Cognac: A New-Wave Travel Guide (Updated)
Cognac: A New-Wave Travel Guide (Updated)
This city and region in southwest France is a must-visit for the spirits aficionado, much like Kentucky’s bourbon trail or Scotland's whisky circuit.
“Welcome to the turn of the 20th century,” said my guide, Marielle Chopin-Pascaud, as I entered the tasting room of Bache-Gabrielsen, on a quiet street in downtown Cognac. As four generations of Bache-Gabrielsens stared down at me from black-and-white portraits, I sipped the double-distilled brandy that bears the name of this city and region. Blended from spirits dating as far back as World War I, the drink offered a complex taste from another era: rich, unctuous, with evocative aromas and flavours of well-worn leather, dark tobacco, antique furniture. It was the sort of brandy you’d imagine an old man in a smoking jacket might drink from a snifter while sitting before a roaring fire.
But as we descended into the cellars, we entered the 21st century. I saw Cognacs aged in amphorae, like the orange wines that have become the rage at natural-wine bars. Some were treated like bourbon, aged in American oak rather than French — a heresy in this tradition-minded place. “We want to be an audacious house,” Chopin-Pascaud told me.
One of the last Cognacs that Chopin-Pascaud poured was from the 1971 vintage — just a year younger than me — that had been aged in barrels for almost four decades. Sometimes, on rare occasions, very old Cognac begins to take on flavours of tropical fruit and flowers, and this one was practically wearing an aloha shirt. Sitting in the century-old tasting room, I found it to be both modern and classic, old and new. It was the opposite of buttoned-up, boring Cognac. It was impossible not to love.
That sort of balanced, quiet, but radical innovation has become the norm in Cognac. As a city, Cognac—which sits on the banks of the languid Charente, at the heart of the appellation of the same name—had always been a sleepy destination, the sort of place that rolled up the sidewalks at 10 pm. A decade ago, while running up a hefty tab with friends at a local bar, I remember being asked to leave because the staff wanted to close early. In the aughts, a friend who’d moved from Paris nearly went crazy with boredom and fled. Things have changed.
In Cognac, 85 percent of stocks are owned by merchants, or negociants, who buy from smaller producers. That includes the Big Four—Hennessy, Rémy Martin, Martell, and Courvoisier—which together control 90 percent of the wordlwide market. But lately there’s been a vocal uprising of smaller artisan producers and even small negociants such as Grosperrin or Vallein-Tercinier, and Jean-Luc Pasquet, who will do limited-edition bottlings of special barrels they select from other cellars. “Historically, Cognac is a merchant business,” says Guilhem Grosperrin, whose single-barrel bottlings are highly sought after. “I like the job of a merchant. I like this way of working. It gives me the liberty to pick out the best casks.”
You can learn much more about what’s happening Cognac in my two reports from 2022, “Chasing the Unicorn Barrel” and “A World of Cognac Beyond the Big Four” (as well as my 2019 tasting report in Vinous). Below I’m focused more specifically on travel to Cognac.
Visiting Cognac
On the heels of the cocktail renaissance, people are seeking out spirits destinations the same way previous generations flocked to wine regions. Cognac is now a must-visit, much like Kentucky’s bourbon trail or the scotch circuit in Scotland, and the city is responding accordingly. New accommodations are opening, including Hôtel Chais Monnet & Spa, Cognac’s first real top-end property. Beyond its gleaming glass-and-iron facade, limestone walls and wood beams recall the building’s days as a 19th-century brandy cellar. I also like the Hotel Françoise Premier right in the city center, and there are a bunch of affordable Airbnbs.
The restaurant and bar landscape is shifting, too. Poulpette, with its steel accents and open kitchen, is a showcase for an ever-changing menu that blends southwestern French food—duck tartare, foie gras—with subtle Japanese influences. La Maison, a longtime restaurant in the city center, has reinvented itself with cooler wine bar vibe. Two great cocktail spots, Bar Luciole and Bar Louise, are places to find riffs on standbys that still honor the region’s namesake spirit, as well as inventive modern cocktails. And both Luciole and Louise are prime spots to taste Cognacs from smaller producers you might not be able to visit. All this new energy complements stalwarts like the Michelin-starred La Ribaudière in nearby Bourg-Charente, where chef Thierry Verrat has been serving classical French cuisine for more than 30 years.
Besides tourism, there’s also been a revolution in Cognac making, with craft producers breaking the stereotypes of what brandy is meant to be — and who it’s for. At Bar Luciole, I met Jean and Amy Pasquet of Pasquet Cognac, an estate that has been in Jean’s family since 1730. They were hosting an oysters-and-Cognac happy hour with their new line of organic, younger brandies (labelled as 04, 07, or 10 years, rather than with the traditional alphabet soup of VS, VSOP, XO, and so on). There were DJ sets, and not a snifter or smoking jacket in sight.
These smaller producers are stepping out from the shadows of the so-called Big Four. The giants have always run boutique tasting rooms akin to high-end jewellery stores, but even they have had to adapt. Last year, the 300-year-old Maison Martell opened Martell the Journey, a multimedia experience with a 360° projection of vineyards, life-size videos of winegrowers and barrel makers, and interactive games that immerse visitors in the spirit’s aromas, sounds, and tastes.
