Anyways, that leads me to “rancio,” a flavor that I’ve read about and one that allegedly pops up in cognac that would be classified as an “old spirit.” When I started getting into cognac, I’d read reviews of what I drank before I drank it. If the review said “rancio,” I’d pretend to know what rancio was and later tell people “oh yeah, that cognac has rancio.” Obviously, I was full of shit and perhaps a little insecure. I was new to cognac (and still am), so give me a break. This post is my penance, or at the very least my make-up paper. I’ve scoured the web for a definitive answer on how to identify and define rancio, and I’ll be honest, I’m still lost on what “rancio” is and what it’s supposed to taste like. But also, that may be the whole point? I think through my lazy research I’ve cobbled together a very unsatisfying answer as to what rancio really is.
As a child of the internet age, I look to it for answers. Below are a few websites that attempt to identify and define rancio.
Webster’s Dictionary
As a child of the internet age, I look to it for answers. Below are a few websites that attempt to identify and define rancio.
Webster’s Dictionary
I was a C student in college and it’s instinctive for me to start with Webster – don’t all bad research papers begin in this fashion? According to Webster, rancio is “of, relating to, or constituting the nutty flavor peculiar to some fortified wines (as sherry and Madeira)”. Ok, I know nutty, I know it well, but I’ve never heard someone describe nutty scotch or bourbon as having rancio. Maybe they did and I wasn’t paying attention. Either way, nutty, doesn’t really pin down an answer. I also wasn’t expecting Webster to solve the universe’s rancio riddle, but it’s a start.
Serious Eats
A Serious Eats article from 2013 defines rancio as “earthy, ripe cheeses or mushrooms, with a hint of soy sauce.” Ok, there is no mention of nutty there at all. Further down, the article states that “when those qualities pop up in cognac, the term used to describe them is rancio. (The same word is used to describe Spanish and Portuguese fortified wines, such as sherry, Madeira, and port, hence its appropriation by the French.) A full 10 years or more of oak aging are required to develop rancio in cognac.” So contrary to Webster, this article is claiming that rancio a flavor that is earthy, cheesy, mushroomy, and also has a little soy sauce…and it develops around 10 years. There are not citations in the article so I guess we have to take the author at his word.
Prunier
Turning towards a distiller’s perspective, Prunier has a webpage dedicated to the question of rancio which they aptly titled “What is 'Rancio?” It’s like they knew I was coming! A quick side note: I haven’t tried Prunier yet but they are definitely on my radar – they release vintage cognac at true cask strength, and apparently, the Scandinavians love it. Anyways, Prunier defines rancio, or what they more eloquently call “rancio charentais,” by the age of a cognac. Wait, what? Well, Prunier says that rancio in cognac 18-30 years old is “floral, nutty, dried fruit and spicy notes.” In cognac aged 30 years or more, rancio notes evolve into “nutmeg, tobacco, and cedarwood cigar box.” After 40 years, rancio takes on more tropical fruits and old, polished leather. If you go to the website there is an entire chart with all the potential rancio flavors they identify – there’s over 30.
Brandy Classics
I hope you’re as confused as I am, but there has to be a unifying answer out there, right? Brandy Classics, a UK site that bottles and sells cognac, also has a webpage dedicated to defining rancio. After some marketing babble about connoisseurship, the webpage cites reputable sources in their rancio explanation, like Berry Brothers. According to the Brandy Classics webpage, rancio appears after around 20 to 30 years of aging and is represented by a “character of fullness and fatness…[and can resemble] Roquefort cheese.” The webpage also explores the chemistry of rancio, indicating that it “derives from the oxidation of fatty acids in the spirit into ketones which produce the richness felt on the palate…reminiscent of an old madeira wine, a sort of rich pineapple mustiness.” This is different - rancio is a chemical change that gives a spirit a full and fat character and may taste like Roquefort cheese, madeira, and musty pineapple? Huh.
Nicholas Faith Cognac Guide
Moving to Nicholas Faith’s Guide to Cognac (which is bookmarked in the links section), a mere sentence is dedicated to the definition of rancio. He states that “after twenty or more years in wood the best cognacs acquire the unique quality of rancio, a rich blend involving nuts of all descriptions as well as candied fruits, similar to that of the rich fruit cakes beloved of the English.” The guide then defines rancio as a note in over 60 different cognacs that Nicholas reviewed.
