The warehouse of Braastad-Tiffon Cognac in Jarnac, situated along the Charente River that is the major artery of the region

View of the Charent from the spacious Hennessy Château de Bagnolet, in Boutiers-Saint Trojans

A vineyard scene in the sub-region of Grande Champagne (which has nothing to do with the Champagne region in Northern France!)

Planted on a variety of soils, Ugni Blanc provides the thin, acidic wines that are distilled into magnificence

Hine's Cellar Master is one of the engaging and astonishingly talented personalities continuing the legacy of one of the region's greatest producers

A vineyard providing wine for the newest creation of Hine Cognac, a vintage dated spirit, exclusively Grande Champagne, called Domaine Hine

We wine lovers are drawn to vineyards, but the real magic of Cognac is only partly from the vineyard - much of the magic happens in the stillhouse. 

A small Cognac pot still where wine become spirit. The style is typical, but the product of Distillerie St Denis, managed by Messrs Lespinard, father and son, is considered atypical and the best in the region

The door to one of the aging warehouses of Hardy Cognac. The black spots are a mold that feeds on alcohol vapors escaping the casks inside - the Parte des Anges, the "Angel's Share"

Some Cognac firms are small with small warehouses. Hennessy, accounting for about 40% of all Cognac produced, has huge warehouses along the Charente

In warehouses, large or small, barrels of Cognac slowly age - here, the already vibrant Domaine Hine 2009 ages quietly

Inexpensive and young Cognac is often artifically colored with caramel, but the best spirits slowly earn their color from time in barrels - here you can see the slow accumulation of color in Domaine Hine 

A company keeps its oldest and most prescious spirits, some 100 years or more in age, in a special (and closely guarded) area called, appropriately, Paradis - Paradise. At Cognac Hennessy, Paradis is very large indeed!

The oldest spirits are taken out of barrel when they are 50 or 60 years old so they don't become too woody tasting. They are then stored in wicker-covered glass bottles called DammesJeanne (or demijohns in English). This one is in Courvoisier's Paradis

Rarist of the Rare - a DameJeanne of 1854 Cognac in the Paradis of Hardy

Hardy cellar master Mickaël Bouilly very generously shared a taste of the 1893 Cognac from sister firm Polignac (and yes, it was fabulous)

A few old bottles in the cellar at Hine Cognac