Distillation
DISTILLATION
About 9 litres of wine for 1 litre of eau-de-vie at 72% abv.
It takes 9 litres of wine to obtain 1 litre of eau-de-vie at 72% abv. That means two-thirds of the initial volume is lost with each heating.
For 25 hl of wine, 9 hl of brouillis are obtained. So it takes three times as much wine to obtain the volume of brouillis needed for the second distillation, the “bonne chauffe”.
The heart of the “bonne chauffe”: 40% of the volume of the brouillis
During the second distillation, the first, most volatile products are discarded. In too high concentration, they would alter the quality of the eau-de-vie. These are the “heads” (“têtes”). They represent 1-2% of the volume of the brouillis.
The next products to appear are much finer and rich in floral aromas. They constitute the “heart” (“coeur”) of the distillation, the future Cognac—about 40% of the volume of the brouillis.
The following portion is called the “secondes”, representing about 30% of the volume of the brouillis. Neither the “secondes” nor the “tails” (“queues”) — the last 10% of the distillate—will be kept.
This separation of the different portions is called “cutting” (“la coupe”).
The remaining volume of the brouillis is composed of residues, which are not distilled.