Brandy Distillery via Distill

Chances are that over the weekend you or someone you know took a sip of brandy.

The other chances are also that most of the brandy and wine in your favourite bar is produced in Stellenbosch a quaint town located off Cape Town in South Africa.

In about 1690 some Huguenot refugees settled in Stellenbosch and proceeded to plant grapes leading to the towns fame as the centre of the South African wine industry.

The Huguenots were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France during the 16th and 17th centuries.

“French Protestants were inspired by the writings of John Calvin in the 1530s, and they were called Huguenots by the 1560s.

The Stellenbosch, Paarl, and Franschhoek valleys form the Cape Winelands, the larger of the two main wine growing regions in South Africa.

 The South African wine industry produces about 1,000,000,000 litres of wine annually. Stellenbosch is the primary location for viticulture and viticulture research.”

Because it has a Mediterranean climate with hot dry summers and cool wet winters its very favourable for viticulture with the grapes grown mainly grown here been more suitable for wine and brandy.

One of the main brandy distilleries is the Van Ryn Brandy Celler at Vlottenburg in Stellenbosch .

Van Ryn Distillery

It is one of the oldest distilleries in South Africa with its history dating to 1845 when Jan Van Ryn established the Van Ryns wine and Brandy Company.

The distillery grew in size and stature and is now owned by Distell who are arguably one of the largest liquor manufacturers in Southern Africa.

Their line of Ciders also involves Hunters Dry and Hunters Gold as well as Savanna in fact any connoseiur of alcohol in Zambia is familiar with their main brands.

Distell are also the makers of KlipDrift, Amarula, Viceroy (under Van Ryn) they also own The House of  J.C Le Roux as well as Nederburg.

Viceroy Brandy at the Distillery

They are also behind Gordons Gin, Drostdy-Hof,Count Pushkin Vodka so chances are that every bar you walk into has over half of Distells brands.

The Van Ryn estate offers tasting for its clients and it here where I and a team of two Zambians Mabvuto Dimba and Thabo Machwani found ourselves.

Mr Dimba and Ms Machwani were winners of a Hunters Dry Competition which was held last year and they were selected to go on a tour of Distell wineries and Distilleries.

Van Ryn has the oldest Allambic Cognac potstill which was imported from France in 1818.

The Public Relations Officer at Van Ryn Brandy Celler, Simon Kafu says that though the first pot stills used wood, the main ones used nowadays are the steam jackets as the temperature can be better controlled.

Brandy comes from the dutch word Brudven which means burnt wine.

Van Ryn use two types of white wines to make their brandys, the two types are Chenin Blanc and Colomba which have low sugar content and high acidity.

For those who fancy brandy tasting, Mr Kafu says that there are two rules of thumb to follow when identifying quality of brandy.

“The main rule is to look at the colour a younger wine is lighter in colour, spicy and usually harsh tasting. Whilst the older the brandy the darker it is. ”

This is because brandy’s colour comes from the barrels it is stored in so it only stands to reason that it will be darker.

When tasting brandy, one must never stir the glass unlike when tasting wine, because brandy been a spirit evaporates when you stir it.

This will leave you with no scent of the flavours infused which will affect your taste palates.

Mr Kafu paired the brandies with different chocolates and  cappuccino; the cappuccino been for mouth rinsing and the chocolates just to bring out the flavour of the brandy.

First off one must never fill the glass to the brim as the vapours can literally intoxicate you; hold it in the palm of your hand at 45 degrees from your body, to warm it with your body heat.

It all seems complicated but that Is part of the fun which many tourists and brandy enthusiasts follow at the Estate.

Mr Kafu also advises that brandy should be taken after a meal as it might overpower your taste buds.

South African laws prohibit distillers from calling alcohol brandy if it is below three years.

“At three to five years it is a blended brandy (cheaper and lower quality) whilst five to ten years is a vintage brandy (which is relatively more expensive) the premium ones are the ones that are above are a decade old and these are definitely very pricey.” He says

Age is basically measured by the years on the box of the brandy which basically refers to the oldest main component in the brandy.

Consistency and uniform colour in brandy is vital and this is something that most wine makers have kept as secrets.

Brandy can also be made either in a column still or a port still and there are common components to how this is done, depending on the producer or the country’s laws.

South Africa mandates its distillers to double distill liquor before it can be considered brandy. This is separating the wine from the water and basically just refining it.

The wood used to make the barrels is French oak and this where basically things get intriguing.

Barrel makers typically spend about seven hours making a barrel and each barrel maker has their own tools because tools are never sold.

People who make barrels are called Coopers and theirs is a time honoured profession starting in the days when brandy distillers would scout for the best coopers in the land.

One barrel can last for 40 to 45 years and it is a coopers pride when their barrel can be used for a long time.

Each cooper has a unique signature which he puts on his barrel when he is done and also a unique sound he plays to signal a complete barrel.

There is a common term used in Brandy distilleries and that is Angels share used to denote the levels of evaporation in brandy whilst it is in storage.

In the olden days many distillers could never understand why their brandy evaporated and they attributed this to angels who were basically sipping some of the brandy.