The Winery Charpentron of Cognac

The Champagne house expanded into the region when it acquired Maison Langlois-Chateau in Saumur back in 1973. It then bolstered its presence in Sancerre with the acquisition of Château de Thauvenay in 2016. Now it has tied up a deal to bring the family-run Hubert Brochard estate into the fold. ‘The acquisition of Hubert Brochard estate represents a unique opportunity to consolidate our footprint in this fantastic region and to continue to promote, in France and internationally, its savoir-faire ...

If a good Cognac isn’t just for Christmas, it isn’t only for after-dinner sipping either. A top-quality VS or VSOP is also an excellent base for a refreshing aperitif or a palate-sharpening cocktail. You can keep it simple with ice and tonic, dial up the flavour with ginger ale – or move into more sophisticated territory by mixing a zesty Sidecar or twisted Manhattan. Hell, if you’re feeling flush, use an XO to create hedonistically rich and decadent Vieux Carré. Whether you’re buying for a love ...

How’s the weather been this year? Awful. ‘La nature m’écoeure’, one of my wine-growing friends posted on Facebook on 8 April, having been out to look at the frost-crippled shoots on his vines that morning: ‘Nature disgusts me’. It takes a lot to make a wine-grower feel that. He wasn’t alone. Jeremiads echo around the northern hemisphere as 2021 closes. It’s been the year of all the miseries. None suffered more horribly than the growers of Germany’s Ahr valley, where floodwaters caused by the fou ...