Production area
APPELLATION
Geographic origin
The only products allowed to use the appellation d’origine contrôlée “Cognac”, “Eau-de-vie de Cognac”, or “Eau-de-vie des Charentes” are wine spirits made from grapes harvested and fermented in communes first delimited in a decree dated 1st May 1909 (and later modified), and distilled and aged for at least two years the region of production.
The Cognac region includes :
● almost the entire Charente-Maritime department
● a large part of the Charente department
● several communes in the Deux-Sèvres and Dordogne departments.
Complementary geographic denominations
The Cognac appellation d’origine contrôlée may be completed by the complementary geographic denominations “Grande Fine Champagne” or “Grande Champagne”, “Petite Fine Champagne” or “Petite Champagne”, “Borderies”, “Fins Bois”, “Bons Bois”, in which case they must comply with the conditions set out here below and be produced only from grapes harvested in each of the above areas as first defined by a decree dated 13th January 1938 and on the understanding that wine production from these grapes, the distillation of this wine, as well as the minimum ageing period of two years, must take place within the bounds of the Cognac region as defined in the decree dated 1st May 1909, since modified.
A complete list of communes is available in the media library (in French only)
The Cognac appellation d’origine contrôlée can be completed by the denominations “Bois Ordinaires” or “Bois à Terroirs”. These are used for wine spirits from non-delimited areas within the geographic regions defined above.
Next… Description of production methods