Germain-Robin, based in Ukiah, California

Ukiah, California

The average high temperature is 73.5 °F . Average low temperature is 46.1 °F . Temperatures reach 90 °F on an average of 65.6 days annually and 100 °F on an average of 14.4 days annually. Due to frequent low humidity, summer temperatures normally drop into the fifties at night. Freezing...

, is one of the highest rated alembic

Alembic

An alembic is an alchemical still consisting of two vessels connected by a tube...

 brandy

Brandy

Brandy is a spirit produced by distilling wine. Brandy generally contains 35%–60% alcohol by volume and is typically taken as an after-dinner drink...

 makers in the world.

History

The distillery was founded in 1982 by Ansley J. Coale, a local rancher, and Hubert Germain-Robin, a native of Cognac, France.

Coale, a former Berkeley professor of ancient history

Ancient history

Ancient history is the study of the written past from the beginning of recorded human history to the Early Middle Ages. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, with Cuneiform script, the oldest discovered form of coherent writing, from the protoliterate period around the 30th century BC...

, had bought 2000 acre (809 ha) of farmland outside of Ukiah, named Eagle Ridge Ranch, in 1973. By chance, one day in 1981 he picked up Germain-Robin, who was hitchhiking throughout California in search of a location to make brandy. Germain-Robin came from a family that had been making cognac

Cognac

Cognac is a commune in the Charente department in southwestern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department.-Geography:Cognac is situated on the river Charente between the towns of Angoulême and Saintes. The majority of the town has been built on the river's left bank, with the smaller right...

 under the name Jules Robin & Company, but had recently sold the business to Martell, prompting Germain-Robin to leave.

Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan

Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....

 was an aficionado of Germain-Robin brandies and reserved a number of barrels for the White House

White House

The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...

, which he served as a matter of national pride to visiting dignitaries such as Mikhail Gorbachev

Mikhail Gorbachev

Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev is a former Soviet statesman, having served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991, and as the last head of state of the USSR, having served from 1988 until its dissolution in 1991...

 and François Mitterrand

François Mitterrand

François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand was the 21st President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra, serving from 1981 until 1995. He is the longest-serving President of France and, as leader of the Socialist Party, the only figure from the left so far elected President...

. The brandy was also served at Bill Clinton

Bill Clinton

William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...

's inaugural ball

One innovation is that in Cognac, brandy is made mostly of the ugni blanc grape (known in Italy as trebbiano

Trebbiano

Trebbiano is the second most widely planted grape in the world. It gives good yields, but makes undistinguished wine at best. It can be fresh and fruity, but does not keep long. Its high acidity makes it important in Cognac production...

), which in the region makes a juice unsuitable for drinking as a wine. By contrast Germain-Robin used, and continues to use, high-quality wine grapes. Initially it used locally produced Pinot Noir

Pinot Noir

Pinot noir is a black wine grape variety of the species Vitis vinifera. The name may also refer to wines created predominantly from Pinot noir grapes...

, and it continues to use exclusively Mendocino County grapes, generally Colombard

Colombard

Colombard is an early fruiting white variety of wine grape, better known as French Colombard in North America. It is possibly the offspring of Gouais Blanc and Chenin Blanc....

 and Semillon

Sémillon

Sémillon is a golden-skinned grape used to make dry and sweet white wines, most notably in France and Australia.-History:The origin of the Sémillon grape is hard to determine. It is known that it first arrived in Australia in the early 19th century and by the 1820s the grape covered over 90 percent...

, as well as some Zinfandel

Zinfandel

Zinfandel is a variety of red grape planted in over 10 percent of California vineyards. DNA fingerprinting revealed that it is genetically equivalent to the Croatian grape Crljenak Kaštelanski, and also the Primitivo variety traditionally grown in Puglia , where it was introduced in the 18th century...

 and Viognier

Viognier

Viognier is a white wine grape. It is the only permitted grape for the French wine Condrieu in the Rhone valley.-History:The origin of the Viognier grape is unknown. Viognier is presumed to be an ancient grape, possibly originating in Dalmatia and then brought to Rhône by the Romans. One legend...

. Another innovation is that rather than blending the wine, Germain-Robin produces single-varietal and single-vineyard brandies.

Products

Germain-Robin brandy, which is called by some the best in the world, is produced in very small quantities, 3,000 cases per year as of 2005. Sales are low due to poor name recognition, high price of up to $350 per bottle, and the tendency of restaurant patrons to buy well-known mass-market brands from France.

Particularly in recent years, the distillery has been experimenting with grappa

Grappa

Grappa is an alcoholic beverage, a fragrant, grape-based pomace brandy of Italian origin that contains 35%–60% alcohol by volume...

, eau de vie

Eau de vie

An eau de vie is a clear, colorless fruit brandy that is produced by means of fermentation and double distillation...

, liqueur

Liqueur

A liqueur is an alcoholic beverage that has been flavored with fruit, herbs, nuts, spices, flowers, or cream and bottled with added sugar. Liqueurs are typically quite sweet; they are usually not aged for long but may have resting periods during their production to allow flavors to marry.The...

, and other liquors.

Coale is also a participant in Hangar One, an artisan vodka made in Alameda, California

Alameda, California

Alameda is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. It is located on Alameda Island and Bay Farm Island, and is adjacent to Oakland in the San Francisco Bay. The Bay Farm Island portion of the city is adjacent to the Oakland International Airport. At the 2010 census, the city had a...

.