The town that lends its name to the world's most famous brandy — Charente River and angel's share
Cognac is a small, elegant Charente town that gave its name to the world's finest brandy — a double-distilled grape spirit aged in Limousin oak barrels in the great châteaux of Hennessy, Rémy Martin, Martell, and Courvoisier, all of which offer tours and tastings. The old town's rooftops and warehouse walls are coated in a black fungus (Baudoinia compniacensis) that feeds on the alcohol vapour — the 'angel's share' that evaporates from the barrels each year — turning Cognac into one of France's most atmospheric small towns.
Cognac was the birthplace of Francis I of France in 1494. The brandy trade developed from the 16th century onwards as Dutch traders found that distilling Charente wine into 'brandewijn' (burnt wine) made it more stable for shipping north. The great cognac houses were founded in the 18th century: Martell (1715), Hennessy (1765, by an Irish Jacobite), Rémy Martin (1724), and Courvoisier (1809). By the 19th century, cognac was drunk as an after-dinner spirit across Europe — a role previously held by Madeira and port.