Staying in the city proper, my favorite estates to visit, besides Bache-Gabrielsen, are Camus and the small, organic estate Brard-Blanchard, on the outskirts of the city.
There’s still a slow, stately pace of life in Cognac that I admire: wandering the Jardin Public or taking the path along the Charente to the 10th-century Château Royal de Cognac, or exploring cobwebbed cellars where barrels of brandy have matured for decades. The newcomers aren’t erasing the past—merely expanding the vision of what Cognac can be.
Getting to Cognac
Most travellers fly in to Paris, then rent a car or hop the high-speed TGV to reach Cognac, changing trains at Angoulême. It’s also possible to combine a few days in Cognac with a continued wine-soaked excursion to Bordeaux, about 60 miles south
Exploring the Cognac Region at Large
Jarnac and Grande Champagne
If you go to Cognac, I suggest renting a car for at least a few days. The appellation doesn’t reveal itself fully until you drive into the countryside, past hundreds of vineyards that produce the (rather unremarkable) wine that, after distillation and ageing, becomes an exquisite brandy. One of my favorite excursions is to Jarnac, a village in Grande Champagne to the east of Cognac, with cobblestone streets lined with boulangeries and patisseries.
At the 14-room Hotel Ligaro, co-owner Caroline Rooney helped me plan a walking tour of the Charente riverfront, which is home to several important Cognac houses, including Delamain, Hine, Monnet, Braastad-Tiffon, Courvoisier, all of which take visitors. Between tastings, the sunny Le Verre y Table was the ideal spot for lunch, with a lighter take on the local cuisine.
Continuing 15 minutes southwest from Jarnac is Cognac Pasquet, which you can visit by appointment only—and I highly recommend a visit to see how a small, organic family producer works. A cozy spot nearby for lunch for local fare in this area is Graines et Garenne in Châteauneuf.
Traveling 15 minutes north of Jarnac, into the Fin Bois cru, you can visit producer Remi Landier, in the village of Rouillac, which operates a super-curated spirits bottle shop. Auberge de Fin Bois is a cute local spot for lunch in this area.
Segonzac and Grande Champagne
The town of Segonzac is the heart of Grand Champagne, which many enthusiasts insist is where the finest Cognacs are made. Here, a trip to Cognac Frapin for a tasting and tour is well worth the visit. Few houses in Cognac have the hallowed history of Frapin, still owned by the original family, who can trace their winegrowing and distilling back to 1270 (the current CEO is the 21st generation). Consider: The family’s coat of arms was bestowed by Louis XIV; the quill logo was designed in honor of famed author François Rabelais, whose mother was a Frapin; Gustave Eiffel constructed the building where the blending is carried out. On a tour, as we passed some cobwebbed old demijohns, I was casually told, “Here is the harvest of 1870.” Frapin owns 240 hectares in Grande Champagne, and only produces eaux-de-vie from that terroir.
Harder to visit, in Gondeville, lies the estate of Jacky Navarre, known among Cognac producers as the last of the purists. Navarre’s dedication to his craft is legendary, a point driven home by the bed next to the wood-fired still in his distillery. We tasted a Cognac made from grapes that his grandfather had harvested in 1925 and his family had bottled in 1975. For a spirits geek like me, it was a religious experience. One of Navarre’s finest bottlings, the stunning Navarre Souvenir Impérial Très Vieille Réserve Hors d’Age, could win an award for sheer number of confusing traditional terms on a label. “Instead of trying to re-create what the consumer wants,” he told me, “I make what I want and like, and I hope the customer will like it, too.”
Petite Champagne
Petite Champages holds slightly less interest for me, but there are some good estates such as Chateau Montifaud (which is open to public tastings). My favorite is Cognac Bertrand, which is a lovely estate open to public visits.. Bertrand, a medium-sized house with 85 hectares in Petite Champagnean is and example a producer that 85 to 90 percent of its production to Hennessy, but keeps select barrels for their own label. “It’s accurate to describe Hennessy as an 800-pound gorilla,” says Seph Hall, who runs Bertrand with his wife Thérèse and brother-in-law Samuel. “But they’re not nasty. They’re not a distempered 800-pound gorilla.”
Saintes & Environs
Driving northwest from Cognac, you move through the prized Borderies cru. Two top producers here are Fanny Fougerat and Grateaud.
About a half hour in this direction is Saintes, a slightly larger city along the Charente, with several very good restaurants. Saveurs de L’Abbaye, near the Abbaye aux Dames, serves a light, fresh take on classic French cuisine that’s perfect for a sunny lunch while Cognac tasting. L’IØDE with its modern dining room and great seafood is the culinary embodiment of new-wave Cognac. Saintes is also home to cult favorite Grosperrin Cognac, which does not offer public tastings and tours, but does operates an amazing bottle shop on its property. Saintes is also 15 minutes drive from Vallein Tercinier, an excellent small negociant who offers visits by appointment. Further west from Saintes is Oléron Island and its famed oysters (yes, Cognac is more coastal than you think!)
