We left the Abbaye on Wednesday morning with rain falling. We drove to the city of Cognac, and walked about with umbrellas. It was a very rainy morning. We had lunch at a restaurant on the river, and the sun came out from behind the clouds. Voila! The riverfront of Cognac is lined with famous production chateaux. We walked by a WWI and WWII memorial inscribed with over 800 names of soldiers lost, most in WWI. It was likely a large percentage of young men in the city at the time.
We drove south from Cognac toward St. Emilion, and stopped at Chateau La Grande Clotte, a vineyard that we visited six years ago. The owners are in their 30’s, now with two young children, and they are making award winning wines. They also operate a B&B. They have renovated their property since we first saw it, and the chateau is beautiful surrounded by their vineyard. We are very happy for them! We bought a case of sparkling wine plus two bottles of red and two bottles of white. We’ll return!
