Turning the corner on many of this town`s many ancient cobblestone streets, the visitor can be stopped in his tracks by one of the world`s most expensive aromas.
”That`s the angels` share,” explained Jean-Marie Beulque, a spokesman for the cognac producers. The evaporation of the precious amber liquid is as much a process of cognac production as growing the grapes in the rolling countryside surrounding this town of 25,000 about an hour and a half drive north of Bordeaux.
The story of the town and the liquor are integrally entwined. Throughout the town, the houses of the cognac giants loom at every turn: Remy Martin, Hennessey, Martell. Most hotels have display booths set up in the lobby, touting their favorite brand and colorful containers.
Even before the production of cognac, the town was famous as the birthplace in 1494 of Francois I, the French monarch, dubbed the Father of the Renaissance, who lured Leonardo da Vinci from Italy to make a few sketches. A statue of Francois on his steed stands in the middle of the square surrounded by a colorful flower garden and flanked by a handful of charming sidewalk cafes.
But it`s the growing of the grapes, the distillation, the aging of the young cognac–called eau de vie, or water of life–that have dominated this town for four centuries.
According to local legend, the distinction of cognac from brandy came as the result of a mangled menage a trois in the 16th Century. It seems the Knight of the Maroon Cross discovered his wife was fooling around with some cad; so the knight did the medieval thing and slew them.
Then, the legend continues loosely, the knight had a nightmare in which he burned twice in hell. Twice burned, he did the same thing to his brandy, left it alone for five years and–voila–cognac was born.
Since then, the Charente region surrounding the town has blossomed into a bustling market for the Rolls-Royce of liquor.
And unlike Paris or some other large cities that have developed a reputation for Gallic gruffness, Cognac has a reputation for warm hospitality. That hospitality can be traced to the liquor. Through the centuries, when cognac buyers from all over the world would come to the small town to select their favorites, they would be welcomed into the homes of the distillers.
While the town is dominated by the beverage, drinking the namesake is but a part of the charm of this ancient city.
Leaving Francois on his steed in the square, visitors can browse down the mall of the Rue d`Angouleme to the colorful semi-open market adjacent to the Place d`Armes. It`s a pleasant smorgasbord of the local populace and their fare. Tuesdays and Fridays are market days.
A baseball`s throw away is St. Leger, originally a Romanesque church structure built in the 12th Century but which has taken on some Gothic traits through the centuries. The surrounding buildings have been built right onto the side of the church, perhaps an architectural attempt to get closer to God. The side entrance to St. Leger is an unmarked doorway off the Rue du Canton. Standing guard in a passageway is a statue of the maid of Orleans herself, Joan of Arc, ”very popular with the British,” quipped Beulque, spokesman for the Bureau National du Cognac.
It was while meandering down the narrow, winding cobblestone streets toward the Charente river that we were brushed with the kiss of the angels`
share emanating from the Hennessey distillery.
After passing through St. Jacques gateway with its twin 15th Century towers, we passed the Valois chateau, where Frank the 1st was born, on our way across the bridge into the St. Jacques section. There we soaked in the panoramic view across the Charente to gaze at the old city, the chateau and St. Jacques gate.
Just east of town is the Francois I park, a 138-acre sprawl that features scores of shady picnic sites, a swimming pool open to the public and free, river fishing (trout), a sports arena (soccer, rugby), tennis courts and
”almost every sport except American football and baseball,” joked Beulque.
If you really want to get into the local culture, come in the fall and pick grapes for the harvest. Some local vineyard owners offer room and board in exchange for labor.
But sniffing and slurping your cognac usually follow a good meal.
(Drinking out of the bottle in a brown paper bag is frowned on as de classe.) Restaurants sampled and recommended for price, quality and flair are: — Les Pigeons Blancs, 110 Rue Jules-Brisson. The Tachet family serves up wonderful gastronomique delights in a tastefully decorated 17th Century restaurant and hotel. Menu dinners run from $11 to $19, depending on the number of courses. There are six rooms upstairs in this hotel-restaurant.
— L`Auberge, 13 Rue Plumejeau. Just a good stretch of the legs from Place Francois I, this small but charming restaurant serves fine food at a decent price–$9 for a four-course dinner. Mme. Gaillard is your hostess.
If you plan to visit Cognac in April, book far ahead because that month is when the town is jammed for its annual film festival. Past revelers have rubbed elbows with the likes of Lauren Bacall and Ernest Borgnine.
Though charming, Cognac is small, so consider it the hub of a wheel and follow its spokes for one-day jaunts into the French countryside.
One leisurely way to reconnoiter the area is by renting a boat to cruise the Charente from Angouleme to Rochefort at the mouth of the river.
One such operator is the Charente Plaisance in Cognac, but the Cognac Tourism Office has reams of information on other operators and tours, including ones that circle the three islands near the resort town of La Rochelle: the Ile D`Oleron, the Ile D`Aix and the Ile De Re.
