Cognac.

Cognac sits on the Charente River in the Charente department, the town that gave its name to the brandy aged in cellars behind its old streets. Houses such as Hennessy, Rémy Martin, Martell, and Courvoisier keep their barrels in riverside warehouses, where a dark fungus feeds on the vented spirit — the angels' share — and blackens the stone walls. Around the town, vineyards grow Ugni Blanc, the pale, acidic grape that becomes cognac after double distillation and years spent in oak.

The old town keeps narrow lanes and half-timbered houses around the Château de Cognac, birthplace of King François I and now home to one of the great cognac houses. The river moves past stone quays, calm water framed by willows and the spire of Saint-Léger church. Vineyards spread from the edges of town into open countryside, turning gold at harvest, and the local market still trades in regional cheese, melon, and pineau, the aperitif made from grape juice fortified with cognac.