Brantome who? Cognac and La Rochelle

After an early night, we are back on the road.  Our target for the day is Cognac and La Rochelle.  The road less travelled continues to be our route.  This makes for slow progress as we drive through many small villages, encountering lots of agriculture traffic along the way.  The French countryside is a pleasant distraction from the time spent behind the wheel.  Before too long, we run into a road closure.  This is not good.....  We will likely have to backtrack in order to get to our destination.  We really don't like backtracking.  After a few moments of looking around, at what?.... I am not sure, we decide to see if the road is really closed.

Up ahead, we can see a construction site, trucks being loaded with gravel and stone, as the heavy equipment is creating a new path for the road.  To the left of the new road is the old road.  It looks fine, relatively speaking...and except for the pylons blocking the way, there is no danger.  I am pretty sure the car will fit between the last pylon on the right and the ditch.  Nobody is watching.... so I go for it.  Inching my way forward, way to close to the ditch and the river of water rushing along within it, I make a small adjustment to the left.  We are clear of the ditch but scrape the left side of the car from front to back with the pylon.  Damn!  Turns out the pylons are plastic, no damage done.  Yes!  We are through and back on our way.  No turning around, no unnecessary mileage, time is not wasted.  Up the hill we race, not wanting to get caught after our daring maneuver.  As we arrive at the crest of the hill, the road is blocked off by more pylons, this time they are too close together for a squeeze play.  So, after some investigation, I just move them.  Hahaha!  No further road detours required, clear sailing for the next few hours.  All this rally driving has worked up my appetite.  The village of Brantome appeared on the horizon.  It seemed as good as any, so we took the exit.  You can't see the village from the road as its setting is in a river valley.  Wow! This turned out to be a great surprise.

The history of this village dates back to neolithic times, its Abbey dates around 790.  So it is old.... big deal, lots of things are old in France.  It is the geography of this little village that is intriguing.   The main village is a 300 meter wide island surrounded by the Dronne river. Nicknamed the Venice of Perigord, a district within the Department of Dordogne, in the administrative division of Aquitaine, France.  How would you like to have to say that at border control crossing into the US of A.  

Can you see it...?

 Border Guard: " Citizenship"?

Traveller: "French"

Border Guard: "Where do you live"?

Traveller:  "Brantome, Venice of Perigord, District of Dordogne, Administrative District of Aquitaine, France."

Border Guard: "Nothing to declare?" (Now thinking how long is this going to take)

Saperlipopette!...." Move on".

Sorry I lost my train of thought.  Back to Brantome.   There is just no way not to fall in love with the place.  Granted there is only one canal, there are boats on it, no gondolas and no one is singing Italian Operas...still,  it is the kind of place you would arrive for a few hours, like we did, and want to spend a week.  It has an aura, a feeling that no matter how important life was before you arrived, it can.... and will wait!  The area is famous for Black Truffles, Porcini Mushrooms, Fois Gras, Perigord Walnuts (AOC) and walnut oil.  So no doubt, the food is good here.

As luck would have it, we found this little jewel of a Michelin rated restaurant called "Les Saveurs".  The owner's name was Angelique, our daughter's name, good omen. And of course, I was hungry.  Did we eat!  The meal was over the top, and it only cost 29 euros each with wine!

Out table

Fois Gras Pate

Tuna Tartar

Fish, forgot to write down the name.  Perfect!

Duck, a Dordogne specialty

Three fruits in a sweet compote

Chocolate and mint gelato

Accompanied by a Rose and a Rouge from the Dordogne.  In case I haven't said it before, the French know food.

Time to go! We have to get to Cognac before 3.30 for our tour of the Otard distillery.  Cognac is only 97 kms from Bordeaux yet it feels like a different country.   Colder, gray/black buildings instead of the soft limestone colours of Bordeaux.  The buildings are actually constructed from the same limestone.  The gray/black colour comes from the evaporation of the Cognac.  The stain is a microscopic mushroom which grows in the moisture created from all the airborne brandy floating around the village.  You can almost taste it.  If you are wondering , Cognac is a distilled grape.  The grape is unique to this region.  Leave it to the French to figure out a way to make something to drink from a simple white grape that only grows in this region.  The process is anything but simple.  The eaux-de-vie used for cognac must come from 6 specifically delimited growing regions.  These areas produce grapes called Grande Champagne, Petite Champagne, Borderies, Fins Bois, Dons Bois and Bois Ordinary.  The first two owe their names to the oldest fields and offer the finest eaux de vie, delicate and very suited to aging.  The others are used to add depth to the flavours and speed up the aging process.

Cognac is created through a double distillation process.  According to legend, the process was invented by  Jacques Chevalier de la Croix  Maron de Segonzac.  A pious man who dreamed that Satan was trying to damn his soul by cooking him in a cauldron of evil.  Seems Jacque's faith was so strong that the devvil had to cook him a second time to get his way.  When the knight awoke from his dream, he decided to apply the dream to the Wine des Charentes.  Bingo  Cognac!

Entrance to Chateaux De Cognac, Baron Otard Cognac.

The Still.

The Helmet Room.  It was in this room that Richard the Lion Heart blessed the union of his son, Philippe de Falcon Bridge with Amelie de Cognac in about 1190.  The house would also be home to the future King of  France, Francis the 1st.

This room is called the Guards Room,  During the 18th century it was used as a prison.  You can still read graffiti on the walls left there by English and Irish soldiers who were taken prisoner in Canada during the 7 years war, from 1756 to 1763.

History says that Cognac was a currency of exchange to save the lives of some of these prisoners who were destined to  a horrible death had they remained captive in Canada.  The price for each prisoner was two barrels of Brandy...offered to the native Indians supportive of the French side of the conflict.

Cognac is aged for a minimum of 2 1/2 years and in excess of 50.  Always in Oak barrels. About 2% of the liquid is lost each year through evaporation.  Known as the Angel's share this evaporation is what colours the walls throughout the village.  Authorities would often inspect the homes of the villager's looking for the black fungus in their basements...as sure sign of a hidden stash of illegal Cognac production.

 At the end of our tour of the Chateau, we were presented with a selection of Otard Cognac for tasting.  VS (very special eau-de-vie at least 2 1/5 years old), VSOP(very superior Old Pale or Very Old eau-de-vie at least 4 years old) and XO or Napoleon Extra (Extra Old eau-de-vie at least 6 years old).

There are older Cognac's available as well, however they are not required to use the standardized names, generally carrying a name provided by the Distiller.  The taste is not really Johanne's cup of tea so I was forced to drink her samples too.  Waste not, want not as the saying goes....

We walked around the village for awhile as I don't think it would be safe for me to get behind the wheel..... if you know what I mean.

Next stop La Rochelle.

Be Well

Sante