Old
T
Brand,
New
Brandy
Korbel has a long tradition of
fine brandies. Today, the portfolio
consists of Korbel V.S.O.P.,
Korbel XS and Korbel “Classic.”
he Korbel story begins in Bohemia, when
young, charismatic freedom fighter Francis Korbel was imprisoned for participating in the Revolution of 1848. He later escaped
in perhaps the most casual getaway in penal
history—by strolling through an open gate
while smoking a cigar. Later, Korbel and two of
his brothers emigrated to the United States and
seemed to devote themselves to creating eclectic resumés; highlights included cigar-making
(and, more improbably, “cigar box repair”), a
stint as lumber barons and, finally, winemaking
and distilling.
By century’s end, Francis Korbel had produced an award-winning brandy, and Korbel’s
present-day Master Distiller, Paul Ahvenainen,
continues to do so today.
“We are still true California brandy,” says
Ahvenainen. “All of the grapes and wine are
sourced, 100 percent, from California. That’s not
true of everybody; there’s a lot of excess wine
around the world, and some of it ends up in
compulsory distillation programs, which might
end up in your gas tank or your brandy bottle.
That’s not our modus operandi.”
Ahvenainen is passionate about his work,
which, he reminds us, is no mere byproduct of
the winemaking process. He begins with Korbel
wines made predominately from white grapes
such as French Colombard and Chenin Blanc,
as well as red varieties such as Barbera and Zinfandel. The result is Korbel’s current triumvirate
of handcrafted brandies: Korbel Brandy
(usually referred to as “the Classic”), the V.S.O.P.
Gold Reserve and the XS.
“That’s the key to this whole thing—if you
put garbage in you get garbage out. You take
good raw materials, you take grapes and make
wine and follow quality protocols and you can
make a good brandy. There are no shortcuts,”
admonishes Ahvenainen with a smile. “We take
grapes, make wine; we distill that wine in our
own still at our own distillery, put that in our
own oak barrels and bottle it. It’s all done by us,
in our facilities.”
In fact, Korbel is the only major maker of
brandy at which the entire process is conducted
as a single business. The distillation is conducted in DiGiorgio, California, a small rural
town near Bakersfield that boasts whimsical
street names like Weedpatch and Sheepdip Avenue. From there, the brandy is shipped up to
Korbel’s wine country location in Guerneville,
Sonoma County, for blending and bottling.
Though Ahvenainen’s brandies share common DNA, each has a distinct flavor profile.
The Classic lives up to its name with an array
of butterscotch and vanilla flavors underscored
by dried cherry, hints of cranberry and whiff of
Master Distiller Paul Ahvenainen
inspects a glass of Korbel V.S.O.P.
in front of the historic tower that
once housed the distillery.
Korbel’s California
brandies keep a long
tradition alive
by Daedalus Howell / photos by Ryan Lely
what Ahvenainen is fond of calling cigar box.
“It’s about the smoothness and bringing forward the natural fruit in the wine,” says Ahvenainen, who contrasts the smokier character
of the V.S.O.P. (Very Special Old Pale), as well as
its more dominant cigar notes, to illustrate his
point. Hints of Bosch pear and distinctive oak
characteristics also serve to distinguish the
V.S.O.P. from its siblings. “There’s really more
of a boldness to the V.S.O.P.,” says Ahvenainen. “Most of these products are consumed
mixed, so we wanted to make something that
would stand out more.”
Indeed, whereas many brandies will disappear in cola, for example, more discerning
brandy drinkers may prefer to taste the mixer
in addition to—not instead of—their brandy.
On this point, however, Ahvenainen is circumspect. “I prefer people to enjoy it however
they choose to,” he concedes. “Personally, at
home, I’ll drink it straight. I’m very simple
guy. I’ll put a splash of it in a cup of coffee
or some tea or something. There are a lot of
younger people getting into the whole mixability thing.”
Not one to shirk an emerging market, Ahvenainen created Korbel’s XS (Extra Smooth),
enhanced with premium vanilla, natural orange essence, spices and pure cane sugar and
intended to be mixed or enjoyed on its own
merits. “Traditionalism is a good thing, but
you shouldn’t be a slave to it,” explains Ahvenainen, who nonetheless remains conscious of
the fact that he helms a program that has existed within three of the seven centuries since
brandy was first popularized in the 1400s.
When Paul Young, Heck Estates’ Director of
Marketing and Sales, tested Korbel XS with
consumers, he was pleased with the results.
“It surprises people, because they think of the
Captain Morgans of the world as being a mixable drink but not a true spirit. When they try
the XS, their eyes kind of pop out because it’s
brandy, but with these other things. It’s more
of a serious drink,” says Young, who also
oversaw Korbel’s new packaging efforts,
which echo the classic design of the company’s popular sparkling wines, creating better
brand synergy between the products.
“If you stand still, you get run over. You
always have to be working on things,” opines
Ahvenainen, who remains one of a handful of
distillers working in Sonoma wine country—a
fact not lost on him. “Brandy is the essence of
wine,” observes Ahvenainen, who adds with
a smile, “I don’t understand why wine people
wouldn’t be comfortable with brandy.”
Korbel is part of the Heck Estates portfolio;
www.korbelbrandy.com.
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