Cognac Fine Champagne is the protected appellation for Cognac blended from the Cognac region’s two most prestigious crus: Petite Champagne and Grande Champagne. To qualify for the title, at least 50 percent of a Cognac Fine Champagne must be made from Grande Champagne.
The Cognac vineyards are classified into six crus (delimited growing areas). These radiate unevenly from the eponymous town itself: starting with Grande Champagne as a nucleus, then Petite Champagne and Borderies, adjacent to both.
These three are enclosed in the expanding rings of Fins Bois, Bons Bois. and finally Bois Ordinaires, which stretches to the Atlantic coastline.
But it is the Champagnes that are responsible for the most-famous eaux-de-vies from Cognac. They are also the focal point and main production area of the appellation, although even when combined they do not produce as much as the larger Fins Bois cru.
The Fine Champagne title often leads to confusion between Cognac and the Champagne sparkling wine region, 500 kilometers (300 miles) to the north, but this is easily explained.
“Champagne” originally meant “open country” and carried connotations of idyllic, perhaps gently rolling, pastoral landscapes – a character demonstrated by both of these great vineyard regions. In both cases, the champagne landscape in question is characterized by terroir with a high content of chalk or limestone.