Cognac Expert
This was my last stop. It’s a great website and usually the first place I go to for information. Even though they are also a retail shop, they seem to provide straightforward and untainted material on cognac houses and brands. With that said, they have a page on their website titled “The Rancio Charentais.” They begin by breaking up rancio into age tiers, just like the Prunier. Per Cognac Expert: “First Rancio stage: 10 to 15 years Peak of vanilla and oak taste, Flowery, dried rose, nutty, spicy; Second Rancio stage: 17 to 22 years Jasmine, Chocolate, Dried, candied fruit, curry, saffron, ginger; Third Rancio stage: 30 to 40 years old tawny port, cedar, eucalyptus, cigar box, tobacco, old muscat wine, nutmeg; Fourth Rancio stage: 50 to 60 years tropical fruits, passion, lyche wood scents: sandal wood.”
From there, they say “the concept of rancio is a complicated one: Even Cognac producers struggle when it comes to explaining the term. It is nearly impossible to describe. Is it Nutty? Cheesy? At least it is to be spotted on the tongue and finishes with a, let’s say, walnutlike oil-iness. It is very special – a bit bitter, like nut. Some people compare the taste of Rancio to musrooms, earthy and hints of soy sauce.” A little honesty, perhaps?
So, what is rancio?
The short answer: it’s nonsense. Everyone seems to have a different definition and different grouping of flavors. There is no consistency whatsoever, and while the Cognac Expert blog recognizes that rancio is difficult to define, something so prevalent and widely used within the cognac industry shouldn’t be that difficult to describe to people. I think rancio has become a generic term that is liberally used as a vague description; it’s meant to pronounce quality while at the same time ascribe a particular uniqueness of flavors in cognac, that, in reality, are found in tons of other spirits. And I get it. It’s great for marketing. It’s meant to separate it from the rest of the pack of brown, bourgeois sprits. And it’s eloquent and ambiguous enough that you can throw it out there as a tasting note without getting funny looks from your drinking buddies.
So, there’s your answer. I told you it would be unsatisfying.
I’m sure I’ll catch some flak for this post, but if someone can come up with a clear explanation of rancio beyond some amorphous catchall, I’m all ears.
Links
http://drinks.seriouseats.com/2013/03/serious-eats-guide-to-cognac-cocktail-101-what-is-cognac-brandy-how-is-cognac-made.html
http://www.cognacpruniertravelretail.com/what-is-rancio.php
https://www.brandyclassics.com/news/2016/09/the-development-of-rancio-in-cognac/
https://blog.cognac-expert.com/the-rancio-charentais-what-does-this-cognac-term-mean/
Drink lots more old dry sherry & madeira,
ReplyDeleteand you'll learn to know rancio when you taste it.
Well worth the effort to learn.
You can do this even with the cheaper Jerez products.
Stick with finos and especially amontillados & palo cortados
so you're not distracted by the heavy sweetness of olorossos.
Don't even bother with PX & cream sherries;
they're for grandma at holidays to keep her jolly
instead of complaining what a disappointment her offspring are
and how they've ruined the bloodline.
As for madeira, go for the sercial & verdelho
instead of the bual & malmsey.
Don't even think about touching the terrantez;
those unicorns are all mine,
and you aren't worthy.
Bottom line, if you taste walnuts,
you've got rancio in your juice,
although dried fruit flavors (raisins, dates, figs)
are also lumped together in the term.
The reason it's associated with aging is
that it results from slow & very long,
bit limited surface area,
exposure to oxygen
( loose cork in the glass demijohn of armagnac for a couple decades
after its first two decades in a barrel;
bottom barrel in a solera left one third or less empty,
for a century or two of refills
a layer of yeast, aka flor.,
culitvated on the top of fresh fino sherry
to semipermeably keep exposure to air from dominating
the liquid's chemical interactions
right from the start ),
rather than a direct flavor result of
chemical interaction with the wood of the barrel.
The cheese comparisons come from long aged,
hence long exposed to air, hard cheeses
having that same walnut type flavor.
Spring for an older manchego and
you're almost certain to get a plentiful taste
of rancio with which to benchmark your palate.
Once you've become a rancio fanatic like me,
berate local vintners & craft distillers
for not actively using flor, oxidative aging,
and soleras for more rancio instead of
leaving all that goodness to distant & costly
Jerez & Madeira.
Morlock - first off, thanks for the killer response! Excellent info. I've explored PX and Olo in the context of understanding sherry casks for malt, but beyond that I have not spent much time with finos or old Madeira.
