I agree.
It has also always seemed strange to me that the very people who would value terroir in good wine for example or good olive oil - think that brandy is improved the greater the degree of refinement!
To me, zivania's, grappas, armagnacs, calvados etc give good terroir and to me you feel a closer attatchment to it's terroir and people origins. Much of the expensive brandy I have drunk seems to have had the "land" removed.
Anyone share these views - or violently disagree?
I work as a wine and spirits agent and heartily agree with you. You should also include single malt scotch as an example of a spirit that has an attachment to the terroir (Islay, Speyside, Lowlands etc.). Consider for a moment that Cognac is marketed by the big houses as a house style as is Champagne. While the terroir may have been removed from the expensive Cognacs, the cost of marketing has been added.
Armagnac has three zones, Bas-Armagnac, Tenareze and Haut-Armagnac. Both the traditional columnar still and the pot still are used but the columnar still predominates. I have one supplier that has two regional versions of their 1979 Armagnac, one from Bas-Armagnac and the other from Tenareze so there is the possibility of seeing differences in terroir. This supplier only uses the columnar still. Armagnac also allows up to ten different varieties of grapes in the blend unlike Cognac which allows only four. Some Armagnac houses produce single varietal distillations so one can appreciate the characteristics of the grape.
Calvados has three A.O.C.s, Calvados, Calvados Pays d'Auge and Calvados Domfrontais. What is really interesting is that Calvados and Calvados Domfrontais are distilled once in a columnar still but Calvados Pays d'Auge is required to be distilled twice in a pot still. Calvados Domfrontais however is required to have at least 30% pears in the mix. Also, there is a difference in the soils between Pays d'Auge and Domfrontais.