I thought the french were quite stubborn about their language. And there’s certainly no cognac being made in England or USA.
What sort of abbrevs. ?
VSOP, VS, etc.
Forgot that, but silenus is right. Also, I have a bottle that says Fine XO Champagne Cognac. This seems a bit weird.
I’d imagine he means grades like VS and VSOP.
They also have french designations…
*** (3 star)
Réserve
Napoléon / Hors d’Age
I saw that now, but still, using English labels at all (and they are far more famous, I’d imagine), does seem quite odd for anything French.
I got the Champagne Cognac bit by looking at the map, though.
It’s got something to do with marketing, but I don’t know what. Perhaps they feel that the French grades would give too snooty an appearance in America (remember that the big cognac producers are producing for a large audience, and therefore can’t rely on snob appeal for sales).
possibly, but surely it’s not much of a stretch these days to print french-only labels for sale in france?
I guess it’s been this way for ages though, would be weird to change it.
Marketing no doubt has something to do with it, but those labelings are mandated by French law, aren’t they?
Cognac for the masses? I thought cognac producers, or even all spirit producers tried to be every bit as exclusive as they could. I don’t think I’d be alone in connecting spirits markeded towards the masses with alcoholism. And I have an impression of most spirits (except vodka and tequilla, I guess), as rather exclusive compared with beer, so the producers seem to favour a snobby attitude.
I wasn’t aware that they didn’t use French grades in France. Don’t they?
Cognac was originally marketed by English merchants, and so the abbreviations were determined by them. I just spoke to a colleague who lives in Versailles, and he confirmed that they use the same ranks, although he doubts most Frenchmen realize that they are based on English words.
http://www.bnic.fr/cognac/_fr/2_cognac/index.aspx?page=histoire