DeleteI also get what you're saying with slow controlled oxidation. A lot of mezcal producers age their spirits in glass (some have for decades) in demijohns similar to the ones used in cognac. The result is deeper, complex spirit without some of the harshness of a new distillate (an oversimplification but you get the point).
One of my main gripes with the use of rancio right now is the lack of consistency in how its defined - its more a term of art than science. Maybe that's justified, but Ryan (co-blogger) and I have talked about it quite a bit and came to the same conclusion that it felt like something that was more geared towards marketing than flavor.
Either way, I'll be drinking some fino this weekend and chasing it with a bowl of walnuts (for science)!
Thanks again for the great response.
Since my words are to your taste, here are a passle more to give some refinement to what I wrote earlier :
Deletego cheap on the fino until you know it suits your palate preference;
it is dry & then some.
If you spend (a little) more, put it into amontillado instead.
And, if you're gonna splurge, go palo cortado.
As for madeiras,
"Fine (& Rich)" = approx. 2y
which really isn't much to speak of.
On the other hand, a great way
to taste test madeiras cheap is
the Rainwater expressions.
But, insofar as full strength madeira releases,
anything less than a 5y just doesn't do it for me,
and I even graduated to a level where
only 10y will do.
Colheita usually means old vintage, which is great
but comes with a premium price.
If you discover you really dig that superdry fino,
such that you will only settle for manzanillas
( finos aged nearby the seashore to emphasize the salty character ),
then consider exploring high grade ( "superiore" or "reserva" ) marsala,
which is described as having the next flavor level beyond rancio,
bresciola ( salted beef ).
A reminder that the true glory of
these oxidatively aged products is
that, because they've been crafted on that basis,
they frequently IMPROVE ( even most cheap ones )
once the bottle has been opened and
the liquid has been exposed to air.
Moreover, unlike wine, due to their fortification ( "generoso" )
they will keep pretty reliably indefinitely on the shelf
with no refrigeration or particular attention to keeping them airtight.
DeleteFinally
1) if the label says "cooking sherry"
it was probably pretty awful to start with
and has been further debased by the addition
of salt ( & perhaps pepper).
Sherry & madeira are great to cook with
and cheap enough in their lower priced releases
that you're wasting your money when you buy them corrupted
just because they are designated for food preparation.
2) Sherry should be from Jerez, anciently spelled Xeres,
the southwest Atlantic corner of Spain.
Madeira should be from the island of Madeira
520 km west of the African coast.
Marsala should be from Sicily.
If the label says "California sherry" or "California madeira"
or states it was "produced" in the U.S., it is ersatz, fake,
and nearly always of such poor quality as to
not be worth drinking.
This is usually very low quality wine
with sugar added that has been baked
by industrial process.
Brands most often seen with this waste of money
are Taylor & Gibson, staple favorites of chronic inebriates
for their supersweet flavor, fortification & low price,
both of which are notable quality family brands of yore
in the sherry & madeira business, still used in
very different context e.g. "Hartley & Gibson" & "Taylor Fladgate"
on legitimate product.
US TTB has use of the terms "sherry" & "madeira" grandfathered
to allow such misrepresentation, similar to the use of "port".
Any number of small & large U.S. wineries are not above
the misuse of these category labels, including Gallo.
The exception to my rejection is much higher end dusties,
even with Gallo & Paul Mason brand names,
from the 1960s/70s/80s back when the very best US made stuff
probably had a large amount of the real thing blended in.
I have an open bottle of Paul Mason "Rarity rare cream sherry"
in a heart shaped brown bottle with a very small base
from the 1980s ( I think, maybe earlier) that is great,
and been getting better since I opened it.
3) Last, if you buy a sherry, madeira, port or marsala,
and don't like it enough to finish the bottle,
I consider such castoffs stupendous improvements
as alternatives to vermouth (dry) or sweet syrups in cocktails.
So based on your awesome advice I purchased some Fino and a nice Madeira (Rare Wine Company Barbeito Historic Series Charleston Sercial Madeira). The Madeira is straight sweet walnut juice (and really great), which leads me back to the original question - what is the point of using the term rancio (maybe historical meaning, perhaps)? I've had a few savvy brandy drinkers give me different information on what rancio is. Its a confusing term that is more subjective than objective. I'm not out to attack traditions and norms, but this one seems antiquated, unnecessary, and/or ambiguous given its origination.
DeleteEither way, I'm not suffering in my research!
Again, thanks for the information, Greg. FWIW now I'm drinking more fortified wines!
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ReplyDelete