Our Blog - Beach Trip May 2021

With the gradual reopening of France, we decided to get away for a long weekend with a few of our closest friends. We got together and rented a house near the Atlantic Ocean. We headed down on a Thursday and made a stop along the way in the Bas-Armagnac area, which is famous for ... well ... Armagnac of course!

Now, we aren't actually Armagnac connoisseurs but our friends are. I had to go look up (thank you Wikipedia) what exactly Armagnac is. It is a type of Brandy that comes from the Armagnac region in SW France and is similar to Cognac (also a type of Brandy but from the Cognac region of France) although there are specific differences. In addition to just the soil that the grapes are grown in, Armagnac uses several different types of grapes (Ugni-Blanc, Folle Blanche, Colombard, and Baco) while Cognac uses almost exclusively a single type (Ugni-Blanc), and the distillation processes are slightly different. Armagnac is traditionally distilled once, resulting in 52% alcohol content. The result is a more fragrant and flavorful spirit than cognac, where double distillation takes place. Armagnac is the oldest brandy in France but it is mainly consumed in France with very little of it being exported. Unlike Armagnac, Cognac has historically been a product for exportation, starting with England and the Netherlands but then to other countries under Napoleon III. Cognac has now become an trend in the US. After “Pass the Courvoisier” Busta Rhimes’ hit, in 2012 the performer Jay-Z entered into a partnership with Bacardi to create his own brand of Cognac: D’Ussé. We stopped at 2 different Armagnac houses. At the first one, we got a full tour of their cave and a very long and detailed explanation of the entire distillation process, which was very interesting. We then did a tasting of several different years of Armagnac before buying a few bottles and heading to lunch. After lunch, we headed to the 2nd one where we got a quick tour with the guide focusing on the unique items at their house, and then a tasting of 9 (yep, I said NINE) different Armagnacs. At this last one, we met a semi-celebrity ... there is a somewhat-famous French chef named Helene Darroze (we've eaten a couple times at her Michelin-starred restaurant in Paris, and we watch her every season on Top Chef France) and this 2nd house is part of her family. It was started several generations ago and is still in her family ... it was actually her brother who gave us the tour! I *NOW* understand why at her Paris restaurant, they come around after the meal with an entire cart full of different Armagnacs (I assume all from her family's house).

Here are a couple pictures of the barrels where the Armagnac is aging at the first house. The 2nd picture (sorry it is a little dark) shows a scale for weighing the barrels to determine the quantity of Armagnac contained within the barrel. One person can work it, by using the little crank on the left side, and the weight tells them how much liquid is inside.

I mentioned that we rented a house, which ended up working out quite nicely. Each group had their own bedroom and their own bathroom (no sharing!) and plenty of seating space both inside and out although we spent almost all of our time outside on the patio. There was also a pool (a little chilly still for us) and a fenced yard that we could let the two dogs, Lucy and Elmo, run and play together anytime they wanted. We ate out every day for lunch but grilled at the house every evening. Here we see Tom and Joel handling the grilling-duties. It was great to have a real BBQ again, since we aren't allowed "open flames" on our balcony at the apartment.

The house was a short 10-minute walk to the Atlantic Ocean and a great puppy-friendly beach. It seemed to be quite popular with surfers and it wasn't all that busy when we were there. You can see some great waves and the beach was really deep (it was near low tide). Lucy had a great time running around and playing in the sand.

We spent a day in Bayonne as well. We had been there once before but it seems we missed a bit of the city because it was quite a nice city. There is a nice old-town where the Nive and Adour rivers meet, with lots of shops and restaurants and an open-air market. At one place, there was the board where you can stick your head through and we tried to get Lucy and Elmo in the two holes at the same time. I was able to get Lucy to look at me but Elmo didn't seem too interested!