Cognac - Martell Distillery

We toured the Martell distillery on our first afternoon in Cognac as soon as we were settled into the hotel.  The Martell distillery islocated in downtown Cognac and closest to our hotel - just two blocks away.  We arrived just before 3:30. While walking to Martell, A astutely hurried a bit thinking that there might be a tour starting at 3:30. Indeed there was a 3:30 tour and in English no less.  Perhaps the last English tour of the day too.  Jackpot.

Martell Distillery

When purchasing tickets we were able to choose the particular cognac we would taste at the conclusion of the tour.  The base Cognac was the VS (Very Special).  VS cognac is recommended for use in mixed drinks. (Have you ever had a mixed drink with cognac in it? I don't think I have, but it sounds yummy.) For an upcharge of a few Euros at each step, one could taste a specialty Cognac, Martell's flagship Cordon Bleu Cognac, XO Cognac Extra Old) or some extremely special Cognacs. We opted for the specialty cognac for a €2.50 upcharge.

As we would see at each distillery we would visit in Cognac, the production value of the tours is quite high. The tour could have been billed as a visit to a Cognac museum.  Our tour guide was British and quite entertaining. He had clearly given the tour many times before, and his presentations were a good balance between a polished performance and witty spontaneity.

Our guide in the Maison Martell

The tour began with a walkthrough of the Maison Martell (Martell house) with descriptions of the fixtures and functions of each room in the house from the 18th century when Martell was founded.  Next we were presented with a map depicting the several sub-regions of the Cognac region of France. Each sub- region has a unique soil and microclimate that affects the flavor of the Eaux de Vie (spirits--literally "waters of life") that make up the Cognac. Each subregion also has its own level of prestige and name recognition  Martell makes cognacs using grapes grown in all of the subregions except two.

Cognac Region - The subregions in the center are most prized (The purple one in the center = Grande Champagne, the next larger one = Petite Champagne, the small pink one = Borderies)

Periodically throughout the tour we were shown videos. The videos continually reminded us that Martell is "the oldest of the major Cognac houses." Interestingly the videos typically repeated the material just presented by the guide.

The tour then took us to a display of the grape vines at each stage of their growth throughout the year. The grape varietal used for Cognac is a white grape that I had not heard of before, Ugni Blanc. Almost all Cognac is distilled from the same varietal, and apparently the wine is not tasty before it is distilled.

Our guide with display of grape vines and soil types

Next we stopped in front of a still itself and learned about the double-distillation that the wine undergoes during Cognac production. As the wine is distilled the successive liquids coming from the condenser have progressively weakening alcohol contents. The most valued part is the Heart at around 70% alcohol. The part that comes out prior to the heart is the head (stronger) which is later combined with the tail (comes out later and is weaker) and added back into the next batch of wine being distilled.  The tour guide made a point to stress that Martell filters the wine prior to distillation to remove the seeds and skin of the grapes. He claimed that this created a more pure and clear eau de vie (and one would presume a better tasting cognac at the end - watch for more on this on our  tour of Remy Martin).

A pot still at Martell

After distillation the eaux de vie are aged for a long time in oak barrels. From what I gather the majority of the Cognac's flavor comes from the oak aging. Consequently the Cognac houses focus great attention on the barrels they use. There was an exhibit on the process of making the barrels.  The eaux de vie are continually mixed with each other throughout the aging process to ensure a consistent product through the years.

Barrel-making.  Each new barrel costs 700 Euros! 

Once complete, back in the day Cognac was shipped down the Charente river on special boats. Martell commissioned a reconstruction of one of the cognac boats to show as part of the tour.

Traditional Charente river boat to transport Cognac

At the end if the tour was the tasting.  The tasting at Martell lagged significantly behind the rest of the tour in terms of polish and presentation. We were led to a bar with pre-poured glasses of our selected Cognac and generally left to taste by ourselves.  We felt that an organized description of the Cognacs and their flavor
components during the tasting would have resulted in a better guest experience.

Between the two of us we had three cognacs to tastes: The VS, which was included in all packages, and we each had one specialty Cognac (middle of the road in terms of price and therefore age and quality).
 The VS cognac was clearly the loser in terms of taste and (lack of) smoothness. I agree with Martell's recommendation to use the VS in mixed drinks, although we did not try that. The available mixers were
ginger ale and tonic water.   The second cognac we tasted was made exclusively of grapes grown in the Borderies sub-region (implied by the Martell tour guide as the most sought-after region). This cognac was our second favorite. The best of the three cognacs we tasted was the the Noblige cognac. I don't recall the details of what this cognac was (I think it was in the VSOP class- very special old pale, one step up from VS) but it was definitely the best. 

Different Martell Cognacs that have been offered over the years

With the Martell tour now completed, we ventured out into the heart of Cognac in search of drinks and eventually dinner