Saturday, June 15, 2013

John & Lynne's French odyssey, Day 4, Château d’Oléron

After a slow start to the morning, we drove to the Château d’Oléron, which is actually an ancient walled town
with a yacht harbour
and a castle built at the same time as Cape Town Castle and in similar style. It is not as well maintained and was bombed by the French air force in 1945
Poppies growing in the walls
Only two buildings still stand in the castle grounds
one of the gates
and the moat
a fishing boat returns, with the causeway in the background
and the guard tower
a Magpie
a sculpture at an art exhibition
a dinghy race in the bay
and another view of Fort Bayard
One of the windows in the outer wall above the sea
and a place to rest, perhaps for the castle's ghosts
Two skinks enjoying a bit of sunshine
We visited a charming shop which sells our kinds of products
and went home to a supper of lobster bisque
which attracted some of the local cats

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2013
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John & Lynne's French odyssey. Day 3, A visit to Cognac producer Grosperrin in Saintes

We tasted Grosperrin Cognacs at the Fusion Brandy Festival at the CTICC in May and contacted Guilhem Grosperrin
to see if we could visit him when we came to the Cognac region before our visit to Vinexpo in Bordeaux
Guilhem took over his father’s business ten years ago when his father fell ill with MS. He was 23
      Ancient beams in the old warehouse building he has bought and renovated
Bottles of Cognac ready to be packed and shipped
Barrels of aged Cognac and Pineau de Charentes
New and old demijohns in the cellar
Prototype bottles and labels
and samples of bottles and decanters
A variety of different cognacs in the lab – we tasted several of them. Sadly, the driver, as usual, spat most of it out
A new label, aimed at the young market and designed by Guilhem’s sister
with a vintage single vineyard Cognac
The oldest we tasted, distilled in 1810
at that time other flavours were often blended in to suit the buyer’s taste and this had a trace of rum
Ancient bottles of Cognac and Pineau
and a sherry
1989 from the Petite Champagne region
Grande Champagne and Petite Champagne are regions of Cognac
and have no relation to the “other” Champagne, far to the north-east, famous for lovely fizz
A deluxe label of Petite Champagne Cognac
The 1820 was rich and amazingly fresh
A 1991 from l'Ile d’Oléron, our next destination
Two different labels for an XO Petite Champagne Cognac
Guilhem’s retail shop
where he sells natural and organic wines
He gave us a 2009 Côtes de Rhône from Faugères, which was soft and fruity with a mineral backbone
A window display of Grosperrin Cognacs
and shelves of Calvados and Pineaus
Guilhem using a pupitre (we call it a "wine thief") to give us a taste of aged Pineau from the barrel

2004 Grande Champagne Cognac in the barrel, made from Colombard, 
Every barrel produced has to be decanted and sealed by the bailiff before it can be bottled
All content ©  John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus
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