The quality of brandy produced in the Cognac region, as has already been intimated, is not uniform. Some of it is of an exceptionally high grade, while others form a brandy which compared with the finest may be designated as low grade; but even the low-grade brandies of the Cognac region rank very well with the best of the brandies of other localities.

The different kinds of brandy which are produced in the Charente have received, by common consent, certain names or appelations which distinguish them from each other, and all other brandies. These names are strictly regional and they are guarded with great jealousy by those who are entitled to use them. These designations have become so firmly fixed that they have all the force and effect of law. A merchant or producer who, for instance, is not entitled by the location of his vineyard to use the term "Grande fine Champagne" upon his product, would be subject to a process by law if he should employ it, even if his brandy might be made just on the edge of the region entitled to bear that particular name, and would be, as far as ordinary methods of detection are concerned, equally as good. Following are the divisions of the vintage brandies in the Charentes:

1st. Grande fine Champagne.

2d. Grande Champagne.

3d. Petite Champagne.

4th. Borderies.

5th. Bois.

The variety known as Bois are further sub-divided as follows: (a) Fins Bois. (b) Bons Bois.

(c) Bois ordinaires.

(d) Bois a terroir.

The proprietors of the vineyards which produce the Fins Bois have an ambition to be permitted to enter into the region of the " Champagne," on which they, moreover, border. Already to some of these brandies the term Champagne Boisee has been applied.

The differences in the qualities of the brandies are sometimes not perceptible to the uninitiated, and experts even may often be deceived by the taste and flavor of the brandy in regard to the class in which it should be placed. The factors which make these variations are numerous, and competent authorities do not always agree respecting their number and importance. Among those which may be mentioned as effective are, first, the nature of the soil, particularly with regard to the amount of chalk it contains; second, the character of the climate; third, the method of cultivation of the vine; fourth, the character or kind of vine; fifth, the distribution of the rainfall; sixth, the character, quality and extent of fertilization.