Cognac VS (Very Special)

Brandy = burnt wine (Dutch: brandewijn). Dutch traders invented the technique in the 1500s to concentrate wine for ocean transport — logistics problem that accidentally created an art form. The Charente region became the center because its thin, acidic local wine (Ugni Blanc) distilled beautifully. Phylloxera (1860s–1880s) devastated Cognac production and forced France to create the AOC system — Cognac's near-death gave birth to the modern legal concept of terroir. American whiskey (rye) replaced Cognac during the phylloxera years; when Cognac returned, whiskey had taken its throne in America.