John & Lynne's second day in France - a visit to Cognac

 After a very good French breakfast, with huge cups of good coffee, made by Claudy, our landlady

 we set off into the countryside

 to a small distillery, P.Boussuet, who make good Pineau de Charentes and a cognac

 We were preceded by a large group of French farmers, who were tasting and buying

 attended by the Bossuet family, headed by Grandpère

 The rules for membership of the Charentes Producers' Association

 Delphine, who attended to us and spoke good English

 A good selections of their products including the renowned local salts

 On our way out, having bought an aged Pineau, we met a local farmer and his dog

 Stainless steel tanks outdoors, much like many of our co-ops

 French shutters are painted in beautiful pastels, walls are usually unpainted

 Then off to Cognac, where we visited an outdoor market

 Everything is fresh and very well displayed. These eggs were delicious

 Unusual fish, so fresh you expect it to flap about

 Tomatoes, as we never see them, and in perfect, unflawed condition, with an aroma that hits you from metres away

and beautiful cherries

 Local farming folk - we see very few smokers on this visit

 Wonderful cheeses

 Cockles

 langoustines

 and beautiful fresh strawberries 

We drove into the centre of Cognac

where we found an indoor market, open six days a week

with more wonderful fresh produce

 

Rabbits and ducks

 Patés

and pies 

 and more wonderful vegetables

 We bought this magnificent brie, it was delicious

 A rather enviable house in central Cognac

 and a rather awful lunch at Flunch - the ham was good, the chips too, but the fish uneatable

 Amazing hams at Auchan hypermarket

 and a good cheese display

 Then the highlight of our day, a visit to Cognac producer Henri Mounier - more in the following blog

After which, on our way home, we passed this sign and  

 had to visit

 They were closing, but we had a look at the products

 including this extravagant bottle of Louis XIII XO

which was surpassed only by this Jeroboam - a snip at €30000 

 Then home to Chérac

 where we shared a bottle of Life from Stone with our friends - it was cold and our French purchases luke warm, but it was excellent and they loved it

After which we ate our supper under the gazebo

 and enjoyed the landscape

 and watched the passing traffic

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2013

French Odyssey - setting out and Day 1. Cape Town to Bordeaux and Cherac

Our friends Ronnie and Loraine were kind enough to take us to the airport

 Where we killed time with a couple of beers at what we thought was an exorbitant price, R58 - until we bought one beer in Amsterdam for the same money

 Louis Roos, Mooiplaas winemaker, and his wife en route to Brussels 

 were catching the same plane

 Airline dinner - so-so chicken tikka and a Heineken. Two Chilean wines were on offer. The white (sauvignon chardonnay) was horrible. The red was worse

 After a cramped and sleepless night, we had a four hour wait at Schipol and found some comfortable recliners

flew to Bordeaux and picked up our hire car which we thought was going to be a tiny 2 door Aygo but instead turned out to be a rather roomy Renault Kangoo

 and drove about 2 hours to our very comfortable B&B in Cherac, near Cognac

 

 

 with a view over the surrounding countryside

 Our hosts, Claudy and Alain Caillaud, recommended the nearby Auberge de la Fontaine for supper

 The menus, written on boards. We chose the plat du jour at €19.50 for three courses (2 choices each course), ordered all the dishes and then shared them

 With the meal we ordered a local sauvignon at €14, very pleasant and suited the food 

Nice fresh French bread

was delicious

as was

which was fresh and palate cleansing

was a tiny bit dry, but had great flavour and the lemon sauce was a good match

The chicken was quite dry and hard, but, again, the sauce was very good and the accompanying vegetables were fresh and perfectly cooked

Perfectly light with a delicate rum sauce, light chantilly cream, strawberry and sliced, roasted almonds

 
Local cheeses: excellent chevre and a soft white cheese, similar to brie with a delicious earthy flavour

 Then back to our B&B: # 2 Route du Puits des Brousses - 17610 CHERAC (€50 per night with breakfast)

 with cherry trees in the garden- we were told to pick as much as we wanted - a real treat

and off to bed for much needed sleep
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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2013