Legal regulations allow for three different types of
brandy to be produced in South Africa. These are:

1. POTSTILL BRANDY

Potstill brandy is the richest and most layered in flavoured of the three types. Its complexity comes from the rich fruity aromas concentrated during distillation and the spicy, vanilla and woody bouquet imparted during wood maturation. A matured potstill distillate has a very pronounced and full-bodied flavour.

The alcohol component must contain a minimum of 90% potstill brandy (three years and older) and a maximum of 10% wine spirits (unmatured).

2. BLENDED BRANDY

With our warm and sunny climate, South Africans prefer to enjoy their brandy with cold mixers, rather than a warming, straight aperitif or after-dinner digestive. The pronounced flavour of a 100% potstill distillate is too overwhelming to be enjoyed with a mixer such as orange juice or cola. For this reason, neutral alcohol spirit may be blended with the potstill distillate, to give us a so-called blended brandy.

The alcohol component of this brandy must contain a minimum of 30% potstill brandy (three years and older), and a maximum of 70% wine spirit (unmatured) from the column still process.

3. VINTAGE BRANDY

Vintage brandy has a distinctive wood-maturation character when compared to potstill and blended brandy. The reason for this is due to the fact that vintage brandies have to be aged for a minimum of eight years and contain a significant portion of matured wine spirit, which has a strong wood flavour.

The alcohol component must contain a minimum of 30% potstill brandy matured for at least eight years, a maximum of 60% column still spirit matured for at least eight years and a maximum of 10% wine spirits (unmatured).

4. ESTATE BRANDY

Many people inquire about estate brandies. Estate brandies are made entirely from grapes grown, harvested, fermented, distilled, bottled and matured on the estate. The entire brandy making process, therefore, has to occur on the estate. They may be made in one of the abovementioned styles, but the style must be specified - for example: potstill estate brandy.

ALCOHOL CONTENT

If a wine has an alcohol content of 9-12% by volume, it means that in every 1000ml of wine there is 90-120ml of absolute alcohol.

Thus, every 1000ml of low wine contains 300ml absolute alcohol (30% ABV); and every 1000ml of heart fraction contains 680-700ml absolute alcohol (68% - 70% ABV).