Phenols

A group of chemical compounds occurring naturally in all plants. In wine, phenols are derived from grape skins, stems, and seeds, as well as from oak barrels. Among the most important phenols are TANNIN, COLOR pigments, and some flavor compounds, such as VANILLIN. Depending on their chemical structure, some phenols are known as polyphenols.

Which group of people below were key players in the development of Cognac?

A. The East Indians

B. The Spanish

C. The Dutch

D. The English

From the end of the Roman Empire through the 16th century, the area surrounding France’s Charente River, which is where Cognac is made, was known for neutral tasting wine, most of it white and low in alcohol. The Dutch who traded in the area for salt (the Cognac region’s other renowned product) began to purchase and ship these wines to England and to other northern countries, despite their disappointment with the wines proclivity to deteriorate during the sea voyage. Their solution eventually was to distill the wines in the Netherlands and then the sell the more durable result which they called burnt wine–brandewijn–eventually anglicized to brandy. And thus sometime in the 17th century, Cognac, the world’s most sought after brandy, was born.

“Wines are like people. Some are perfect but boring, some are precocious but fail to live up to their promise, and some may be flawed, but the way they may develop is endlessly fascinating.”

—Michael Broadbent
English critic

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