Has anyone had Pineau des Charentes?

Pineau des Charentes is *the* local drink in the Cognac region. I was really surprised in a supermarket in the town of Jarnac (the hometown of Courvoisier), where the Pineau shelf was roughly 5 to

M.

Technically it is a "vin de liqueur", similar to a muté wine like Banyuls or Porto but the alcohol is added to fresh unfermented grape must.

Being from Cognac, the grapes are 100% Ugni Blanc, the Ug'ly french name for the lowly Trebbiano grape. When grown in the Charentes area it is picked very early in order to keep the acidity high, which is a good thing for distilling, apparently (stability I suppose, plus you dont want the alcohol content of the fermented must to be too high).

They do make a bit of white wine from the Ugni blanc as well, for local use and it has more acid than a young Savennieres, but it sure goes well with fresh oysters!

I find PcC pretty available around here, but I've only seen the white. Lower alcohol than cognac, similar to maybe port in ABV. OK well chilled

Since you can find the wine near NYC, I searched internet wine dealers and found the pineau mentioned. See

The alcohol content is 17% as listed on the bottle, near the same as several fortified wines. The total content is 750 ml, 1/2 is white and

When I see a bottle this fancy, I always wonder about the quality of the contents. A few decades ago the US market was flooded with fancy bottles of wine from Europe, and few of these had very good wine in them. I have seen a 4 compartment liqueur bottle from France. In that case the liqueur was the same as the standard versions usually sold in plain bottles. In the US there have long been fancy ceramic bottle editions of Bourbon whiskey, and some people have huge collections of these.

What I see is generally either Prunier or Pierre Ferrand, but I think a lot of Cognac makers produce a PdC.

I have this bottle from Chateau Orignac

from site;

AOC Pineau des Charentes

Region:Charentes Color:Rich Amber with Golden Hues Aroma:Apricot, Honey and Raisin Flavor:Cognac Foundation with a Finish of Gingerbread and Almond Food Pairings:Savory dishes, Desserts and Blue Cheeses. Grape Variety:66% Unfermented Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot from Bordeaux, 33% Cognac Alcohol Level:18% Process/Technique:n/a Notes/Facts:10 Years in Oak Casks