Sunday October 5th
Today’s outing took us to the Right Bank of the Gironde estuary and up to Cognac. No prizes for guessing what the principal production is here. Like wine making there are many rules and complex grading systems (6), with only grapes from a specified region being able to be used for cognac.
We went to the Royal Castle of Cognac, dating from the 9th century and birthplace of King Francis I, the first king of France. The castle was bought by Baron Otard at the end of the 18th century to become his estate and business. Otard is one of the best cognacs along with others like Hennessy and Remy-Martin.
We toured the castle and learnt about the cognac aging process. The cellars, complete with spiders that eat the mould, have superb aging conditions with humidity at a constant temperature created by the thick castle walls and the close proximity to the river Charente. Certainly was pleasantly warm amongst the barrels, compared to a brisk cold wind outside today. The oak barrels can be up to 75 years old and there certainly was a variety of colour and wear and tear evident. French oak is the best oak for barrels as the right size airholes just one of the many factors that influences aging. Beautiful old castle.
Enjoyed a delicious lunch at an old chateau with picturesque views of the river before driving back to ship in Bordeaux. Apart from rows and rows of vines there is substantial corn production, some asparagus, sunflower fields and even kiwifruit. Bordeaux city sits on a crescent shaped bend of the Garonne River adjacent to the Dorgonne River so a few bridges about. The rivers join into the Gironde and it was a lovely sail back up the estuary this evening – to the coast, under the bridge that lifted up for us, and out into the Bay of Biscay. There were hundreds of people on the pier to farewell us and another ship, numbers swelled no doubt by the beautiful Sunday afternoon weather, farmers market along the pier and a large protest in nearby streets causing some traffic chaos for us as well getting back to ship.
