La Nauve Hôtel & Jardin

La Nauve Hôtel & Jardin

Twelve rooms occupy a single-floor building a short walk from Remy Martin's cellars on the edge of Cognac, arranged around a garden anchored by a sequoia planted a hundred and fifty years ago. This is not a hotel that borrows its identity from a wine label: chef Anthony Carballo, a self-described cuisinier-jardinier, keeps beehives, a henhouse, a citrus greenhouse, fruit trees, vines and a fishery on the grounds, and channels what they produce into Notes, the twenty-cover restaurant that earned a Michelin star, plus the more relaxed Brasserie des Flâneurs and a tea salon open Wednesday to Saturday. Rooms run from a Comfort category through a Deluxe Petit Chai and a Prestige room facing the garden and sequoia to a Junior Suite with its own lounge and dressing room, with room service on call for whichever one you pick. Outside, there's a heated outdoor pool, a library, hiking routes from the door and a concierge desk that arranges vineyard visits and Cognac tastings. This suits a couple or a solo traveler who wants Cognac's houses within reach but prefers to sleep somewhere quieter than the town center, and who cares more about what's on the plate than what's in the minibar. It will frustrate anyone chasing a big spa, a lively bar scene, or a room for a dog, since pets aren't allowed and the property tops out at twelve rooms on one floor. What no other hotel in Cognac offers is a Michelin star grown, literally, in its own garden. Twelve rooms outside Cognac, built around a garden where the chef keeps his own bees, hens and vines for Notes, his Michelin-starred restaurant. It suits those who want dinner to be the destination, not those wanting a spa or a dog-friendly stay.