We said our farewells to Ken and Cathy at the Bordeaux airport. They were flying to Barcelona and we were picking up our rental car for a shortened run through the Loire valley (chateaux anyone?) and a stop at Martell’s distillery in Cognac, for… well… cognac.

We loaded our possessions into a Mazda M2 – which is a pretty itty bitty hybrid car. Surprisingly, it was also an automatic. I guess a gear shift does not work the same way on a hybrid vehicle.

It was a relatively short journey to Cognac. We parked and wandered into the main square looking for, you guessed it, coffee! And some lunch. English seems to be used much less in Cognac compared to Bordeaux, but we managed to order our meal successfully. We sat outside. It was a bit blustery but the rain that had been forecast managed to hold off.

Throughout our travels we had seen many signs saying “Octobre Rose” in recognition of breast cancer month. Bordeaux raised the game a notch with banners loaded with pink bras strung across the narrow streets. Other towns used ribbons, or garden pots, a few signs, but they all participated. Cognac used pink umbrellas to decorate their town square. This one was particularly nice.

Cognac is a pretty small place. Most of the distilleries are located outside the town centre – except for Martell. It was founded by Jean Martell in 1715 and is the oldest of the big four houses: Martell, Hennessy, Remy Martin and Courvoisier. 

Some interesting facts:

• Jean Martell was born and raised in Jersey, an island between France and England.
• Cognac is made from white wine grapes.
• 97% of cognac is exported.
• Cognac is used in a number of cocktails. I will have to do some research on this when I get home. ;0)
• Martell’s logo is a swift (as in the bird); the design is modern and clean. I really liked it.
• Martell was forced to move the main distillery out of the town as it was not permitted to keep so much liquor within the town. The original distillery is now a centre for visitors, education and company archives. Tasting and blending is also done there.
• Jean Martell’s wife, Rachel, took over the business and ran it successfully after her husband’s death.
• Many new blends have been created by master and blenders throughout the years.
• It takes 20 or more years to become a master blender. Blenders stay with the same house for their entire career as changing houses would require that they completely retrain.
• Martell has 2 female blenders. It used to be beleived that they could not do the job of blending as their changing hormones impacted their taste and smell making them unreliable. Turns out that is not the case.
• Cognac is made under strict requirements. It must be distilled twice in copper pot stills and aged at least two years in French oak barrels. It is controlled, similar to champagne.
• Cognac is also called eau-de-vie (water of life); I love that.

The tour itself was interesting and educational. And the tasting at the end was pretty fun. I definitely preferred the VSOP version of their cognac as it was smooth and almost light. The VSO version is stored in burnt bourbon barrels and the flavour was just to harsh for my liking.

Once we left the distillery, it was a surprisingly long drive to our amazing hotel in the middle of the Loire valley, Domaine de la Tortiniere. But man, was it worth it.

The hotel is actually a small chateau, beautifully appointed, in park-like grounds. We had one of the turret suites (top right) and it was wonderful. I wish we had been able to spend more time there. Unfortunately we have had to shorten our trip by a few days, resulting in only one day to see our top 3 chateaux and a single night in this beautiful place.

We enjoyed dinner in the lovely gourmet restaurant downstairs. The food was perfectly prepared and the service impeccable. Rick had a starter, crab, and we both had turbot for our main. For some unknown reason Rick decided to engage his newly discovered french side and has a cheese plate (that he could barely get through) then we both had dessert. My pear souffle was to die for. Seriously light and fluffy and flavourful. It was all accompanied by a delicious, local white wine, Sancerre.

Rick also tried Pineau des Charentes, a locally made fortified wine that was rather like port in viscosity and flavour. It is made from either fresh, unfermented grape juice, or a blend of lightly fermented grape must, to which a Cognac eau-de-vie is added and then matured. I quite liked it.

Our dinner was very relaxing and there were only a few tables with other guests. We returned to our room and lounged about, just enjoying the ambience until it was time for sleep.