Controversy is nothing new in the spirits world, and one topic that often sparks debate—especially in America—is “sourced” spirits. A sourced spirit is one the brand didn’t make themselves. Typically, a company buys the alcohol from a distillery, bottles it under their label, and sells it at a markup. This keeps overhead low, with no need for distilleries, staff, or production investment.
The backlash makes sense. Imagine discovering your favorite bourbon, with its charming story of an old family recipe, actually comes from a mass-production facility in Indiana—and shares the same recipe as ten other brands. The storytelling crumbles, leaving only the label. Some brands have even tried to hide their sourcing, though none have succeeded.
When it comes down to it, sourcing doesn’t have to be bad. A lot of brands that start out sourcing product eventually do build and open their own distillery. In case you didn’t know, you need a ton of money to build a distillery and warehouses (if you’ll be aging your product) and maintain it all. I feel that if that’s the end goal and you just need help getting on your feet, sourcing can be great and there are many whiskey brands that have successfully done this such as Micther’s and Angel’s Envy. So, why bring this up when discussing cognac? Simple. The vast majority of cognac produced today isn’t actually distilled by the house on the label.
Sourcing in Cognac Production
Hold on—don’t get too worried. While not exactly like sourced American whiskey, cognac shares some similarities. From the Big 4 to small, respected houses, sourcing wine, raw eau-de-vie, or even fully aged cognac is common in the Cognac AOC. That doesn’t mean everyone relies on sourcing. Frapin, Jean-Luc Pasquet, and Février handle everything from vine to glass, distilling only grapes they own. Others, like Park and Camus, distill from their own vineyards but must source the rest of their yearly production.
For a more specific example, Hine owns 70 hectares of vineyards in Grande Champagne, but that only produces roughly 30% of the wine they need to meet their annual numbers. What does that mean? Hine needs to source the remaining 70% of wine from elsewhere. In America, sourced product might be looked down upon, but in Cognac no one bats an eye at it. I would even argue that sourcing the grapes can be highly beneficial in a lot of ways. Let’s look at a few examples of how sourcing in the Cognac AOC is good by discussing three major advantages: quality of the product purchased, job security, and environmental preservation.
How Does It Work?
The most important part of the conversation around sourcing in Cognac is first to talk about who the houses are buying their eau-de-vie from. In the end, if what you pour into your glass isn’t made by the house itself, then who’s producing it? The Indiana distillery supplying so much bourbon and rye to America is essentially a giant warehouse with stills pumping out spirit 24/7 in an industrial manner. That’s not very alluring. However, in Cognac that just doesn’t exist. What does exist, according to the BNIC, are around 110 independent distillers and co-ops. The individuals that houses buy eau-de-vie from are called Bouilleur de Cru or Bouilleurs de Profession. The Bouilleur de Cru are individuals that own vineyards and grow grapes. When the grapes are ready for harvest, they ferment the wine and distill it themselves.
Bouilleurs de Profession don’t grow grapes—they buy wine from growers who can’t distill and handle the distillation themselves. The finished eau-de-vie is then sold to a Négociant, who may use it in blends or reserve exceptional batches for special bottlings. Often, Bouilleurs de Cru or Bouilleurs de Profession operate a single still, working slowly in small batches. They’re usually farmers, distillers, or both, and rarely have their own brands. Instead, they sell their eaux-de-vie to houses that lack distillation capacity or need extra supply. This system has been part of cognac since the 1700s—the buying and selling of eau-de-vie is as old as the spirit itself.
So why buy from these farmers and distillers? Because they’re true professionals. Most have spent their entire lives mastering the art of distilling their grapes. Their parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents passed down knowledge of exactly what to do for their specific vineyards in each cru. The Cognac AOC enforces strict distillation rules, but small choices still matter: when to cut the heads, whether to use the lees and how much, or how to handle a wine from Grande Champagne versus Fins Bois. Technically the rules are the same—but in practice, every distiller does it their own way.
All of these individuals are incredibly good at what they do. Do you think a brand as highly regarded as Delamain, whom don’t distill anything of their own, but instead buy eau-de-vie to age and blend, would accept product from anyone who didn’t have the highest standards? Absolutely not. These Bouilleurs have wine in their blood and there isn’t anyone out there who knows how to make their eau-de-vie taste as great as they do.
Everything Has A Price
You might be wondering why don’t these cognac houses just buy more vineyards and do all the distilling themselves? Quite simply, they can’t. First of all, these independent farmers own their land outright. You can’t just come in and buy it from them unless they’d be willing to sell. And since that land is their livelihood, we can assume they won’t sell. Secondly, as of 2018, one hectare of cognac vineyard costs on average about €50,000 ($58,302). You can expect to pay even more for a Petite or Grande Champagne hectare.
