Cognac
Sweet, warming brandy with dried fruit, oak barrels and a faint grape-like richness.
You may know it from a glass of cognac or other aged brandy
Where it comes from
Made from cognac-derived extracts or aroma chemicals recreating aged brandy.
Worth knowing
Often an accord, not actual cognac poured into the perfume.
About cognac
Brandy takes its name from the Dutch brandewijn, burned wine, and cognac is the version made under a French appellation d'origine contrôlée. Distilling wine was first done to preserve it and ease transport, and possibly to cut a tax that was assessed by volume. Ageing the spirit in casks was later found to improve it.
The wine behind cognac is very dry, acidic and thin, made mainly from the Ugni blanc grape. It is distilled twice in copper pot stills. The body that speaks for the producers says this two-stage process preserves the flavour of the fruit and the freshness of the wine. Ageing happens in oak casks made from wood of the Tronçais forest and, more often, from Limousin forests. While the spirit rests, a portion of its volume evaporates through the barrel, a loss known as the angels' share. The age a bottle can claim is that of the youngest eau-de-vie in the blend.
Toasting the oak raises vanillin and the phenol eugenol, which create smoky and spicy notes. Esters carry the fruit. Ethyl heptanoate, used in the flavour industry, lists fruity, pineapple, rummy and winey among its odour descriptors, and cognac sits on that list too. Ethyl octanoate, an ester found in wine, has a strong odour of fruit and flowers.
In 2022, more than 212.5 million bottles of cognac were exported to nearly 150 countries.
Accords it shows up in
How many of the fragrances listing Cognac in our catalogue also carry each accord. We counted this ourselves.
Often paired with
The notes that appear next to Cognac most often in our catalogue.
Well-known fragrances with Cognac
Fragrances that list it in their notes, most-rated first.
Houses that use it most
Ranked by how many of their well-known fragrances list Cognac.