When you arrive in Cognac by train one of the first sights that greets you is that of three large red and white chimneys jutting into the air. These rise up from the furnaces at the glass packaging factory owned by Verallia, the former subsidiary of French multinational Saint-Gobain, and the producer of two-thirds of wine bottles in France. These chimneys, which peer out over the vineyards in this quiet corner of south-west France, have dominated the local landscape since 1963.
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