Jarnac Mooring Wall
///grained.defies.cannily
45°40’45.8436″N, 0°10’43.5828″W

Last evening we decided that we would leave the boat in Jarnac on Friday & take a cab to Cognac. It would take us about 4 hours & 3 locks to get to Cognac on the boat but only 20 minutes by car! While we are having a lot of fun on the boat we don’t want it to dominate our visit to this part of France.

We took an Uber ride to Cognac & started our tour of the city on the riverbank in front of the Hennessy Distillery.

Photo above – Hennessy Distillery in Cognac

It would have been interesting to take a tour through Hennessy but we had already booked a tour in the afternoon through Courvoisier & that was enough Cognac in one day!

After a short walk along the riverbank we began to pass through one of the historic districts of the city.

Photo above – a street leading up from the river towards the historic center of the city. It wasn’t a steep incline but walking on all those cobblestones did not make it easy.

Photo above – stores were just starting to open as we walked through the beginning of the commercial area.

Photo above – we walked through the public market in Cognac. Vendors were just starting to set up their stalls for the afternoon market. The building design & construction is very similar to the market in Angouleme.

Photo above – Cognac Hotel DeVille. It is located in a very large & beautifully manicured park.

Cognac City Hall was just a few minutes walk from the historic commercial district. From there we wandered through an even older part of the city.

It seemed like the buildings got older on every street that took us closer to the river.

Photo above – it would have been fun to have stopped for a coffee & some lunch at this place but it wasn’t opening for a few more hours.

Photo above – this fortification is almost on the riverbank & appears to be part of a much larger castle that is surrounded by scaffolding & safety screen.

Photo above – the Charente River in Cognac with the Hennessy Distillery in the distance on the left bank.

We spent about 5 hours exploring the historic districts of Cognac & then took an Uber back to Jarnac.

Back aboard the boat we had a light snack & a brief rest before heading off on another much-anticipated  adventure – a tour of the Courvoisier Distillery!

Our tour began at 3:30 with a very nice young woman named Gaelle. There were only 6 people on the tour so we had lots of opportunities to ask questions & get more information.

Gaelle began the tour by explaining the origins of Cognac & how the original distiller managed to get his product to become a favourite of Emperor Napoleon. Naming his best quality Cognac after the Emperor may also have had something to do with his business success!

Cognac is made from a special blend of double distilled, unaged wine made with ugniblanc grapes which are specially grown for making Cognac. The initial wine from these grapes is virtually undrinkable but it is ideally suited to making Cognac. Each batch that is distilled produces 3 distinct Eau de Vie (water of life) – basically the beginning, the middle & the end of each distilling batch. These products are then separated & blended later on in the process to create the Cognac.

The photo above shows examples of the different Eau de Vies that are blended in recipes to create the various types & qualities of Cognac.

Photo above – the barrels of various Eau de Vies are stored in warehouses where their aging process is carefully monitored. As each batch/barrel arrives at its desired quality it is blended with other barrels to end up with the particular type of Cognac the Master Blender wants.

Up to 40 types of Eau de Vies are blended to make cognac. We saw some barrels in this warehouse that were labeled as early as 1986. Each barrel weighs up to 450 kgs. Our tour guide explained that once Cognac ages 30-40 years there is really no benefit to further aging.

They make 20 million bottles of Cognac per year which makes Courvoisier the fourth largest producer in France. Hennessy produces half of all of France’s total.

Gaelle had a lot more to tell us but it’s time to cut to the chase… the tasting!

We were treated to 3 drinks with Cognac – the first was a cocktail called Airmail, which is made with Cognac VS,   orange tea, honey, triple sec & verjus. It was delicious!  Next were samples of VSOP & XO.

This was a fantastic tour & well worth the 20 Euros it cost each of us. I could go on & on for quite a while longer but I think you get the idea. 

After the tour was over we went back to the boat for a brief rest. Then Catherine & Valerie & David headed off to the local laundromat while I stayed on the boat to fill the water tank & hook up to shore power.

This was all a bit of a comedown from sipping premier Cognac but we managed to salvage the evening with dinner out at a local Bistro.

I’ll end this posting with a photo of the Cognac that was not on the tasting list – 3,000 Euros a bottle!

Cheers!