France
6 topics — topics in this category.
Cognac
The world's most celebrated brandy, double-distilled from the wines of one small French town and aged in oak until it turns to amber silk. Ingredients: grapes — mainly Ugni Blanc — grown in the delimited Cognac region, f…
Champagne
The wine of celebration itself — true Champagne comes only from France's Champagne region, and its bubbles are born inside the bottle. Ingredients: Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier grapes from chalky northern vin…
Armagnac
France's oldest brandy — older than Cognac by a century or more — rustic, soulful and proudly unfashionable, from the rolling hills of Gascony. Ingredients: white grapes — Ugni Blanc, Baco, Folle Blanche, Colombard — fro…
Pastis
Pastis: the anise spirit of Marseille — diluted with cold water until it louches milky white, the drink of Provençal afternoons and pétanque games. Origins: created after absinthe's 1915 ban; Paul Ricard launched his pas…
Calvados
The apple brandy of Normandy: Calvados — distilled cider from the orchards of the Pays d'Auge, Livarot and Domfrontais (poire from pear), aged in oak from VS to hors d'âge — drunk as the trou Normand (a mid-feast glass t…
Rhum Agricole (Martinique)
The cane juice rum of the French Antilles: rhum agricole — Martinique's AOC rhum (and Guadeloupe's), distilled from fresh sugar-cane juice (not molasses), grassy and terroir-driven, the base of the ti'punch ritual (rum,…
World Spirits
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