The World’s Top Brandies According To San Francisco World Spirits Competition

Every year, the San Francisco World Spirits Competition (SFWSC) judges over 3,000 different spirits. Among the entrants this year there were 150 brandies from around the world.

The SFWSC is the oldest spirits competition in the US, dating back to 1980, and the second oldest in the world. It has an unrivaled reputation for the quality of its judging, many of whom are among the world’s leading experts on spirits, as well as the scope of the categories of spirits that it judges.

The SFWSC judges brandy over nine different categories, three of which cover Cognac. The other categories are: Best Apple Brandy, Best Italian Grape Brandy, Best Armagnac, Best American Grape Brandy, Best Spanish Grape Brandy & Brandy de Jerez and Best Pisco.

Brandy refers to any distillate made from a fruit base. Typically, the fruit is crushed and the resulting juice fermented into a wine. The wine is then distilled one or more times. The vast majority of brandy is made from grapes and is referred to using the generic name of brandy. Cognac and Armagnac are grape brandies from the specific same-named regions of France. Other, non-grape, fruit brandies typically reference the fruit on which they are based as in apple brandy or plum brandy.

The Best Cognac VSOP was awarded to Camus, Borderies Single Estate Cognac.

Unlike the chalk and limestone rich soils in the Grand Champagne and Petit Champagne appellations, the soils in Borderies are a unique mix of clay and limestone and are rich if flint. The appellation is known for producing very floral aromas, a Camus trademark, with distinctive aromas of violets.

This Single Estate Cognac is produced from Camus’s ancestral vineyards in Borderies. This is the smallest of the six appellations that comprise the Cognac producing zone across the Charente and Charente-Maritime provinces.

According to Camus, the Cognac:

…reveals enticing notes of vanilla pods and orange zest, on a bed of soft spice and floral aromas. On the palate it’s ample and unctuous, with a robust yet elegant structure and a light hint of woodiness. Beautiful, long finish, well-balanced and wonderfully fresh.

Camus also took the award for Best in Category Cognac XO or Equivalent for its Cognac XO Borderies Family Reserve Single Estate. This XO Cognac is also produced at the family’s ancestral estate in Borderies.

The Cognac is aged for a minimum of 10 years. It’s rich and complex, with a delightful balance between the floral and fruit notes, accompanied by notes of fresh baked croissants and vanilla. On the palate, it’s rich and creamy with a smooth and lush texture, featuring pronounced aromas of floral potpourri, dried fruit, particularly golden raisins, accompanied by subtle, spicy notes of cinnamon. The finish is long, with Camus’ signature delicate violet notes.

The Best Cognac Extra Aged/Vintage Category was won by Gautier for its Tradition Rare Vieille Reserve Cognac.

Gautier is one of Cognac’s historic producers, dating back 250 years, over 10 generations. This is an Hors d’Age, literally ageless, a term used to describe ultra-aged Cognacs that are typically 20 or more years old. The producer’s cellars are located in an 18th century water mill above the Osme River. The naturally high humidity slows down the maturation process; producing a rich Cognac with round and complex flavors.

The Cognac is rich and powerful offering aromas of candied fruit, fragrant rose petal, accompanied by notes of dried orange zest and vanilla. On the palate, the Cognac offers up intense notes of wood spice and oak, along with dried fruit flavors and the typical rancio flavors of old leather and furniture wax.

The Best Apple Brandy Category went to Ocean Hill, Apple Brandy produced by Sadden Brothers & Co Distilling Co. The Ocean Hill Apple Brandy is a non-chill filtered apple brandy, double-distilled and bottled in Ocean Hill, Brooklyn from apples grown in the Hudson Valley. The apples are pressed and fermented, using a proprietary yeast blend, at a cider mill on Long Island. They’re matured in oak casks that previously held malt whisky.

Apple brandies were once quite common on the east coast of the United States; a tradition that dates back to the 18th century. After a long period of decline, the category has been showing renewed strength over the last several decades. Abraham Lincoln, who once operated a tavern and is the only US president to have also been a licensed bartender, was famous, before running for public office, for the quality of the apple brandy served in his bar.

