France, Guerbe Brandy House

In the vicinity of Cognac there are many farms engaged in the supply of finished raw materials for large cognac brands, as well as in the manufacture of their products, albeit little known to the general public. This traditional activity is usually passed down from generation to generation. Today I will talk about visiting the brandy house Guerbe, located near the town of Juliak-le-Kok. I will not write about the subtlest, unique taste of the cognac I have tried, for I am not a foodie in this matter. But those dishes, with the participation of the cognac component and the drink that I had a chance to try in the process of familiarization, left very good impressions.

Guerbe is a relatively young brand with three generations, but having sufficient popularity not only in France.

The head of the house, the son of the already late founder Daniel Gerbe, is an interesting enough old man who briskly drives his Chevrolet Captiva along local lanes. Immediately in the possessions we did not find him, he rushed a little later.

The estate in which the head of the family lives and where his main stores, shop and office are located is of more ancient origin, as evidenced by the engraved inscription on the arch.

At the entrance there is a small but very beautiful alley.

All the lands around are planted with vineyards, which under the scorching rays of the sun felt, it must be said, no matter.

The building that greets the visitor first is the company store.

Here you can watch the bottling process, the entire range of products is immediately presented. This is about 24 types of cognac, called the Grande Champagne brandy label.

The courtyard is quite quiet, without fuss.

In general, I noticed that the French are very sensitive to history, the memory of generations and everything that connects them with this, so I have not met any modern buildings in the district.

Judging by the appearance, the youngest building is the home of the owners.

The wife greeted us warmly, inviting us to taste cherries in the garden.

A family of jack russels ran out of the house right away: dad and his son, who was not well standing on his feet.

The puppy sniffed strangers every now and then with curiosity, and the jealous father pulled him back with a bark.

By the time of acquaintance with the permanent inhabitants of the house, his owner rode up and politely invited us to go to his office, which is 100 meters away. In the office, as it turned out, there were only two workers - Daniel and his permanent commercial director Genevieve. In the lobby I was surprised to find a photograph of Hero of the Soviet Union twice, astronaut G. M. Grechko with a personal autograph.

In the office, Mr. Gerbe posed a little against the background of his pet and invited us to inspect his possessions.

The first thing we went to the cellars, which Daniel jokingly called his "bank."

Cognac reserves are stored in stone barns, the longest aging barrels rest under a multilayer web.

In the vicinity there is a whole manufactory network for the production of barrels and bottles. We visited several factories for the production of glass containers. The raw materials lie right there, in the form of broken glass.

I don’t know why, but the clear bottles seemed a little muddy. Apparently for manufacturers of wine and cognac products, this fact is of secondary importance. Loved the double-walled bottle, the inside of which is broken, hence the effect of a cracked bottle.

Having finished with the bottles, they returned to the possession of Guerbe.

This time in a small estate of the son of Daniel Gerbe, who plowed on vineyards like a simple collective farmer.

Here the whole mechanized and unskilled part of the economy is collected.

The first time I saw a grape harvester. It turns out there are some. This one is more modern, but there are also quite “old people” on long legs with small wheels.

The womb absorbing grapes is located at the base of the combine, between the wheels.

Here are tractors with various nozzles for processing bushes.

This "vacuum cleaner" actually sprays poison against harmful insects, completely debunking the myth of the absolute environmental friendliness of European products.

The picturesque landscapes of the surrounding area complete our tour of the farm lands.

It's lunch time. The host invited us to the local restaurant La Cagouillarde (which means "snail") to enjoy the sights of French cuisine.

I did not eat snails, but I tried a new supply of cognac with shveps.

The recipe from the hereditary cognac producer is simple: in a glass with two ice cubes, cognac and shveps are poured in a proportion of 50 to 50, forming a soft mixture with noble notes of cognac component. The second “alcoholic” dish was creme brulee with a thin layer of Guerbe XO cognac spilled on top. A good company and no less good drink and food did their job, and our conversations went far beyond familiarization and business communication, taking on the character of a cultural exchange.