How is brandy made? How to choose brandy

High-quality brandy is not only soft and warm in the mouth, but also has attractive fruity aroma and elegant and mellow aged aroma, harmonious flavor and lingering aftertaste. Usually, good brandy can let you appreciate the gentle and mellow aroma in the heat. Brandy will undergo a series of changes to become elegant, soft, mellow and mature. In the wine industry, this is called "natural aging". Have you tasted it?

Contents of this article

1. How is brandy made?

2. How to choose brandy

3. The correct storage method of brandy

How is Brandy Made?

Brandy production process: It is made through six steps: brewing of raw wine, fermentation, distillation, blending, aging and storage.

The raw material wine brewing often adopts free-flowing juice fermentation. The temperature should be controlled at 30-32℃ for 4-5 days. The clear wine can be distilled. The lees wine is distilled separately. The alcohol content of the original brandy obtained by distillation is in the range of 60%-70% (V/V). It needs to be blended, stored in oak barrels for a short time, and then blended before it can be shipped out. It needs to be naturally aged in oak barrels for many years. A series of changes will occur in oak barrels, making it elegant, soft, mellow and mature. In the wine industry, this is called "natural aging".

How to choose brandy

Generally speaking, the color of high-quality brandy is golden or amber, which looks crystal clear, solemn but not gaudy. In addition, the color and tone of brandy also reflect the storage time and quality of the brandy to a certain extent. Therefore, if the liquor is dark red or tile gray, it means that its quality is relatively poor.

Brandy needs to be stored in oak barrels all year round, so the combination of wine and oak will produce aroma. Therefore, in addition to the fruity aroma of grape raw materials, high-quality brandy should also have the aroma of stored oak, the attractive fresh fruit aroma and the elegant and mellow aging aroma, which will give people a lingering aftertaste. Therefore, when we buy brandy, smelling the aroma is a very important step.

In addition to seeing and smelling, there is another point to taste directly. High-quality brandy is not only soft in the mouth and warms the stomach, but also has attractive fruity aroma and elegant and mellow aged aroma, harmonious flavor and lingering aftertaste. So when we take the first sip, we can first sip a small drop with the tip of the tongue, let it spread along the tip of the tongue and then enter the throat. Usually, good brandy can let you appreciate the gentle and mellow aroma in the heat.

The correct way to store brandy

Brandy is a strong liquor and should be stored upright. Placing it horizontally will corrode the cork and contaminate the liquor. Brandy should be placed in a cool and dry place, away from light and kept at a constant temperature. It can be stored at room temperature, but large temperature fluctuations should be avoided.

Unlike wine, brandy generally does not continue to develop after being bottled. In other words, the quality of brandy does not increase or decrease over time, so don't expect the taste to improve further after storing it for ten years. Of course, we still cannot ignore the impact of the surrounding environment on brandy.

First of all, it is important to make it clear that, in general, it is recommended that brandy be stored vertically. If it is placed horizontally like wine, the cork will be easily corroded by the high alcohol content, and in turn the corroded cork will contaminate the wine. In addition, too much light and large temperature fluctuations will also catalyze the changes in unstable molecules in the wine, causing the flavor substances in the wine to decompose and the flavor and color to fade. Therefore, generally speaking, brandy needs to be stored in a dark and cool place, and the temperature should not be too high or too low, which is the same as wine. Generally speaking, brandy can be stored at room temperature, but remember to keep it constant. In addition, it must be kept dry, after all, high humidity can easily corrode the wine label.