The brandy is intensely flavored, exhibiting floral aromas along with ripe apple and pears, as well as fresh apple cider, licorice, roasted nuts, vanilla and dried fruit notes of fig. On the palate, there are flavors of anise/licorice, apple, pear and apricot, along with wood and vanilla notes. The apple brandy is smooth and creamy.

The finish is long and smooth, with baked apple notes, along with sweet dried fruit and a lingering vanilla note.

The Best Italian Grape Brandy category was won by Montenegro, Vecchia Romagna Tre Botti.

Italy has a long-standing tradition of making brandies. Brandy is different from grappa, another Italian mainstay. Brandy is a distillate of wine made from whole grapes, while grappa is a distillate made from grape skins and the residue left in the fermentation tank after the wine has been made. Technically, the liquid produced from the grape skins is also considered a wine, although you wouldn’t want to drink it.

Montenegro is one of Italy’s oldest brandy producers. Its based in Bologna, in Emilia Romagna, astride the Po Valley – one of Italy richest agricultural regions. Tre Botti is a blend of brandies that are up to 15 years old, and have been matured in three different types of casks: French Oak barriques, large Slavonian oak barrels and Tonneaux, which were previously used to mature Italian red wines.

This is a complex, layered aromatic brandy that offers up aromas of dried fruit, caramel, chocolate and hints of coffee bean. On the palate, there are flavors of dried red and stone fruit, along with marzipan and candied orange zest.

The finish is long, with lingering dried fruit notes, along with a slight tannic, woody note and just a hint of bitterness at the end.

The Best Armagnac Category was awarded to Chateau de Laubade for its Cask Strength, Vintage 1986 Armagnac. Armagnac is a brandy produced in the same-named region of Gascony. It is only distilled once, and may be the first style of brandy ever produced.

Chateau de Laubade is a historic estate that has producing Armagnac since the late 19th century. On the nose, the Armagnac exhibits aromas of rich, fatty bacon, along with notes of creamy custard, floral potpourri, cinnamon and roasted nuts. There are dried dark fruit notes, especially some prune, and some new saddle leather. Both characteristics are typical, especially of aged Armagnac.

On the palate, there are the dried fruit and fruitcake flavors typical of Armagnac. Think of a Christmas cake or a Christmas pudding. There are also additional notes of roasted nuts, prunes, peach jam and orange marmalade. The finish is exceptionally long, with lingering dried fruit, especially prune notes, along with candied orange zest, some well-integrated oak wood notes and a touch of bitterness.

The winner of the Best American Grape Brandy is Argonaut from Fat Thumb Brandy. Fat Thumb is produced at the McCall Distillery in Sanger, California, and is owned by E & J Gallo.

The US historically had a long-standing tradition of brandy production. That tradition slowly waned over the last half century. American brandy was d0minated by four historic producers: Gallo’s E & J, Constellation’s Paul Masson, Heaven Hill’s Christian Brothers and Korbel. Together these four producers accounted for about 95% of American brandy sales. The rise of craft distillers, however, has shaken up this category, producing a renaissance of new styles and expressions in American brandy production.

Argonaut is a blend of eight different brandies produced from both pot stills and continuous stills, and ranges from 2 to 16 years in age. Unlike most old-world brandies, which are made predominantly from a handful of white grape varieties, Argonaut utilizes a variety of grapes, including Grenache, French Colombard and Muscat. Roughly one-quarter of the blend is made up of a 9 YO pot still brandy.

On the nose, the brandy is rich and very aromatic offering up floral aromas, along with notes of baked apple, cherry kirsch, brown sugar and saddle leather.

On the palate, it’s heavy and creamy, with a pronounced palate weight and a mouth coating oiliness. It offers up flavors of baked apple and caramel apple, along with a bit of cherry syrup and some cinnamon, as well as roasted nuts and dried fruit. The finish is long, semi-sweet, with lingering dried fruit notes.

