Crowned with a gold medal at the last general agricultural competition (The General Agricultural Competition is organized during the International Agricultural Show.) for one of its
single malt
whiskeys , the Fontagard distillery continues its rise in the country of cognac.
Based in Neuillac, a village of 300 inhabitants located in Charente-Maritime, this family business has been distilling cognac spirits for five generations for prestigious Charentais merchants.
5 years ago, this distillery founded in 1878 decided to explore a parallel path by creating its own range of whiskeys.
This infidelity to Ugni Blanc – the Cognac grape variety favored for cognac – continues to pay off.
Marketed since 2022, these atypical nectars produced in Charentais stills have been accumulating awards in France and internationally.
Behind this esteemed success are Adrien Granchère and his partner Richard Lambert.
The first succeeded his father Dominique Granchère and his ancestors “with the objective of diversifying production and moving towards other horizons”.
The second joined the adventure after having worked for a long time for a spirits giant and “to develop a local and regional product”.
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The winter barley used by the Fontagard distillery all comes from the surrounding fields – Adrien Granchère produces some of it himself.
Malted and reduced to flour, these cereals are then brewed with yeasts then distilled twice in the distillery's copper stills.
The whiskeys are then aged in barrels that have contained – depending on the range – cognac or wines from Sauternes or Saint-Émilion.
Building on its initial successes, the Fontagard distillery has just invested nearly 2 million euros to expand and install a brewery within its walls.
Three huge copper vats (200 hectoliters each) were purchased second-hand in Germany to brew the malted barleys permanently.
The building which now houses them was specially built around it.
“My father was the first to support me in this process, to push me towards diversification,” confides Adrien Granchère at the foot of these three colossi synonymous, for the distillery, with independence and emancipation.
Production currently reaches 300,000 bottles per year, explains Richard Lambert who is already cooking up, with his partner, a new range of peated whiskeys.