"Napoleon re-established the supremacy of real Cognac over its spurious competitors by drinking Cognac brandy exclusively and carting it all over Europe on his campaigns.

"During the [eighteen] nineties the only fashionable brandy was the one called Napoleon's 'Return-from-Russia' Cognac, and one of the favorite gambits of wine wags is to state that the main task of Napoleon's armies was to lug Cognac around so that it could bear his name.

"Many firms still call their best Cognacs Napoleon Brandy. They claim that it has become a tradition in the industry....There is no real [historically genuine] Napoleon Brandy on sale anywhere today, and even if there were, it would not be so good as any old Cognac bottled yesterday....Cognac does not age in bottle, and for that matter, neither does any other eau-de-vie or liqueur, although a few believe they can detect a slight mellowing in a longbottled alcool blanc. The high alcoholic content preserves it in exactly the same state as at the moment it was bottled.

"The brandy of Cognac comes from a district now limited by law. No other brandy in France is entitled to be called Cognac, the name of the main town in the center of the vineyards....

"Until the 1930's when reciprocal treaties forbade the practice, brandy in the United States was also called Cognac...."

Excerpted from Wines of France by Alexis Lichine.