Cognac

Cognac is double-distilled in copper pot stills from thin white wine, then aged in Limousin or Troncais oak, and the ageing has a visible side effect: roughly two per cent of the volume evaporates each year, the part called the angels' share, and a fungus, Baudoinia compniacensis, feeds on the alcohol vapour and coats the cellar walls and nearby buildings in black. Whole streets in Cognac and Jarnac are stained by it. The big houses, Hennessy, Martell, Remy Martin, Camus and Courvoisier in Jarnac, run tours through cellars and blending rooms. The Charente runs through the town and barrel staves were once floated on it.

History

Cognac is unknown before the ninth century, when it was fortified, and in the Hundred Years' War it changed sides again and again. In 1526 it gave its name to the League of Cognac, the alliance formed by Francis I against the Habsburgs, and in return the king granted the town the right to take part in the salt trade along the Charente, from which it grew into a centre of wine and brandy. In November 1651, during the Fronde, Cognac was besieged by rebels under the Prince de Condé and relieved in December by the Comte d'Harcourt, after which Louis XIV granted it further trading rights; part of the province of Angoumois, it became part of the new department of Charente in 1790 (Wikipedia, Cognac, France).

What you'll find

• The blackened walls - buildings coated by the brandy-feeding fungus.
• The ageing cellars - stacked oak casks losing the angels' share.
• The house tours - Hennessy, Martell, Remy Martin and others.
• The Charente - the river the trade was built along.

When to go

April to October; the big houses run tours year-round but reduce in winter, and distilling season is roughly November to March. Tours book ahead in summer.

Practical notes

Tours are commercial and end in a shop, with tasting portions small. Prices for the older tours are high. Driving after tasting is a real consideration.

Nearby

Jarnac lies east; Angouleme is northeast.

Key facts