If you choose such a river trip, dock your boat one afternoon or evening at Bourg Charente, just downstream from Cognac, for a terrific meal near the banks at the La Ribaudiere restaurant and sample the delicate offerings of Chef Jean-Pierre Barre. Prices for a four-course dinner without wine: $10 to $12.
For information on the daily or weekly boat rentals or other data on the town, write the Cognac Tourism Office, 16 Rue du XIV Juillet, Cognac, 16100.
But if you`re a landlubber, you might want to grab a car and head east on Highway N-141 past miles of vineyards and an occasional sunflower field (a cash crop) to Limoges. You can get there by train, but you have to switch trains in Angouleme.
In Limoges, you can spend hours in scores of shops carrying the city`s world-famous china. In a day of shopping, the best deal with the largest selection we found was at a small shop a few blocks from the railway station and just a few doors from the Hertz rental office.
The Chris-Dan porcelain shop is so unpretentious it doesn`t even have a sign outside its shop at 9 Cours Bugeaud. But inside is a cluttered but colorful collection of fine china. Watch the stacks of dishes in the aisles, those of you with Jerry Lewis coordination. The price is right, but you might want to repack your beautiful but delicate $10 vase.
Around the corner at 5 Avenue Charles de Gaulle, Boutique Myrene has a nice assortment of colorful Limoges brooches for $6. A short drive away at Winston Churchill Place is the National Museum of Porcelain with more than 10,000 pieces of the delicate dishes.
If you want to see china made, numerous factories open their doors. On the road to Perigueux, 10 kilometers south of Limoges, the La Maison de la Porcelaine invites the public to witness the magic.
Continuing down the road for a few hours through Perigueux and heading southeast, you can visit your long-lost ancestors–those that tramped around this area 17,000 years ago. In Les Eyzies, you`re in the middle of the Beune and Vezere valleys. On one side are limestone cliffs flanking the town pockmarked with the caves discovered more than 100 years ago that revealed the homes of Uncle Cro-Magnon. Visit the National Museum of Prehistory halfway up the cliffs to see how the primitives sketched their surroundings and prospective meals.
A 40-minute drive to Montignac brings you to Lascaux II, a recreation of the Lascaux cave with its colorful prehistoric animal drawings. The original cave, discovered in 1940, is closed to all but clout-heavy visitors such as archeologists and politicians. It was closed in 1963 after bacteria and algae attacked the paintings.
We from Clout City felt comforted that the wife of a U.S. senator accompanied us during our 40-minute tour of the reproductions. So much for congressional clout.
After a pleasant hour`s drive spent crisscrossing the Dordogne River, we arrived in Bergerac, perhaps best known for its swashbuckling hero with the protruding proboscis.
After nosing around town for awhile, we chose to stay at the Hotel Le Cyrano, a small but tastefully decorated hotel just a good stretch of the legs from the center of town.
In town, you can visit the Musee du Tabac to learn how those smelly French cigarettes are made. St. Jacques Church dominates the town with its massive Gothic spire.
Don`t bother wandering the streets for a place to eat if you stay at the Hotel Le Cyrano ($16.50 for a room with bath). In their charming dining room, we sampled more terrific pate, wonderful salmon and rabbit, scale-busting desserts, and washed it all down with a bottle of the house rose. Our tab was less than $15 each.
If you want to taste the best of France without taking a second mortgage on your house to pay for a dinner in Paris, you should consider some of the great restaurants in the other large cities. That`s what this long-pocketed and short-armed traveler did.
We chose to treat ourselves in Bordeaux, about a 90-minute drive from Cognac–if you drive like an American; a half-light-year less if you drive like the locals.
At any rate of speed, once in Bordeaux head for Christian Clement restaurant, a tiny (40 seats), narrow and charming eatery in the old section of town at 58 Rue du Pas-Saint-Georges. We went after finding it highly rated in the Gault/Millau guide to ”The Best of France.”
Mme. Clement welcomes diners while her husband toils in the kitchen. Unlike stuffy Parisian waiters, our waiter greeted us in English and served as guide through our epicurean sojourn. He was gracious when he apologized to the scrivener that they had no beer.
No matter; it was simply our best meal ever, but we paid a price dearer than for takeout at our local Chinese joint. The hit was $82. Bring cash or an American Express card; the fly in the soup at Christian Clement was their miserly exchange rate for travelers checks.
Another quick trip from Cognac takes you to some of the favorite coastal getaways where the French grab the sun. La Rochelle, the nearby islands and a string of small towns just up the coast, such as L`Aiguillon, La Tranche and les Sables d`Olonne, are about a 90-minute drive from Cognac.
During our August visit, however, La Rochelle was besieged with tourists, the hotels were jammed and the islands and small towns seemed a bit like Ft. Lauderdale at Easter, except for the topless belles on the beaches.
Seemingly the entire country is vacationing in August. After a day, we headed to Paris to join the sheep at the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower and to suffer the city`s surly waiters.
But the fine taste of Cognac lingers still and will be savored for a long time, like the liquor.
(Besides writing to the Cognac Tourist Office, you can obtain information from the French Government Tourist Office, 645 N. Michigan Ave.; 337-6301.)