The Best Spanish Grape Brandy/Brandy de Jerez went to Cardinal Mendoza Solera Gran Reserva produced by Bodega Sánchez Romate Hermanos in Jerez.

Jerez style brandies describes brandies that have been matured in casks that previously held different types of Sherry and that are produced using a solera system. Spain has a long brandy making tradition, and may well have been the first country to distill brandy. The Jerez style, however, only dates back to the late 19th century. Spanish brandies offer outstanding quality at excellent, sometimes ridiculously low, prices. They are one of the great bargains in brandy today.

Spanish brandies often are named after important historical figures and events. Lepanto, for example, another outstanding Spanish brandy, commemorates the Battle of Lepanto in 1571, when a European naval fleet under the Vatican’s banner of The Holy League decisively defeated an Ottoman fleet for the first time in two centuries.

The battle was the largest naval engagement since Octavian and Agrippa defeated Mark Anthony and Cleopatra at the battle of Actium in 31 BC. It would not be superseded in number of ships engaged until the Allied invasion of Sicily in 1943.

Cardenal Mendoza is named for Cardenal Pedro Gonzalez de Mendoza (1423 – 1495), who lived during the reign of Isabella and Ferdinand. Mendoza is said to have interceded on Columbus’ behalf and was responsible for persuading Queen Isabella to back the Genoese mariner. The rest, as they say, is history.

The brandy is produced using a solera system. This is a system of fractional blending that consists of eight different tiers of American oak barrels that previously contained either Oloroso Sherry or Pedro Ximénez (PX) Sherry. PX is a very sweet, syrupy Sherry made from partially raisinated grapes.

Each tier has an average of 400 barrels. The first seven tiers are called criaderas, and the bottom tier is called the solera. New bottlings are drawn from the oldest tier – the solera. Typically, up to one third or so of the brandy in the solera is removed each year. The liquid removed is replaced with brandy from the next tier (the seventh criadera) and that liquid, in turn, is replaced with liquid from the next tier (the sixth criadera). The liquid drawn from the youngest tier (the first criadera), is replaced with newly distilled spirit.

In a solera system, some portion of each year’s production will be retained. In the case of Cardinal Mendoza, the solera goes back more than a century, so a very small, fractional amount of the original spirit will be retained from the first year and from each year thereafter. These amounts are insignificant, however, as most of the spirit in the solera will be more recent. Cardenal Mendoza consists of brandies that are an average of 16 years old.

This is an intense brandy that is richly sherried. It offers up aromas of dark raisins, figs, prunes and dates, along with some roasted almond and walnut, candied citrus zest, cinnamon and pepper notes.

On the palate its sweet, with powerful flavors of dark raisins and dried figs, some herbal notes of dried tea and a hint of peppermint, along with orange marmalade and a bit of dark chocolate.

The finish is long, with lingering dried, dark fruit sweetness, finishing on a somewhat dry herbal note. This is really an outstanding brandy. You can often find it in the US for $40 a bottle or less. At that price, it’s a steal!

The final Best in Category award for brandies is for Pisco. The winner is Tacama, Demonio de Los Andes Acholado Pisco. This Pisco also won the Best in Show Award for Brandy, ranking it as the best brandy in the world in the 2021 SFWSC judging.

Pisco is a grape brandy produced in the Andean foothills along the western edge of South America, principally in Peru and Chile. Historically, it has usually been unaged, although aged varieties are becoming more prevalent. The official tasting notes from the SFWSC describe the brandy as “true to its name and style, it is incredibly aromatic with fresh floral notes and green grape must flavors.”

This year’s SFWSC judging showcases an incredible array of brandies from around the world that reflect a range of styles and aroma and flavor profiles. If you love brandy, there is much more to explore here. If you have historically limited your self to Cognac, there is a whole world of other brandies to sample. More importantly, the majority of these brandies retail for less than $100 per bottle. An incredible price for the world’s best brandies.

Cheers