Germain Robin's Older Brandies

I'm a big fan of Germain-Robin, the craft brandy distillery in Ukiah, California.  I've reviewed a number of their brandies in the past, including the Germain-Robin XO, Shareholders' Reserve and apple brandy, but I've never reviewed any of their line of older brandies.

The first three of these come from the single barrel varietal series, each made from one grape varietal.

Germain-Robin Colombard, 23 years old, 42.8% abv ($180)

The nose has sweet molasses with some rum notes followed by more typical grape brandy notes.  The palate starts with sweet bubblegum, then fades into a nice earthy note with a touch of bitterness that flows into the finish.

Germain-Robin Muscat, 44% abv ($150)

This has an amazing nose of spice, not a rye spice or even an Armagnac spice, but more like the sweet spice you get in a good gewurztraminer; it's also a bit perfumy.  The palate is very floral with rose petals against some spice and a peppery note as it fades.  It starts a bit sweet but dries out on the palate.  The finish is rose on the nose and pepper on the palate, which sound like something you'd get at Grant Achatz restaurant.  Normally perfume and floral are not notes that I prefer, but in this one it really works, possibly because of the layer of spice or because it's not exceedingly sweet, really interesting and fun stuff. It manages to retain the crispness of the muscat grape without being overly sweet.

Germain-Robin Anno Domini, 40% ($350)

This is a pinot noir brandy with another fantastic nose.  It's got some grassy notes, some bready/yeasty notes and a good amount of oak.  The palate is gorgeous with dark chocolate, raisins and some spicy tobacco/pepper notes; sweetness kicks in at mid-palate and binds the whole thing together.  The finish is sweet and peppery.  This one is very well balanced, sweet but not too sweet, spicy and woody.  It's really nicely done.

Overall, this was a great tasting.  The Colombard, while good, wasn't thrilling to me.  The Muscat and the Anno Domini, however, were both fantastic, very distinct and very well crafted. 

Brandy Friday: Germain-Robin Apple Brandy

In all of my Brandy Fridays, I have never reviewed an apple brandy. Apple brandy is probably the most popular brandy variety after grape. The French apple brandy Calvados has long been well known and loved, but of late, American apple brandies have been making a comeback.

Apple brandy, and more specifically applejack, was one of America's original spirits. You may remember the legendary Johnny Appleseed whose apple planting exploits are a staple of American elementary school curricula. Let's just say that there is a good reason that Johnny was so beloved, and it's not because people were excited to have more apple pie.

Germain-Robin, the Ukiah based microdistiller known for their fantastic California brandies (see reviews here and here) now has an apple brandy. It's made from a variety of apples from the nearby Anderson Valley and rounded out with some pear. The fruit is crushed into cider and then distilled (it isn't frozen first as with applejack).

Germain-Robin apple brandy sells for around $65, but there is also an XO that goes for $95, and they are working on a series of heirloom apple brandies using more obscure varieties of apple. According to Germain-Robin's production director Joe Thomas Corley, the trick of apple brandy is balancing the fresh apple flavor with those good, aged brandy characteristics. The standard apple brandy includes brandies ranging from five to seven years old with some older spirit added to give it some age. Corley says that the older XO includes some much older brandies but, consequently, less of that fresh apple flavor. I tried the standard apple brandy.


Tasting
Germain-Robin Apple Brandy, 40% alcohol ($65).

The nose on this is of Cognac and fresh apples. Talk about fresh apple; close you eyes and see the orchard. On tasting it, I find it surprisingly dry. The first taste is a burst of apple flavor but without the sweetness you might expect. Instead it is soft and dry and has many commonalities with Germain-Robin's Cognac style brandies, but with a hint of apple. The apple, itself, which is big in the nose and first taste, recedes some and takes its place with some vanilla and caramel notes and, yes, some sweetness at the end. The finish is sweet and delicate with only the slightest hint of apple.

I've only had a few Calvados, so I'm no expert on apple brandy, but this certainly ranks among the best I've had. I'll be excited to try more of our American apple brandies both from Germain-Robin and elsewhere.

Brandy Friday: Germain-Robin Shareholders' Reserve

We are back with our occasional series, Brandy Friday, to try another offering from the Germain-Robin distillery in Northern California.

As you may recall, I loved the Germain-Robin XO and fondly look back at that most excellent though long since emptied bottle. The Shareholders' Reserve was originally produced for the initial investors in the Germain-Robin company. (I wonder if any of them looked like the old 19th century guy on the label?). Since 1991, it has been a regular though limited release.


Tasting

Germain-Robin Alambic Brandy, Shareholders' Reserve, 18th Bottling, 40% alcohol ($65)

The nose is sweet and fruity with raisins. The flavor follows up with the sweet and the fruit as well as dessert wine, pineapple, then some old wood later in the palate giving it a nice finish. This is a sweeter and more straightforward brandy than the XO, less complex but delicious in its own right.

