Thank you Nutcakes and Pegeen. I decided to persevere with a lovely Columbia Valley Cabernet on hand. Judging by the aroma now wafting from the oven, the bourguignon will still be a crowd-pleaser. Cheers!
p.s. It would be nice, but in my humble opinion you can make great boeuf bourgignon without cognac. Of the two, using some "decent" red wine in the recipe (something you wouldn't mind drinking) is more important.
Cognac is a type of brandy. You can use other brandy besides cognac. You could also substitute red wine or beef broth. It's not critical to use brandy as it's only 1/2 cup to deglaze the pan.
If you don't have Brandy to use instead, I suppose you could use Vermouth, but you won't have quite the same flavor profile. Otherwise, pick another recipe to make this time --1/2 cup is quite a lot and it seems it wouldn't be the same without it.
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