Fun Cognac Glasses

These glasses have always attracted my attention as I find them very original. Have you had any experience with them?

Created by Danish designer Rikke Hagen for Normann Copenhagen designer products, they look fantastic indeed. However, one should not warm cognac unless it was served too cold and hence require to be warmed. With these glasses I would have tendency to hold them and thus warm the cognac. Perhaps one is supposed to just play with them and let the cognac swirl and give you a nice bouquet while you keep the glass moving. It sounds great and it is surely hedonic - why not I will have to try them.

These glasses are available at: cognacglasses.com

I cannot believe there is a company smart enough which has started paying attention and specializing into cognac glasses. We will make a review of these and come back to you about it in the near future. Another one of my favorite online store for cognac glasses is: 

www.sparklingstemware.com

Cognac and Blues in NY this Wed. 2nd Nov. 2011

Cognac and Blues have a lot in common smooth, soft, elegant, refined, .... The city of Cognac also offers one of the nicest blues festival every July for the past 20 years. However, if you missed the last festival this past summer in France and you are in New York this Wednesday 2nd Nov. 2011 at 6.30pm. Go to the City Winery to experience a rare tasting of the high-end Family Tradition Cognacs paired with the sounds of the authentic Chicago Blues. You will learn a wealth of information about Cognac and the differences between these artisan brands vs. mass-produced “industrial” ones. Your perception of this golden spirit will be changed forever. A truly rare tasting experience!
Wednesday, November 2, 2011     6:30 pm seating / 7:00 pm show        Tickets: $55

www.citywinery.com

Cognac is Becoming Mainstream - Hip Hop Hourah!!

"Cognac, it seems, is having a moment, and it’s making its move from rap lyrics and Mad Menboardrooms to the mainstream" is announcing Amalie Drury
at the end of October 2011 in one of her article [The Chaser] about brown liquors and nightlife. Could it be true? It seems that Cognac owns it survival to the Hip Hop artists who originally supporter the rebirth of cognac in the USA by embracing the idea of conspicuous consumption and ostentatious lifestyle. Hennessy is the brand of cognac most cited in Rap lyrics says Maurice Hennessy in this interview with Amalie. Hennessy Cognac has successfully managed to be the cognac of many different targets and it has kept a substantial perception of exclusivity amongst these targets all at the same time. It may seem that it is simple to do but it is a balance act that only a few can do. Toyota has dreamt of doing this for all these years but it has eventually gave up to finally create Lexus and later Scion etc...

It is not just exciting to see that cognac is coming back but also other classic brown spirits are coming back such as Bourbon. Amalie Drury who is a Kentucky native has a natural inclination for Bourbon but she did not turned down the opportunity to try out tasting cognacs and see for herself what this is all about. In summary and by comparison, one could say that cognac is smooth and rich, soft and surprising. Mostly surprising when when ordered by a woman admitted Amalie. Cognac is also becoming a trendy source for making cocktails. It is more flexible than one would believe - not just a new marketing gimmick.

Read more from the source of this blog:

http://tinyurl.com/3tsup48

Cognac and Shoplifting: A Real Prejudice

Just by curiosity I did a number of searches on the Internet to identify which spirits and/or liquors get to be the most stolen on the shelves. Well, guess what? It seems that Cognac, Scotch and Champagne seemed to be the favorite. In fact, last Tuesday 25th Oct. 2011, an online source from an ABC TV channel reported two people stealing cognacs in a store and being recorded by a video camera. (see the report:  http://tinyurl.com/3er7xpj). 

A research from the UK points out that 1% of the products in a store is at risk for shoplifting (www.retailresearch.org).

• A normal supermarket has at least  35,000 product lines and 100,000 in a department store, which makes at least 350 items and 1,000 products respectively being stolen on average per year.
• I have always been amazed by the amount of security made for Razor and  shaving products. In many cases, you have to ask somebody to open a cabinet, like you would do for buying an expensive bottle of cognac.  This is because  it has been the No. 1 stolen products for many years but is now losing its place because of new security systems and display limitation. Interestingly, only men razors seem to be shoplifted. Perhaps, they are better after all.
• So what is the most stolen product in stores. Sadly, it is meat products - where are we going?

Business Insurance reports that alcoholic beverages and in particular cognac is the 5th most stolen product in stores (www.businessinsurance.org). Apparently, teenagers driven by curiosity and a bad economy are the two main reasons for driving shoplifting of spirits. Drunk patrons are mostly stealing cheaper liquors I guess because they are lower on the shelves!!

Living the Life of a Jet Lagger: Some Advises from Patrick Piana - CEO of Rémy Martin

Patrick Piana is the CEO of Rémy Martin. In a recent article from CNN Money online he gives us his perspective on how to survive the jet-lags from 140 days of international traveling between mostly Asia - USA - and Europe. Married with three children he seems to have found a successful balance with the demanding pressure of his responsibilities. In this article, he gives 3 recommendations. (1) bring a pair of comfortable shoes to allow for some exercise to distress, (2) sleep as much as possible in the planes bring hear plugs, and (3) stay in the CBDs of cities where you go with hotels that you know - hence no surprises and a central place to meet with everyone. At 42 years old Patrick Piana has had already a successful career in the management of luxury brands with LVMH, Pernod, and Philip Morris. There is no doubt that his experience and vigorous energy will serve the increasing needs of Rémy's developing markets.

