Cognac 2020
Last year, before the world took a pause, and we experienced a whole pandemic…. we had the honor and privilege of going to France to learn more about the amazing town and spirit, known as Cognac. It was an unforgettable experience.
We took the 4 hour train ride from Paris south to Cognac and it was a beautiful sight indeed, full of countryside homes and land as far as the eye could see. It was a very different vibe from the hustle and bustle of big city France.
Once we arrived at the train station, we were greeted by Amy Pasquet and she drove us to her home in the countryside of the Cognac region called Chez Ferchaud. Amy and her husband Jean Luc have a cognac “house/distillery” named after her husband and father Jean Luc Pasquet Cognac. What’s special about their cognac is that it is ORGANIC and all natural.
What is organic cognac? Firstly, cognac is a type of brandy made from distilled white wine. (White wine comes from white grapes.) Organic cognac does not use any chemicals on the grapes when they are growing. When we were driving through the countryside we saw lots of grape vines with orange grass under them, we were told that the grass turned orange from Round Up. (Pesticide) Well, Amy and Jean Luc do not use any pesticides or chemicals in their grape fields like their neighboring houses. They use all natural plants to keep bugs away from their grape vines. When we saw their grape vines, the earth below was very green and leafy. Just beautiful. It is more expensive to do, but yields a better product.
After they showed us their distillery and the fields, then put us up in this lovely home from their English neighbor. It was such a cute house for us to stay in for the duration of our trip.
The next day, Benedicte Hardy, owner or Hardy Cognac, picked us up from our place and took us to see her cognac house. It’s was really cool to see that Grey Goose was across the street from Hardy. When we first went to her office, we saw beautiful bottles of Hardy Cognac everywhere. She told us that they have custom glass makers who make every bottle. #impressive! We chatted a little more, had an espresso and headed to the distillery.
Hardy Cognac is a medium house but has so much room for growth. They have soooo many barrels that are aging and you can smell the fermented wine and cognac as soon as you walk into the place. Benedictine gave us a tour around the distillery and introduced us to her Cellar Master, Mickaël.
Mickaël let us sample some of the barrels that were aging. We tasted cognac that had been distilled from only a short time ago, to cognac that was aged for a few months, to cognac that was aged for a few years, to a cognac that was aged for a few centuries. Yes you’re reading that correctly. We tried a cognac from 1854. It was a surreal moment because we honestly thought back to that year and realized that Blacks in America were enslaved at the time they were making this juice. Now, we have the privilege to travel around the world and taste something from a time when our ancestors were in bondage. It’s moments like that, we never take for granted.
After the tour, Benedicte took us to lunch in the city of Cognac in this beautiful hotel/restaurant. The food was great, and when she was taking us back home, she talked about the importance of African Americans, and our relationship to cognac. She stated that black people kept the spirit relevant, because back in the day, most people from France, stopped drinking cognac and drank scotch for the most part. It is black people, from America specifically, that kept Cognac in business. She told us that she would travel to America often, back in the 60s-70s and frequent the black night clubs and restaurants. She always felt welcomed there. Once we arrived at our place, Benedicte gave us some delicious XO 20 year Hardy Cognac and lots of information to think about for the rest of the trip.
Later that day, Amy took us to Courvoisier to check out their production. They are a much bigger house, so they have a bigger distillation process. They were very busy receiving a wine truck while we were there as well, so they didn’t have much time. It was interesting to see how the big houses handle production.
When we left Courvoisier, we went back to the Pasquet’s home where Amy cooked dinner for us. (Actually, Amy cooked dinner for us every day, and it was amazing each time.) We enjoyed dinners with Amy, Jean Luc, and Amy’s mom because it was a time for us to really talk about issues that we face in our respectable regions, politics, and of course more spirits. The best part of our trip were these dinners and discussions we had over the week.
Later that night, we checked CVBLb out a bar in Cognac called…… we met Amy and Jean Luc’s friends that are in the industry. The cocktails were great, the vibe was even better. After a long Valentines Day full of cognac, it was time for bed.
The next day was all about Pasquet Cognac. We were up bright and early to catch Jean Luc Sr. In their distillery getting ready to finish us up the distilling process for his own cognac. Cognac Pasquet is a small house that only has one copper pot still to complete its distilling process. Their distillery is also connected to their home. Once you walk out of the distillery, there are storage rooms all around the property that have barrels of aged cognac. Amy opened a few of the barrels and let us taste some older cognacs. After spending the morning in the distillery and sampling cognacs, Jean Luc’s mom made us some homemade duck confit and it was the best we’ve ever had! There’s nothing like mama’s cooking. Jean Luc’s dad told us stories about how Italy took over France years ago, and artifacts from that war are still being found. Then he showed us this arrow from way back then in the grape vines. It was a wonderful lunch.
After lunch, we traveled down the road to a Castle and met Sophie from Cognac Expert. They have a blog on all things cognac and their name says it all: they really are EXPERTS! When we went into her home, there were hundreds of bottles of Cognac. I think that we sampled about 10 of them. #dontjudge! It was awesome to meet people that were as passionate about spirits as we are and we enjoyed the dialogue.
After we left Sophia’s castle, we went back to the Pasquet House to see the rest of the distillation process. We learned how to watch the distillate (or alcohol from distillation) and recognize when it’s the best for human consumption. When distilling a spirit, there are 3 parts to the distillate. The “heads”, which is the liquid that comes out in the beginning of distilling, it’s very harsh, and not fit for us to drink. The “tails” which is the product that comes out at the end of distillation… also very harsh. What a distiller wants is the “hearts” of the spirit. This liquid begins to appear during the middle of the distillation process and is best for human consumption. Jean Luc and his father have state of the art machinery to help identify the hearts of their distillate, they can also tell by looking at the liquid coming out of the stills. The less bubbles, the closer you are to the hearts of the distillate. It was so interesting to watch!
Our last full day in Cognac we went to yet another castle that had these wonderful vinegars that had been aged in cognac barrels. They are called La Baume de Bouteville balsamic vinegars and they tasted fantastic! They were paired with oysters and champagne and it was a wonderful experience!
After we left the castle, we went to a nearby restaurant where we had these amazing views. What I loved most about our dining experiences were the 3 courses. Every where we had food, whether it was lunch or dinner, it was 3 courses… so we could experience so much cuisine!
The Pasquets took us back to Cognac to just walk around the city. It’s so old and historic, and very chill. While we were walking we saw the Hennessy Empire and it was MASSIVE! The have a lot of real estate in Cognac, they even have boats and moats and event bridges. Can’t wait to go back and actually tour inside the space. Cognac is a beautiful city with sooo much to sip, but even more to learn.
For our last day, we went to lunch and a local restaurant and met the Pasquet’s friends from the bar we went to on the first night. The bartender brought his wife who represents a gin brand and we talked about spirits the whole lunch.
After lunch we went to the Pasquet’s tasting room and experimented with all types of cocktails. It was an unique experience to make and try everyone’s cocktails. We also had a blast, listening to Michael Jackson while making drinks (because who doesn’t like MJ around the world??)
After making and drinking all of the cocktails, we had a final snack at the Pasquet’s of pate, cheese, cognac and Pineau. We gave Jean Luc, Amy’s mom, and their 3 beautiful children hugs and Amy took us back to the train station. We spend the night in Paris and left the next morning.
We learned sooo much in Cognac, but the biggest thing was how the family spent time together and appreciated one another through Cognac. Amy and her family treated us like we were apart of their family and we can thank them enough for making the entire Cognac experience unforgettable.
If you’ve never had Cognac Pasquet, you don’t know what you’re missing! Go get you some! Cheers!
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