Distillation

What is a Potstill Brandy, and how is it distilled? The name comes from the "pot still," the copper still that looks like a thick pot with a long neck. The wine is heated inside it; alcohol evaporates before water does, and the vapor condenses back into liquid in the cooling coil.

The wine passes through the still twice. The first run yields a weak, still-rough distillate that carries along every compound present. The second run refines it, separating it into heads, heart, and tails. Only the heart — the central cut — is kept for the brandy; the rest is often redistilled.

Copper is more than just a material — it actively shapes the spirit. It binds unwanted sulfur compounds and leaves the distillate cleaner. That's why the stills in these distillation houses gleam with that reddish shine, and why they're cared for like family heirlooms.

The scale of these operations is striking: at KWV's site in Worcester, the company says 120 pot stills stand under a single roof. At Van Ryn's, the house says it has one still that's more than 200 years old.

Not every South African brandy comes from the pot still alone. In a Blended Brandy, part of the blend is unaged wine spirit, often distilled in columns — tall stills that run continuously. This spirit is lighter and more neutral than pot-still distillate, and it softens the latter's robust character.

Fresh off the still, the spirit is clear and has no wood character yet. It's only in the barrel that it takes on color — which is the subject of the next stage.