Germain-Robin

Germain-Robin
PO Box 1059
Ukiah, California
USA 95482
Phone: 1.800.782.8145
http://www.germain-robin.com/

Contact: Ansley Coale
Email: [email protected]

In the summer of 1981, I stopped along Highway 101 north of San Francisco to pick up a pair of vacationing
hitch-hikers. The man came from a family that had produced cognac since 1782. The firm had recently been
taken over by giant Martell. Hubert Germain-Robin told me a sad tale: ancient hand-methods of distillation
were disappearing as the large firms that dominate production applied "improved" high-volume production
methods to an ancient industry. Hubert yearned to find a way to use what he had learned growing up,
secrets of distillation handed from master to apprentice for centuries.

The next summer, Hubert found an antique still in an abandoned cognac distillery, had it refitted, and shipped it to my Mendocino County ranch, in the northern part of California's fabled wine country. We built a modest redwood shed, and in it we made an historic discovery. We had decided to experiment with premium wines, instead of the thin acidic wines—not fit for the table— that are used to make Cognac. The very first time that brandy distilled from Pinot Noir flowed from the still, Hubert put his nose in the sampling glass, took a long sniff, turned to me, and said, "this is the finest I have ever seen".

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