Maturation & Storage

After distillation, Damassine can't go straight into the bottle. The specifications require the brandy to rest for at least six months, in vessels that generally remain sealed with a bung or fermentation lock. If the brandy needs some air, the opening is covered only with gauze, which keeps out dust and insects.

During this time, the fresh, still-sharp notes round out. The water used to bring the brandy down to drinking strength can be added before or after this resting period. It must be distilled or demineralized and must come from Jura.

Damassine carries no age statement like "ten years" — the brandy is drunk young. Instead, the label shows the vintage, meaning the year the plums were harvested. The neck label, too, may carry only this one piece of information. The bottle also states the certification body's number and the municipality where the Damasson rouge was harvested.

This maturation period ties into the late release date. Damassine may not reach the market before Saint Martin's Day of the year following the harvest — by the specifications, the second Sunday in November. So anyone gathering fruit in the Ajoie in July or August can sell their brandy roughly a year later. It's a fixed calendar date rather than an age statement.

Nothing that doesn't belong together gets blended at bottling. Brandies from different harvest years, from fruit grown in different municipalities, or from grafted versus wild trees may not be blended. Screw caps, corks or plastic stoppers are all permitted closures, and bottle size is left to the producer's discretion.