China and Japan. This zone accounts for 35.8 percent of the world market for cognac. There, it’s above all top quality cognacs that are sold, and they are steadily increasing in value and volume. On the Chinese market, in particular, a growth of 20.1 percent (22.6 million bottles sold) could be observed in 2011.

A further important market is the NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement), which Canada, the USA and Mexico joined together to in 1994. There, cognac achieved 31.2 percent of its turnover on the world market in 2011; this is a growth of 3.2 percent compared to the year before. The USA with 48.4 million bottles sold is the frontrunner in this trio.

Finally, in Europe, the third important trade area, the turnover remained stable at 28.8 percent. In fact, those figures show that cognac cannot only consolidate but even expand its worldwide turnovers. The cognac industry expresses its satisfaction about the brand’s dynamic; on the other hand, they express cautious optimism in view of the uncertainties due to the current turbulences on the world markets. (red.yoopress)

How cognac is classified:

As a rule, cognac is a composition (assemblage) of different brandies from different years and vineyards; there is, however, no regulation about that. Cognacs of especially high quality contain brandies that are possibly several decades of age and whose price range begins at 1,000 euro.

As late as the composition of the cognac is finished - which means the end of its aging process at the same time – the storage period in the barrel is included to its age. Here are the termes used:

• „VS“ (Very Special) or „***“ (3 stars) means: The youngest distillate added to the assemblage must have been at least 2 years of age.
   
• „V.S.O.P (Very Superior Old Pale), „Vieu“, „V.O“, „Réserve“ means: The youngest distillate added to the assemblage must have been at least 4 years of age.
   
• „Napoleon“, „XO“, „Extra“, „Hors d´âge“, „Royal“, „Très Vieux“, „Vieille Réserve“ means: The youngest distillate added to the assemblage must have been at least 6 years of age.