Crimea

           

I don’t understand politics and I never will.

If the people in Crimea had a vote to return to Russia, and then they are celebrating on the streets because they will return to the motherland, who is the West to tell them they cannot?

Most of the people in Crimea speak Russian and they don’t want to speak someone else’s language. Not only that they speak Russian, they consider themselves Russian, they have the traditions and the customs and most important, they have the Russian mentality.

                These people look at the west as a foreign place; they don’t want to have another country telling them what to do or how to do it, they don’t want to live by somebody else’s rules, especially Germany and the US.

During WWII Crimea was occupied by Nazi Germany, after the war they were part of Russia and then they were given away to the Ukraine by Nikita Khrushchev in 1954. They did not ask to be part of the Ukraine; they had not choice on the matter. However, now they had their saying by voting to go back.

They are happy that they are part of Russia once again, they are celebrating, and that is what they want.

 They see the west as corrupt and they don’t want what they offer.

                So, who are the US and the EU to impose their ideas and way of life on somebody that does not want it?

                I don’t get it.

Paul Beau Cognac

Now I am happy. I went for a tour of one of the local cognac distilleries and what a nice place it was.

I visited Paul Beau distillery right in Segozac and I was received by the owner and his wife, a very nice young couple. He is the 5^th generation running the distillery where they produce Cognac and Pineau.

They have 100 hectares = 247.105 acres of vineyard where they grow their own grapes.

And there I learned how they make the cognac.

First they harvest the grapes in October, and then they crush them and ferment them for 10 days.

Then they put them in the copper pots that you see in the enclosed picture, and they distill it once for 12 hours and then a second time for another 12 hours.

At this point the cognac is transparent and it doesn’t smell like cognac.

This process need to be finish by the end of March, it is the law.

It takes 10 kilos = 22 lb of grapes to make a 1 litter = 2.11 pints = .2641 of a gallon of cognac and it takes 24 hours for the distillation. So in other words: it takes 24 hours to produce 1 litter of cognac.

 Once the cognac has been distilled a second time, they put it in oak barrels in a dark cellar for many years to age.

As the cognac ages it keep on turning darker until it reaches the amber color. The darker the cognac the older and smoother it is.

Contrary to popular believe, cognac is not made out of one harvest. After the cognac is at a mature age, they blend the different flavor to achieve the desired flavor.

In 1900 when cognac was starting to be imported to England they stared using the abbreviation that we still use today, to make it easier to understand the age of the cognac.

·         VS = Very Special = is the youngest cognac, stored for at least two years

·         VSOP  = Very Superior Old Pale = stored at least for 4 years

·          XO = eXtra Old = stored for at least 6 years, but on average it is stores over 20 years.

After the tour I was treated to 4 very generous samples of the different cognacs, a VS, a VSOP, a XO and an even older cognac that was very nice and smooth. Actually they were all very nice.

Usually the local people in any country tend to drink the local drinks for every occasion,  and this region is not different.

We are used to drinking cognac after the meals, usually with the coffee. However here they also drink it as an aperitif, they put in a tall glass a shot of cognac, usually the VS, you don’t want to use an old cognac for this, and they fill the glass with Schweppes, or American style, instead of Schweppes they use ginger ale.  I don’t know where in the states they drink this, but that’s how it’s call here.

 I tried it, no bad, but I still prefer mine au natural.

Courvoisier, the Brandy of Napoleon.

As I mention on the last blog, I grew up drinking Hennessey, and I have drank Remy Martin many times, however, for me, the best cognac is Courvoisier, so of course I went for a tour of their place.

Courvoisier is also situated on the river La Charente in the town of Jarnac. And what a nice place it was, well decorated, very classy and the people were very nice.

The tour was very informative and well presented. We learned about how Courvoisier was founded in 1809 after the French Revolution in the outskirts of Paris on the river Seine, where by being outside of the city, they did not have to pay taxes.

In 1811 Napoleon visited the distillery and he liked the cognac so much, that he ordered it by big quantities so his troops could have a drink every morning and start the day in a good note.

When Napoleon was exile to St Helena in 1815, he was allowed one luxury item, and he choose Courvoisier and that was when it gained the name of “The Brandy of Napoleon”.

As the demand for Courvoisier kept on growing, on 1828 they moved the headquarters to Jarnac in the region of Cognac, where still to this day.

Courvoisier was the drink at the inauguration of the Eiffel Tower and at the World Fair in 1889, and the only cognac to have ever earned the highest honor award :‘Prestige de la France’ .

Charles Dickens was famous not only for his writings but also for his punches and when he passed away they found in his home, over 200 bottles of Courvoisier among over 2000 bottles of other liquors and spirits.

We walked through the museum and then we saw a room with barrels where they show us how they keep the cognac to age.

I was a little disappointed on the sense that what we toured was not the actual distillery; it was a place set up to look like it just for the tours.

Nevertheless, it was interesting.

You saw on the last post I had a picture of a Hennessy cognac that was priced at $ 3227.50, well, that was nothing compare to some of the prices at Courvoisier.

The most expensive one was 6,900 € = $ 9573.06, of course the decanters were made by Baccarat and Lalique, so you are paying for that too. Anyway, these vintages cognac were distilled before 1930 with some of them being even older than that. However I will never be able to taste one of them either. Oh well….

Cognac

As I woke up and saw the sun shining on a blue sky, I decided to go to the city of Cognac and enjoy a day without rain. By the time I got there it was getting cloudy already, oh well...

And what is the point of going to Cognac and no visit the distilleries, so that’s what I did.

One of my favorite’s drinks is Remy Martin, however the distillery wasn’t much to talk about, nor was Martel, but Hennessy was beautiful.

The building is situated on the river “La Charente” and the place is really nice.   The boutique, bar and tasting area are gorgeous and the displays are excellent, really classy place. 

Maybe the problem I did not like the other distilleries is because I saw Hennessy first, but I don’t think so, the other ones would have pale by comparison after seeing this one anyway.

Growing up we always had Hennessy at home as it is customary to drink cognac after dinner, needless to say, I grew up drinking cognac. So being here now and being able to see all these places it is just great.

I guess this cognac is the smoother ever, however at 2350€ = $ 3227.50 I would never know.