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+--- Thread: Day 8 and 9 Cognac and Pineau (/thread-21839.html)
- TheEngineer - 08-08-2011
Hoping to program a bit of a break into our agenda, I decided to drag the group up to Cognac for the weekend. We were suppose to be in Cognac the first day and Jarnac the second but some changes we made due to the incident in Pauillac the day before.
So Saturday still progressed well for us. A tasting a Hennessy started the day. There was the SHORT boat ride across the river (they should’ve just built a bridge but then they would not get any style points) to the caves. Interesting to see how they would discuss wines that are really too thin to drink yet perfect for distillation. In the barrel rooms, some barrels went back to 1890’s. We also visited Otard and the old castle.
The highlight of the day really was the visit at Remy Martin’s. I opted for a custom visit that included a tasting and dinner at the old family estate so we would visit both the downtown site and the actually estate. We had a great hostess walk us around. She was an American from Georgia and was extremely pleasant to work with. I learned that Extra was not being discontinued and being replaced with something called Diamant (SP?). The $400 Extra was deemed to be insufficient of a step between XO and Louis XIII so Diamant will be priced at $1000. They had a few Extras left in the building so I asked for one. After a tasting with specific appetizers, we got a limo to the estate and another tour of the site (including where they held the Louis XIII’s).
She then lead us to the dining area and our jaws dropped. The old (in production until a few years ago) distillery room was our private dining room. This room was incredible. Our five guys had one dedicated chef and one server. The food was spot on great (the finger foods and appetizers were some of the best of our trip and the desserts were incredibly hard to make so we foodies appreciated that effort). The wines and Remy were poured without hesistation. It was a great evening. While the price was a bit high (and frankly it really wasn’t), you could not replace that level of personal attention, the products served to us and the locations that were used for our session at anywhere remotely approaching this price. I highly recommend anyone who is coming here with a group to seek out this experience. We won’t forget this one shortly.
The next day we went for a qui ck visit to Leopold Gourmel but we must have crossed up a bit as Leopold was not there. He called the next day to apologize in person, I did not take this to be anything but completely honests and frankly I could have made the mistake. So instead of heading to Jarnac, we headed back to Cognac to let our friend off to catch a train. We went off instead looking for Pineau. WE found a producer so we headed west in search of him. We found his place out in the countryside with the requisite real farm and family setup. This was a real operation. The proprietary with his young daughter at his side (4 year old and very clingy of dad) lead us to the production facilities and then his store. His pineau was great. His name was Paul Bossuet and we bought a few bottles from him. On the way out, we drove by him and his daughter and we stopped to say thank you again. Paul told us that his daughter was now interested in seeing China. I told her that China is a beautiful place but be sure to stop first in Hong Kong ?……
We went to the town of Saintes where a full on street market scene was in session. We bought a bunch of food, sausages, paella, road side roasted chicked, fruits ,etc,…. Had a great lunch in the park. No spoons so the mussels served as the spoons for the paella.
- winoweenie - 08-08-2011
Visualizing you with a mussel shell in one hand, a paper cup full of juice in the other and the drippings spotting your shirt is dead-on killer. WW :lol:
- TheEngineer - 08-09-2011
NOt a pretty picture I can guarantee....but accurate!
We borught back two bottles of Pineau each because I can't seem to find it in the US. I also brought a bottle of extra home. I was afraid that I would over pay for it at Remy but it turns out that it was still cheaper than in the US. $1k for Diamant....that's a bit steep. I wonder if it is not more of a marketing thing than product seeing that things like Paradis extra, and others are closer to the $1k mark than the original Extra.
- Kcwhippet - 08-09-2011
We've carried a few Pineaus, Mike.
- TheEngineer - 08-09-2011
Really? I thought they were not imported. I'll be back soon. Currently in California..... Yeah, I alway sseem to miss stopping off at home.
RE: Day 8 and 9 Cognac and Pineau - TheEngineer - 12-29-2014
Cracked open one of the Pineau's that I brought back to me. nice memories. The juice is top notch! (by juice I do mean the white Grape Juice), tasting still very fresh, and a good stiff cognac is a nice combo for it. The bottle was shared by a few people and all seemed to enjoy it.