A Surprisingly Delicious Experience: Discovering Vinegar in Bouteville

One of the pleasures of living near Cognac is discovering the small, passionate producers hidden among the vineyards of the Grande Champagne. Some are obvious places to visit. Others are a little more unexpected…

We recently took my parents to Bouteville for a vinegar tasting, and, if we are honest, we weren't quite sure what to expect.

A vinegar tasting?

It perhaps doesn't sound quite as enticing as a Cognac tasting or a wine tour. But it turned out to be a wonderfully enjoyable experience — and one we would happily recommend to our guests at

Maison Le Mas.

Vinegar tasting… really?

Yes. And it is considerably more delicious than it sounds.

At La Compagnie de Bouteville, vinegar is treated as a serious gastronomic product rather than simply something you drizzle over a salad. Their vinegars and balsamic condiments are made with grapes from the Charente and aged in oak barrels, including Cognac barrels, giving them a surprising depth and complexity.

Once you start tasting them properly, you begin to appreciate just how different they can be.

There are fruity notes, sweetness, acidity, richness and, depending on the variety, smoky or more savoury flavours. What we had expected to be a quick tasting turned into a genuinely interesting exploration of flavour.

And, of course, we couldn't resist bringing a few bottles home with us.

A beautiful little corner of the Charente

The experience is also about the setting.

Bouteville is a small village in the Grande Champagne, surrounded by the vineyards that make this part of the Charente so distinctive. The production site has a wonderfully rustic character, and there is something particularly appealing about visiting a place where you can see the product being made rather than simply finding it on a shop shelf.

It feels authentic and unhurried.

This is very much the sort of experience we love about living here — discovering something that you might easily drive past without realising what is happening behind the doors.

Passion behind the product

Perhaps the best part of the visit was meeting the people behind it.

There is a real enthusiasm for what they do, and that comes across immediately. They are clearly passionate about the product, the ingredients and the place where they make it.

You don't simply taste a series of vinegars and leave. You learn about how they are made, where they come from and how their different flavours can be used in cooking.

It also changes the way you think about vinegar.

Afterwards, we found ourselves talking about which one would work with cheese, which would be good with vegetables and which would make an interesting addition to a dressing or marinade.

It is one of those visits that leaves you looking at an everyday ingredient slightly differently.

A different kind of Charente experience

For anyone visiting the Cognac area, there are plenty of wonderful Cognac houses to discover — and of course we love those too.

But one of the things we particularly enjoy about the Charente is that there is so much more to discover beyond Cognac.

There are small producers, family businesses, food artisans, vineyards and villages where you can spend an hour or two simply getting to know something that is made here.

La Compagnie de Bouteville is a perfect example.

It is different, relaxed and genuinely local, and it makes a lovely addition to a day exploring the vineyards.

The company offers several different experiences, from an introductory tasting to a longer visit with a guided discovery of the production process and tastings accompanied by local food. Their more informal tasting experience includes oysters and/or charcuterie — which sounds like a very good way to spend an afternoon to us.

Discover Bouteville

While you are in Bouteville, there is another reason to linger a little longer.

Just next door to La Compagnie de Bouteville is the Château de Bouteville, a beautiful historic château with an impressive medieval past and a fascinating connection to the history of the area. It is well worth taking the time to visit, particularly if you enjoy discovering the history and heritage of the Charente.

Combining a visit to the château with a vinegar tasting makes for a lovely way to spend part of a day — discovering two very different sides of Bouteville, its history and its food heritage.

These are exactly the sort of local experiences we love sharing with guests at Maison Le Mas: somewhere a little unexpected.

Stay. Taste. Discover.