Source: read more details at CNN Money Online:
http://tinyurl.com/3gzeoe6

Sales, Prices and Who Cares of Necessities

Cognac sales keep rising according to French parent companies of Martell and Remy Martin. This situation is mostly fueled by Asian markets and the continuous momentum of lifting sales in the US.

In an article from Reuters Paris last week, an official representative from Remy concluded that there was a sign of recovery in the US!

["All group divisions and all regions contributed to this performance. Growth rates were particularly outstanding in Asia. Signs of the recovery in the U.S. and Western Europe are confirmed," the maker of Remy Martin cognac, Cointreau liqueur and Mount Gay Rum said in a statement.]

Interestingly, Remy noticed that the rising prices of Cognac in Asia were also positive factors of growth. That reminds me of my economics classes where it was mentioned about price elasticity and the different effect that it had for luxuries where compared to necessities a price increase would increase demand. Hence, cognac is a luxury!

Hennessy NYX Just Released

Starting December 1, 2011 a few retailers in the USA will carry the latest cognac released by Hennessy. The bottle uses the iconic VSOP shape with a platinum finish. This is not the first shiny model from this VSOP line but it is the first which integrates labels with luminescent ink only visible at night. This model is specifically called Hennessy Privilege NyX bottle and will be sold approx. $50. Each bottle will be marked with a limited edition number, as well as a flash code tag that can be scanned by smart phones to unlock access to Hennessy's mobile hub. Sorry we do not know what happens once you get to the hub!

Pernod Ricard May be the New Owner of Courvoisier - What Would Martell Think?

Today an interesting thing is unfolding in the world of big money where shares of faceless big companies are taking overs of each other making the spirits industry even harder for small brands. Today Bloomberg and Goldman Sachs are announcing possible change of hands for Beam Inc. Beam Inc is the owner of multiple brands of spirits including Courvoisier Cognac. Potential companies predicted to take over are the two European spirits companies Pernod Ricard or Diageo. In both cases, it makes for an interesting scenario. In the case of Diageo, they already own multiple agreements and business shares of Hennessy Cognac in association with LVMH. A take over Courvoisier from Diageo would create some tensions for sure. On the other hand, Pernod Ricard is the well known owner of Martell, now the 2nd largest cognac company. If PR was to take over Courvoisier - what would happen!
I can hardly imagine what it must be to manage one of these Houses but two!! There would be certainly some difficult decisions and it may not be in the advantage of Courvoisier.
Read more at:http://tinyurl.com/3heza89

Cognac Ferrand - Another Great Blogger Shows Interest in Cognac

Geoff Kleinman is very active in the blogging community and the spirits' tasting community. He has recently joined The Tasting Panel Magazine's list of reviewers and he was a judge in 2011 for the World Spirits Competition in San Francisco. We are delighted to read his blogs and see his personal review of Cognac Pierre Ferrand. Cognac Ferrand is another smaller cognac producer who is actively involved in every level of the production and sourcing of cognacs. It is owned and managed by Alexandre Gabriel who has energized the company with is a large numer of product lines extansions such as with a Gin, named Citadel but also a range of rums. They are also the producer of a quantity of cognac brands such as Landy.
Read more at: http://tinyurl.com/3lu2sah

Courvoisier Connoisseur Collection with Declared Age Statement in Canada

Beam Global Spirits & Wines, the owner of Courvoisier Cognac is launching the first cognacs with declared age statements “a la mode” of whiskies. These are not vintages nor they are the first declared aged cognacs in Canada, but precisely the first “declared age” cognacs marketed in Canada by one of the four major cognac houses (i.e., Courvoisier being the 4th, far away in volume behind Remy Martin). Being large does not make you better but it helps in getting you to do big things. It is a big thing for a cognac maker to engage in a long-term production of declared age cognacs. In the opinions of many master cellars it is something almost impossible to do because one would have to go through so many obstacles such as administrative, customs, cellar management, blendings, stocks, sourcing, etc… It is actually not necessary to make a cognac better to have it warrantied within a certain age systematically. What it really does is help consumers, particularly “whisky drinkers” to compare against whyskies, or have some objective measures of age, etc… The problem is that whiskies, for instance Scotch Whyskies do not have to be 12 years old to be declared “12 YO”. But in fact, only 50% of the whisky blend (blend or not) in the bottle will have to be 12 YO. When in cognac to be declared 12 YO, the youngest age in the bottle will have to be 12 YO. When you think about it, this makes a huge difference. Another interesting fact, is that they have made the bottles look like an oldie, classic, perhaps even kind of similar to traditional “vintages”. This is another risk as one may have noticed that this is the look that has slowly disappeared from the product of the four cognac makers.

We will keep on eye on how this develops and we will report to our faithful readers how it unfolds!
Learn more at:

http://tinyurl.com/3lkr3yo

and  http://tinyurl.com/3efvqtd