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In the 1980s, the California-based wine consulting and management company of Gomberg, Fredrickson & Associates established a hierarchy of wines according to price. The hierarchy includes four levels of premium wine—Popular Premium ($3-$7), Mid Premium ($7-$10), Super Premium ($10-$14), and Ultra Premium ($14-$25).

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.

Smoke Blunder

With the fires that have killed nearly 50 and devastated 162,000 acres of wine country not yet fully out, famous San Francisco chef Michael Mina is heralding the opening of his new SF restaurant. Its… Continue reading

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