Discover Pineau des Charentes on a Charentes villa holiday and find out for yourself the secret behind the regions lessor known, but rather delicious drink.
Cognac is a household name around the world and it is indeed the premiere produce of the Charente region, a type of brandy which matures and blends to form one of the most desirable after dinner drinks available. The Cognac grapes are grown around the Charentes town of Cognac where it is distilled and nurtured in oak barrels in specially constructed cellars for 10 or 20, even 50 years. An age old process which, rather like Whisky in Scotland, continues to thrive today.
Pineau is a dirivative, in fact its an apperatif for gently preparing the palate before a meal. There are two types of Pineau, rose and white, which depends on the type of grape used. The white are usually St Emillion, Colombar or la Folle Blanche grapes which are occassionally blended with fruitier verieties such as sweat Merlo, Jurancon, Semillon or Sauvignon. The rose contains Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet franc, red Merlot or Malbec grapes.
But there is more to Pineau than that. The story goes that a wine producer in the 16 hundreds inadvertantly added some regular grape juice to a barrel containing remnants of cognac (like you do lol) and the resultant drink turned out to be unexpectedly pleasant and thus Pinaud was accidently born. Pinaud is essentially a fortified wine which ranges from 16.5 to 22 degrees alcohol so it’s only marginally stronger than a regular wine.
So why isn’t everybody drinking it if its so great? Well its fairly sweet and needs to be served cool and personally I find it just seems to taste so much better when you are drinking it in situe on a warm summer evening on the terrace of your Charentes villa looking out over the beautiful Charentes countryside.
That doesn’t mean you can’t take some home to enjoy, but there are times when certain drinks and food taste just right and for me its when you there breathing the air and feeling the warmth and following up your cool glass of Pineau with some delicious Charentais specialites purchased in the local market, knowing you might even finish off with a devine Cognac.
There is of course so much more to the Charentes region than food and drink, it has a rich history, delightful towns, pretty villages, lovely countryside with meandering waterways and great swathes of sandy beaches at the coast. Why not sample some Pineau des Charentes for yourself in one of our Charentes villas?
You might like to look for another holiday house from our complete range af hand picked holiday villas in France with pools for a split stay holiday. Our highly experienced staff can help you calculate travel to other regions and choose the right place for you and your family to stay, please call using our freephone service or send an email to which we will reply promptly, within 24 hours at least. There are many fabulous wine areas throughout France, just ask if you would like any further information.