Better than Cognac, visiting the jewel of Marnier Lapostolle

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We all have dreams, and some of those dreams have the chance to become experiences in our real life. Some moments don't have price, they are simply there to be enjoyed, to the best we can, because they are so unique. What we lived for two days around the Cognac region is one of those rare experience Mari and I have enjoyed in our short life.

But first, I have to thank Yves to have made this dream come true, and Alexandre and Patrick to have take care of us so well in Bourg-Charente. Thank you is a simple word, but it come from deep inside us. To those who asked us how did we end up living these two days, my answer is simple. I have a passion for a great product, and in two days we had the chance to have a private experience deep in that product.

Grand Marnier...if you are from France, you think this is used mainly once a year to prepare your crepes (aka pancakes), and if you are from the States, you think this is the best drink to prepare your cocktails, but there is way more than this. I discovered 5 years ago while staying at Domaine des Hauts de Loire the Cuvee du Centenaire from Grand Manier. To make it short, this is an exceptional product based on a blend of very old cognac and orange liquor. Since than, I have also discovered the Cuvee du Cent Cinquantenaire, a blend of way older Cognac with Cognac which are older than 100 years, an amazing drink!

During our two days, we visited the chais (Cellars), wandered through some of the vineyards at Chateau Marnier Lapostolle. But we also had the chance to visit a tonnelerie where the barrels are produced, as well as the distillerie, in english, they call it the boiler, which transform the grappes into eaux-de-vie.

Before coming to Cognac, I had drunk a lot of Cognac, but had no real accurate idea of the full production process.

To have good Cognac, you first need a good soil to produce the Ugni Blanc. The Ugni Blanc is the main varietal of grappe used to produce Cognac. You need amazing craftmanship to produce barrels with timber from the center of France. You also need a great Cellar Master who will be in charge of blending all those lots and different years of eaux-de-vie.... and you need many many years to reach the end product.

Imagine that your average Grand marnier Cuvee du Cent Cinquantenaire will take more than 65 years from the day the vine is planted...to the day the end product is in your glass!

Imagine also that to produce a proper XO, you will need a lot of wine! For 100 liters of wine harvest, a mere 5 liters of XO will be the end product....now you can understand why this product is far from being cheap!

We learned a lot...and when I mean a lot, it's really a lot. During our stay, Alexandre, the Ambassador of Marnier Lapostolle took us around the full production process, and more than the process, through the passion of so many people to produce a very high quality liquor. We had dinner at the Chateau with Alexandre and Patrick, the Cellar Master. No pictures from that evening, we were here to share a wonderful time, to learn a lot, sharing our passion with amazing people.

If you don't know yet, yes we slept in the Chateau. A short night, a great night!

I had no real idea how to write this entry. If you don't know much about the Cognac region, as well as the great wine and liquors that the family Marnier Lapostolle are creating, you may not understand our passion, just hope you may share the same passion one day.

What an experience, thanks again a lot to our friends and new friends to have guided us through such an amazing experience.

Some dream their life, we live our dreams!

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