FRANCE - Who'd of thought it!

Leaving San Sebastian I once again got an Euskotren, this time one called "El Topo". The line to the French border at Hendaye goes through lots of tunnels and so is called "El Topo" or "The Mole" by the locals. The from a Hendaye a couple of TGV's and a local train brought me to the lovely little town of Cognac.

Cognac is one of those really nice French towns, that is pleasant to wander and is just the right size to relax in. It sits on banks of the River Charante and there are some very pleasant riverside walks as well. I was wondering what to do when came across the amazing fact that they make Brandy here - now who'd of thought that - haha!

Of course the town is synonymous with the product that takes its name and all the big houses are here Remy Martin, Hennessy, Martell. I booked a tour and tasting this afternoon with Hennessy.

Its very corporate, very slick and involves a trip on a boat to their maturation stores on the opposite side of the river to the visitor centre. To be honest the experience is pretty much the same as a whisky distllery except you are distilling wine instead of beer . The heady aroma in the stores comes from the evaporation or "angel's share" which is the same as with whisky. The big difference is that whereas whisky uses pre used oak barrels - usually former bourbon casks - Cognac starts off with a new virgin barrel some of which are hand made in the company cooperage.

The maturation stores

Also Cognac is a blended product containing a mix of distillations or eau de vie. Having said that some distilations do produce better quality products than others and the best are kept in what they call the Paradis. This area houses the very best eau de vies some of which are over 100 years old. Every bottle of the finest Cognac for instance Hennessy Paradis will contain one or more of these special  eau de vies in the blend.

Demi-Johns in the Paradis store
It is stored in glass Demi-Johns so that the maturation process stops

For the tasting we were given Hennessy VS, Hennessy VSOP, another measure of the VSOP to have over ice and a cocktail made with VSOP. To be honest I'm not too keen on Cognac but "When in Rome ........."