It’s lightly raining. Off and on here and there. The perfect choice weather for me to enter Europe for the first time. Flying “over the pole” up through the top of the United States, over the Great Lakes, Hudson Bay and eventually above Greenland, I couldn’t help thinking of one of my favorite movies, “Smilla’s Sense of Snow”. France gives one the feeling of an older world, like I stepped back in time. I looked forward to it. The mist and clouds followed us on the flight from Amsterdam to Bordeaux, landing safely after an hour or so in the air. It was mid-afternoon, and our shuttle to the town of Cognac was a nice drive through the country for another short ride.
I flew overnight from Los Angeles with three guys from Grape Radio; Jay Selman, Mark Ryan and Eric Anderson. Nicole Sizemore flew out of New York and met up with us at the Bordeaux train station, taking the train in from Paris. Working for the Cognac Bureau US /Carbonnier Communications, she set up the press trip for us, while associates from the BNIC (Bureau National Interprofessional Du Cognac) worked out our weeks’ touring program and daily itinerary. I was asked to come along as the journalist/mixologist for the trip, while Grape was assembling video footage and interviews for what is now the James Beard Award-winning Cognac documentary “The Art of Blending”, which can be viewed on this section.
Arriving in the village of Cognac, we were dropped off at the Hotel Heritage. It was so quiet, even if it was a Sunday. Odd that we left Los Angeles on Saturday early evening. Time changes I was used to, but entire day changes? A trip of this kind was long overdue. After some refreshing in our rooms, we met downstairs and walked to the centre of the village for a wonderful dinner at the restaurant Garden Ice. Here we had our first taste of the Summit Cocktail, made up of fresh ginger, lime, Cognac, lemonade, and a peel of cucumber. A great beginning of things to come!
After dinner, we took a walk around the village in the fresh night air and eventually found our way down to the Charente River, close to the bridge. We stayed for a while then headed back to the hotel as the mist was turning to rain. Half way back, looking up in the dark blue sky between the tops of some of the old buildings, we noticed for the first time just how close in proximity the largest of the Cognac brands are. Walking distance to each other like spirit brothers were the neon lights of Remy Martin, Hennessy, Courvoisier, and Martell. These four brands make up 80% of all Cognac sales worldwide. Even though there are close to 200 brands of Cognac, most of them are not exported. Next door, connected to the hotel was the Belle Epoque bar, but it was late and they were closed for the evening. No such luck !
