Fine (brandy)

Fine (French word meaning "fine", as in "high quality") is a term for some high quality French brandy (generally AOC), not including Cognac and Armagnac.

Varieties include:

• Fine de Bordeaux
• Fine de Bourgogne
• Fine de la Marne

It is notably referenced in Ernest Hemingway's work, especially The Sun Also Rises:

• "We had dined at l'Avenue's and afterward went to the Café de Versailles for coffee. We had several fines after the coffee..."
• "After the coffee and a fine we got the bill, chalked up the same as ever on a slate"

(It is also mentioned in A Moveable Feast.)

In a scene in the James Bond film Goldfinger, Bond is offered more of what Col. Smithers describes as "rather disappointing brandy." M asks what's wrong with it, and Bond replies, "I'd say it's a 30 year-old fine, indifferently blended...with an overdose of bon bois."

It was formerly quite common in France; it is now quite rare.

References

• Page on Fine and Marc