The Château de Cognac is the most historically significant building in the city: a medieval royal castle built into the rock above the Charente, where the French king Francis I was born in 1494. The building passed to the cognac merchant Jean-Baptiste Otard after the Revolution, and has been a cognac maison ever since — the ageing cellars cut into the medieval foundations are some of the most atmospheric in the region.
Tours combine the history of the château with a walk through the Otard production and ageing facilities, including the Gothic great hall and the cellar caves. The setting, above the river with views over the old quarter, is the most dramatic of any house in Cognac.