The harvest of the grapes begins about the first of October and is usually over by the middle or end of November. The wine has by the end of the year undergone its first fermentations and the sugar which the juice contains has been practically converted into alcohol. The distillation of wine begins in the early winter and is continued up to the spring months. The distilling season usually ends in March or May.

Manufacture

The production of the wine from which the brandy is made is not very different in the Cognac region from that of other parts of the world. The red wines which are made are produced by the fermentation of the crushed red grape, while the white wines are made from the green-yellow grapes or by expressing the grape juice and fermenting the expressed juice.