Beyond the Brandy, Cognac’s Food Scene Makes for a Dreamy Destination in France
The home of the celebrated spirit is reinventing itself as a travel destination.
By Mary Winston Nicklin Published on February 14, 2026
Popcorn and Cognac? Leave it to a former professional basketball player to score a slam dunk with unexpected pairings.
I’m seated at a six-person table at the Château de Chanteloup, a historic residence of the Martell family. Usually closed to the public, it’s got gilded clocks, sculpted fireplaces, and a welcome committee of impossibly cute deer grazing on the lawn. The table — with courtside views of the kitchen action — transforms into an artistic tableau with dozens of dishes. I can’t take my eyes off the plate of golden bottarga crumb, cradling a glazed mussel, which looks like the sun’s orb. Yet it’s the crunch of decorative popcorn — sometimes made from seaweed, sometimes from puffed einkorn kernels — that elevates the flavors of the amber spirit that French author Victor Hugo called “the liquor of the gods.”