Let’s go back to Hine for a moment. If they own 70 hectares and it only produces 30% of their annual needs, then they would need to buy 165 more hectares to meet their numbers. That would cost them €8.250 million ($9.6 million) if we use that average amount. And if they have all that extra wine, now they need to expand their distilling capabilities by 70% since there’s no way they could do it with their current set up. We’re looking at an eight-figure number to get them fully operational. And that’s just to buy the land and more stills. It doesn’t account for maintaining the vineyards themselves. So, when we look at it like this, it makes complete sense to let someone else handle the extra wine and distillation.
Another important aspect is the economic impact in regards to jobs. Having over 110 distillers in the region is great for everyone. Each of those individuals is stimulating the local economy. Depending on how much land they own, they might also hire other workers to help harvest their fields and tend to the vines to inevitably put their money back into the local economy, as well. Let’s pretend that Hennessy, the largest house in Cognac, distilled everything themselves. Since they control the cognac market by being responsible for the majority of sales worldwide, we can safely assume they would need warehouses on warehouses full of stills to ever get the numbers they need. Most of those 110 distillers now don’t have jobs. Yes, some of them would be hired by Hennessy to operate the stills, but they wouldn’t need that many people.
While in Cognac, I witnessed two men casually running eight stills at a well-respected house. They did it effortlessly with the assistance of computers and detailed knowledge of when to make the right cuts. If you think about those eight stills, that could be eight different people operating their own personal still, but instead it was two people and some technology. If every house moved towards distilling everything on their own, those jobs would be lost. And with less jobs in the area, people might move elsewhere to find more lucrative endeavors, thus hurting the economy.
You Can’t Beat Know-How
As I mentioned, Bouilleurs de Cru excel at distilling their own grapes because they understand their land, their vines, and how to bring out the finest flavors in their eau-de-vie. Without sourcing, production would have to become more industrial, and we’d lose the complex aromas and nuances that terroir provides, leaving a fairly one-note cognac. Large houses wouldn’t have the time to distill each vineyard’s wine the way Bouilleurs de Cru do today. Sometimes they even distill different plots differently, adjusting for subtle variations across their property.
But in a world with no sourcing, it would all have to be done in a uniform manner which would produce a very basic eau-de-vie with no character, no depth. A lot of people can make eau-de-vie easily, but to make it truly amazing, you absolutely need to know the land, your grapes, and how it performs from year to year. And there’s no one who does that better than the Bouilleur de Cru and Bouilleurs de Profession.
Image from BNIC Encyclopedia, http://www.pediacognac.com
Our Environment
Sourcing can also benefit the environment. Take Rémy Martin, for example. Over the past decade, they’ve worked with the Ministry of Agriculture and Food to implement the High Environmental Value (HEV) certification, which promotes sustainable farming across four areas: biodiversity, plant protection, fertilizer management, and water management. Rémy buys all their eau-de-vie from the Alliance Fine Champagne cooperative, and by 2020, every member achieved some level of HEV certification, with half expected to reach level three—the highest—by 2022. Hennessy is taking similar steps, encouraging eco-friendly farming and moving toward stricter sustainability standards for suppliers. While not organic, these efforts push the industry toward a greener future.
Of course, simply telling farmers to adopt better practices isn’t enough. Both houses actively teach and assist them, helping Bouilleurs de Cru implement changes they might not have been able to manage on their own. In a world facing climate challenges, these efforts are a positive step forward. And think back to those hypothetical massive warehouses we’d need if sourcing didn’t exist—do we really want industrial buildings lining the rolling vineyards of Cognac? I’ll take the hills every time.
A Final Account
Let’s just go ahead and say it together. Sourcing isn’t bad when it’s done right. And cognac sure does it in the best possible way. Maybe this is just an American issue. I could be way off base and no one in any other country cares about sourcing spirits like American’s seem to, but I think it’s important to touch on regardless. We should all be aware of the entire process for any products we enjoy to consume. If you’re one of those individuals who think sourcing is bad, cheating, or not authentic, I’m on your side a little bit if we’re discussing whiskey. But saying the same thing about sourcing in regards to cognac is like comparing apples and oranges. They aren’t the same thing even if they sound like they are.
Recently a colleague of mine made a comment about how “Brand X” is better than “Brand Y” because they don’t source their eau-de-vie. Imagine that. Someone writing off a cognac producer because they purchase their eau-de-vie instead of making it themselves. I didn’t want to call them out in front of others, but it turns out that their preferred brand they were talking about absolutely does source almost all of their eau-de-vie. And you know what? There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.
