This article is from National Geographic Traveler (U.K).
As autumn progresses, it is strange to be surrounded by vines, flame colors and curls, but everything except wine is being sampled. When I was in France, it was even a stranger. However, the southwestern region of pumpkin is an anomaly – 98% of its vineyards are used to cultivate brandy.
This is a drink that may be old for some of us. In my parents’ drink cabinets, there is always a bottle of cognac (a type of brandy that can only be made from white grapes from the area). It rarely does it, except for stealing it secretly as a teenager, and collecting dust with plenty of watering. Included in a beautiful mandolin-shaped bottle with golden letters engraved on it, it seems like a waste. But when was the last time you heard someone ordering Cognac at a bar?
Only 3% of premium brandy are drunk in the country. Its main markets are China (61.5 million bottles imported in 2023) and the United States (58.4 million bottles). However, brandy appears to lose a large amount of sales of the former, which imposed a new luxury tax on European brandy last fall. Can its potential demise have the same impact on the historic area of Charente as the closure of coal mines in the north and Wales? However, even in elegant disrepair, the rural Renaissance Brandy Castle in the area has a better chance of retaining visitors than the former British pit areas.
Multiple car-free streets make Cognac’s downtown ideal for walking. Photos of Iakov Filimonov, Alami
In the heart of the district of the same name, I wandered on the streets, demarcated by brandy houses similar to Army barracks. But, in fact, my first brewery has nothing to do with brandy. “This is the first gin winery in France, which first opened at the Southwest Brandy ARS in 1996. It predated any handmade gin production in the UK,” said Yohann Thuillier, Visitor Centre Manager at Citadelle Gin.
The typical British gin and tonics make this surprising, but France has had a persistent relationship with the spirit since the 18th century’s “gin craze”. Although the gin law of 1751 restricted gin production to large companies in Britain, small breweries continued throughout the channel. “In the past few years, although historically never considered high-end spirit, the popularity of gin has grown in France,” Yohann said. “The craft gin revival makes gin stylish, and the high-end French distillery even makes it ideal.”
The first craft brewery in the UK didn’t open until 2008 when the Gin Act was repealed, and in Brandy, there were several gins at that time. Citadelle Gin was originally the hustle and bustle of Maison Ferrand, a cognac house founded by Alexandre Gabriel in 1989 at the ARS. Like British gin, cognac adheres to many rules like gin, which means Alexander can only do it within six months of the year. He wasn’t a rule, and he decided to also start making gin and start growing his own juniper. He spent five years quarreling before he managed to convince the French authorities to grant him a license to the spirit of commercial production.
Today, the winery’s estate is a grand cream-colored limestone house with a tiled slab roof – looking at the neat squat juniper bush similar to the Christmas tree’s crouching juniper bush. Yohann Next gave me a cocktail making class, which mixed it with siding lamps made with Cognac; pineapple rum Daiquiri using West Indies Rum Distillery from Maison Ferrand in Barbados; and rhubarb and berry gin mixed with violet syrup. Meanwhile, a simple brandy and tonic is a revelation: warm, syrup slightly syrup, and blend many flavors, pineapple and toasted hazelnuts together.
The region’s prolific spiritual production is emphasized by cutting-edge cuisine. Lenaka Photography
Also bringing new flavors are Shandra and Bernard Gombert, originally from the French overseas territory of the Indian Ocean. I visited the couple at Domaine de Pladuc, the former Cognac House is 25 minutes’ drive south of town and they are transformed into food hotels. We cut spring pastry slices into triangles in front of the manor’s handsome fireplace. Dried chili hang on the stove. We shape the pastry into cones and form a spoon with a mixture of tuna, masala, garlic, scallion and parsley. Once I enter its swing, the filled and folded Samosas creates a meditation effect.
“Many people here still call Larenion the ‘Banana Republic’,” said Bernard. Gombets and his children moved to Cognac in 2021. Back in their homeland, a diverse dinner guest is the norm, including friends of Indian, Chinese, African continent and European descent. “When slavery was abolished in 1848, seeking cheap labor for plantations meant people came from all over the place,” Sandra said. Bernard said the couple’s cooking class “is a way for us to show off our legacy of Réunionnais.”
When Samosas come out of the fryer, they are crispy and caramel-colored, and when I bite a hot tuna, the flavor exhales spices. Sharp grape vine diet and walnut salad sliced with fat. As a nod to their new home, the Gombetts served their Samosas with a selection of cognac and a glass of Pinneau des Charentes, a fortified wine made from cognac and unfermented grape juice. The latter is sweet, like maple syrup, crossed from Samosia like a summary.
I walked through the countryside of vineyard fishing, half an hour east of the town, trying something else I didn’t find on the menu here: Balsmeek Vinegar – traditionally from Italy. When Jacques Buffet’s daughter married Italians in the Modena region in the 1980s, Jacques was shocked by the similarities between Modena and Cognac. Both regions have the same soil and are grown with Ugni Blanc grapes (or Trebbiano, known in Italy). Jacques reasoned that if balsamic vinegar flourished in Modena, it would certainly be replicated in cognac. Before setting up the factory in 2004, he began producing vinegar in the 1990s and sold it directly to the chef.
Cognac traditionally ages in French oak barrels. Barmalini’s photos, Shutterstock images
Le Baume de Bouteville ages vinegar in Cognac Barrels, which are usually infused with three to four liters of brandy. I tasted them at a tasting session: one with honey; the other with a savory, earthy flavor similar to Marmite. A particularly smoky person reminded me of bacon-flavored potato chips. We ate vinegar drizzled on slices of Comté and Morbier cheese, for example, sauce.
As Samosas, Gin and Balsamic vinegar pave the way for Cognac’s Nouvelle food, is there hope for the brandy itself? Pop culture may be its savings. Over the past 25 years, cognac has become the go-to drink for American rap artists, appearing in lyrics by Academician Namechecked in videos like Busta Rhymes and Megan thee thee Stallion. With the decline in Chinese sales seemingly coming, the popularity of cognac looks like a blessing.
But maybe the revival of the Holy Spirit will no longer be pop culture, but rather a culture about rediscovering how we drink it. I recall the neat gin tasted with Yohann Thuillier. They stay away from the budget versions that British students love, but even premium products are not easy to drink. However, like gin, when Yohann mixed Cognac with Tonic – from the hillside of Bordeaux, it has flavors like elderflower, lemon and cucumber – the flavor turned into a beautifully complex item.
“Seldom people drink gin neatly,” he said. “Like very few people should drink clean.” Perhaps this brandy never needs to be rebranded, it’s just a instruction booklet.
Published in March 2025 National Geographic Traveler (U.K).
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