On the move...to Blaye and Cognac

 5:45 am - the floor starts humming and we look out our window and we are finally moving down the river.  Now, if it looks like we are close to the water - you're right.  We are on the BOTTOM level, aka the least expensive option that would fit out budget level.  So, as Patrick likes to say each night - we are sleeping with the fishes, literally - as I'm standing on my toes to take this picture from our room window.

We lucked out that they kept the top deck open while we were traveling down the river this morning.  Often, they have to close this deck to make it under the bridges. If you look under the captain's bridge at the right, you can see that it can telescope down into the deck - all of the railings can also put down.  One interesting feature of this boat.

Another interesting little feature of this small boat is the herb garden.  Chef was actually working in the container garden cutting herbs for tonight's dinner while we were taking our early morning pictures.  Does this woman EVER sleep - she always seems to be there whenever you turn around.

3 1/2 hours after we left Bordeaux we docked in Blaye.  Blaye has a Citadel that many on the ship toured, but we opted for an excursion to the small town of Cognac.

We wondered why this optional tour was so expensive, but it became apparent as soon as we arrived and we were glad we splurged on this tour.  We visited the Cognac distillery of Camus (ca-moo).  It is the only family owned top-ranked Cognac distillery remaining...and we definitely got an education from their master blender, Fredricke'.

Cognac is a type of brandy, but it can only be called Cognac if the grapes are grown in Cognac and it is distilled in the region also (similar to how Champagne can only come from Champagne region of France - from every place else it is sparkling wine).

The tour was limited to 24 people and when we entered the dark room there was a long glass table with science-looking equipment for each of us, gold-leaf piece of paper for each person for notes, an estate pen, and 4 different XO (XO meaning older - ours were 6 - 28 years old) Cognac blends. All Cognac starts out as white wine, then they distill it twice - at this point it is 70% alcohol. Then that clear liquid is put into brunt French casks for at least 2 years, on up to 20 years, 30 years, 50 years, etc. If you look all the way to right on this picture, you will see the clear bottles - they are bottles that are in the beginning stages of aging, as you move to the left, the color changes as the Cognac ages.  However, unlike wine, Cognac stops aging the minute you bottle it. So, if you have old Cognac/Brandy - it won't get better if you wait to drink it.  Before they sell it, they have to bring it back down to at least 40% alcohol by adding water to it.

After some class instruction and tasting, it was our turn to make our own bottle of Cognac.  We had to choose how much of each of the 4 Cognacs we tasted to blend together, depending on our personal preference, to make our own bottle.  Let me tell you, if Chemistry class would have been this fun in high school, I might have gotten an A!  We actually got to go to the barrels and fill our beakers, then it was registered, labeled, bottled, put in a presentation box, and given us to take home.  They registered our Cognac, with date and passport number so if we ever wanted to order our blend again - they would blend it and ship it to us.  Oh Camus...nice touch.

Patrick and I wondered if our mixture would ever get to be worth what this bottle is selling for - over 900 Euros.  Well, you never know - but I do know our bottles are priceless to us.