Brandy Friday: Maison Surrene

Maison Surrenne is a collaboration between California brandy makers Germain-Robin and Cognac's largest family-owned producer, Surrenne, owners of four Cognac distilleries. Using its extensive stocks of aged brandy, Maison Surrenne is part of a new wave in brandy production which mirrors some of the recent innovations in whiskey. According to their materials, "there's no excessive adulteration by caramel or sugar syrup or boisé (oak-chip) flavoring." While in whiskey, this emphasis on purity of ingredients is becoming more and more common, it is virtually unheard of in the world of Cognac.

I was happy to receive samples of three of Maison Surrenne's "single district bottlings" from three different Cognac crus.


Distillerie Galtaud
Unblended Borderies
$75-$85

This is a single vintage bottling selected from casks between 14 and 15 years old from Galtaud, a single still distillery operating since 1800 in the village of Mainxe. Cognacs from the small cru of Borderies are known for their intense fruitiness.

This brandy is very fragrant on the nose with floral and perfume notes as well as fruit. Those notes come through on the taste as well with some oak, toffee and polished wood and lots of dried fruit on the finish.


Ancienne Distillerie
100% Petite Champagne
$32

This is a Cognac from the Petite Champagne region. There is no age statement, but the distillery notes that its Petite Champagne Cognacs do not demand the aging time needed for other Cognacs as they mature quickly.

This Cognac has a very understated nose in which the wine really comes through. The immediate taste is very sweet fruit, followed by a very understated oak; then back to sweet wine on the finish.


XO Single Vintage
Grande Champagne
$120

This is a 29 year old Cognac from the Grande Champagne region.

This is a beautiful Cognac, definitely the most complex of the three, with a lovely balance of fruit and oak and some sweet notes that are closer to Bourbon than wine. Lovely stuff.

I enjoyed all three of the Maison Surrene Cognacs and certainly would be interested to try more of their brandies.

Brandy Friday: California Cognac - Germain Robin

Did you know that deep in the wilds of Northern California, they are making Cognac? Well, it's not technically Cognac because it's not from Cognac, France, but in Mendocino County, Germain-Robin has been making their Alambic Brandy since the 1980s.

The origination of the distillery is the stuff of legend. In 1981, Ansley Coale picked up a couple of French hitchhikers off Highway 101 in the California wine country. One of the hitchikers was Hubert Germain-Robin, the scion of a long-time French Cognac making family which had been recently swallowed by industry giant Martell. Germain-Robin yearned to make brandy in the small, artisan tradition that seemed to have been all but abandoned in France.

The term "Alambic Brandy" which Germain-Robin had to get special permission to use, refers to the Alambic stills (pot stills) which are used to make the brandy. This differentiates it from the big California brandy producers (Gallo, Korbel, Christian Brothers, etc.) which use continuous stills.

Ansley Coale, the co-founder of Germain-Robin is a passionate advocate for his product who insists that it's better than any Cognac out there. Chief among the reasons is the use of delicate Pinot Noir grapes grown in Mendocino County and enjoyed by many wine lovers. In contrast, the grapes of Cognac are grown in bulk and aren't fine wine grapes. Germain-Robin landed on Pinot brandy after much experimentation. Cabernet Sauvignon apparently makes lousy brandy because of the tanins, but Coale likes Sauvignon Blanc and uses some Zinfandel.

Coale prides his operation on being 100% transparent and was happy to answer even the most probing questions. He says they use a "trivial amount" of caramel coloring (1/10 of 1 percent) to maintain consistence and occasionally a trivial amount of sugar syrup, depending on the batch. They never use boisé flavoring (added wood chips) and eschew over oaked brandies.

Germain-Robin makes a number of brandies; I sat down with the well-regarded XO to see how this California upstart stacks up to the Frenchies.


Tasting

Germain-Robin Alambic Brandy, Select Barrel XO, 40% alcohol ($100-115).

The XO is 80% pinot noir, with the remaining 20% being comprised of a number of varietals, including Semillion and the traditional, though underutilized Cognac grape Colombard.

This brandy is big, bold and complex. The nose is beautiful and dry with subtle grape notes. There is less sweetness than the Cognacs I've had, only a touch with some oak and a dry wine flavor. You can taste the pinot; the brandy tastes more like red wine and less like raisins than the Cognacs we have tasted. A beautiful drink that is certainly comparable to the best Cognacs I've tasted.

It's wonderful to see brandy of this quality being made with this much care right here in our home state. Cheers to Germain-Robin.

Next Friday: Back to Cognac