The first serious craft distillery since Prohibition. In 1982, Ansley Coale and Hubert Germain-Robin brought an antique hand-operated cognac still to Coale’s ranch in Mendocino County, built a modest distillery, and began to hand-distill wines vinified from premium Mendocino County wine grapes, far superior to the grapes used to make cognac. Their creation was frequently reviewed as one of the world’s finest spirits.
In 2017, Germain-Robin was purchased by E & J Gallo Winery as part of Gallo’s large-scale project to bring premium California brandy into the world market. All aging brandy was moved in their barrels to Gallo’s cellars in Modesto. Gallo hired Hubert Germain-Robin to prepare their releases.
“Is the World’s Best Cognac Made in Ukiah?” – Dan Berger, L.A.Times
Germain-Robin Brandy
GERMAIN-ROBIN California Alambic Brandy:
A 7-year-old brandy based on French Colombard wine, beautifully complex and fruity. In the 1850s, French Colombard was the standard grape of Cognac. When the vines were wiped out by the phylloxera epidemic that devasted French vineyards in the 1860s, Cognac growers tried to graft Colombard to American rootstock resistant to the infestation. They found that the grafted Colombard’s grape bunches tightened, which in Cognac’s damp climate caused too much rot: it was their best grape, but they couldn’t use it. In California’s dry summers, Colombard yields great distilling wine, rich and deep.
GERMAIN-ROBIN Select Barrel XO:
120 bottles of Gallo’s second release, blended under Hubert’s supervision from the aged/barreled stock they bought from Germain-Robin in 2017. Includes mostly Pinot Noir, some of it going back to 1994, with a nice proportion of a 1995 Semillon, the same brandy used for the Semillon Single-Barrel releases. As always, rich, subtle, and elegant. One bottle per customer.
GERMAIN-ROBIN Single-Barrel Pinot Noir:
Gallo’s third release, blended under Hubert’s supervision from the aged/barreled stock they bought from the Germain-Robin Distillery in Ukiah. Double distilled in 2005 and aged 17yrs from grapes grown in Mendocino County's Anderson Valley. Probably the only brandy ever made from still wine vinified for excellent sparkling wine. Exceptional. Includes Pinot Noir grapes going back to 1994. As always, rich, subtle, and elegant.
GERMAIN-ROBIN Old Havana:
What’s left of the 2017 release of some 360 bottles. Contains brandies over 25 years old. Rich, deeply fruited, great volume in the mouth, more oak than the XO. Armagnac drinkers tend to prefer it. “One of the world’s great spirits” (Mens’ Journal). Limit of 1 bottle per customer.