Cognac
May 29, 2026
We travelled to Cognac a town in the Charente region known famously for the alcoholic drink. Cognac is made from the grapes of this region otherwise its just Brandy.
We walked into town from the site only about 5 minutes but as its 36 degrees, every step feels like a real effort!
We booked a tour of Hennessy but before that we had a long lazy lunch in a lovely restaurant over looking the river and the Hennessy building. Mandy had an aperol spritz which is a new favourite! The Hennessy visit was pretty good, consisted of a boat trip across the river Charente to the aging house where there were barrels of eau de vie (colourless fruit brandy) some dating back to the 1800’s. They are then blended using different varieties and ages into the Cognac as we know it.
VS – Very Special
VSOP – Very Superior Old Pale
XO – Extra Old
The tour was amazing and included a virtual reality section that was stunning. The tour concluded with a tasting.
We left the sweltering car park in Cognac looking for a bit of shade and found a French Passion site just out of town. They are a local producer of Cognac and gave us a tasting, we bought a bottle of their XO Cognac and a couple of bottles of Pineau a kind of fortified wine made with grape juice and cognac, it is delicious – served cold as an aperitif.
This site was also next to a French airforce base and I think they were preparing for an air display on the weekend as there were a lot of aircraft ‘practising’ got a chance to see a Dassault Rafale the latest generation of French Fighter Jet. All in all a fantastic overnight stop.