Tour of Hennessey's

The tour begins with a ride across the Charente in this boat

--just a bit of French flourish that a bridge could not provide;

incidentally, I was joined on the tour by two others, both

French, but they graciously consented for the tour to be

entirely in English, for my benefit

But, before the tour, at Vicki's suggestion, urging even, I

tasted the "Paradis" blend, the best normal people can buy,

$700 a 70cl bottle; well, the tasting was only 19 euros; and

worth it! Hey, you have to establish standards...

Stills, where grapes go in and eau-de-vie comes out

Barrels of fun; cognac, like scotch, is largely about the wood

and the aging; and blending...unlike single malt scotch

In the "paradis" section of the warehouses, whey they keep

the treasures, going back to 1830; 1947 was a good year for

many reasons, and several barrels remain

Row after row of barrels, dozens of warehouses; Hennessey's

does about 41% of the market; the scent is, um, intoxicating

So, there we were, parked on a quiet street right outside the

door to Hennessey world headquarters, on the Charente,

swans ambling by; we decided to have dinner and then spend

the night

Vicki's delicious galette complet and Normandie cidre; I

already had had my quota of cognac

End of a pretty good day