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 the James Beard Award-nominee Cognac documentary The Art of Blending, which can be viewed on this section.

Cognac is a "Royal City", with documented shippings to Holland dating back as far as 1200 years ago. There are twin towers that sit on the main street along the edge of the Charente. It was the original entrance into the village as it used to be a fortified city back in the day. Today, Cognac has a population of about 20,000 people. It sits directly North and East of the best vineyards of Bordeaux. And you won't see people running in the streets to their destinations for the most part. They take their time here.

Off we went back out to the country for a 30-minute drive, which was a very pleasant respite in itself. Heading toward the next stop on our tour, we arrived for a 1 1/2 hour visit with the manufacturer of Cognac's alembic pot stills, Alambic Pruhlo, and their Commercial Director, Philippe Tizon. Walking in and observing from a distance for the first couple minutes, we learned that the artisanal method of building them from scratch hasn't changed in close to 200 years. Though all stills are made from intense manual labor, there's something to say about that homemade feel in the end product.

The Cognac production area was delimited by the decree of May 1st, 1909. Six Crus were then ratified by decree in 1938. These areas in the Delimited Region reference the following appellations and their individual soil characteristics:

Loaded back into the van, we motored on for another twenty minutes of country roads, and pulled into the parking area of Tonnellerie Doreau, the workshop and facility that assembles the oak casks, from forest to barrel.

A list of Cognac-related Web sites and quality designations.

A collection of cognac cocktails by Kyle Branche.