Friday, September 28, 2012

HOW CAN 15 YEARS CHANGE EVERYTHING. LOOKING BACK IN TIME.


In the past 15 years, a great deal of things have happened in Cognac including a recession, a slow growth, a fast decrease and a fast increase.

To exemplify this I am posting an article from summer 1996 from Andre de Segonzac published in Liberation. This newspaper is known to be leaning towards the democratic party in France (socialist) but I think it does a fair review of the situation at the time.  Hard to believe this article now that we are in a different situation.

In essence, this article describes the decreasing wholesale prices of cognac, the decreasing value of land, the disappearing traditional structure of the workforce, that is not employed for life by the negociants but now dependent on the market fluctuations and therefore suffering massive lay-offs in 1996.
Cognac Vineyards
Cognac Vineyards
So what has happened since. I guess everyone had to pull themselves by the bootstraps. Starting with the BNIC that became much more involved with the promotion of cognac overseas, the 4 big cognac houses became part of larger multinationals, and wine makers had to become more efficient. In addition, the political and regulatory weight of the European Union since 2000 has also changed dramatically the cognac business.
One thing is for sure, the cognac marketplace never stays the same and one has to adapt quickly to survive.
Cognac Vineyards
Cognac Vineyards
There are 2 important things that consistently keep saving cognac from despair. At the end of this article, the author mentioned that a top executive from Hennessy was worried that cognac would disappear like the coal mining in Lorraine.

1) Cognac unlike coal mining is not a commodity. Cognac is made in a specific area under international protection. It cannot be replicated anywhere else, and therefore it does not suffer from delocalization.

2) Cognac is truly a superior quality product and it is recognized as such by consumers. It is not just a myth or made up perceive short sighted thing. Andre de Segonzac makes an interesting costs/investments comparison with other spirits.
. Cognac cost 5 times more to make than whisky.
. Cognac costs 25 times more to make than cane sugar spirits.

=================================

Cognac: grande récolte, grands soucis. Les grands groupes de négoce cassent les prix d'un alcool cher à produire.
La récolte s'annonce bonne; excellente, même. «Sur pied, nous estimons qu'il y a 130 hectolitres de vin à l'hectare», estime Bernard Combes, le directeur départemental de l'agriculture de la Charente. S'il continue à faire beau, on s'attend à un degré moyen égal ou supérieur à 9$. De sorte que les 83.000 hectares de vignes de cognac vont produire un million d'hectolitres d'alcool pur. Une catastrophe si l'on considère que le marché du cognac n'en absorbera pas la moitié. Car des vendanges aussi prolifiques risquent d'accentuer la chute des prix déjà bien entamée cette année.
...
Prix en baisse depuis 1990. Les prix du vin et des eaux-de-vie sont en baisse constante depuis la bulle spéculative de 1990: Bisquit, une vieille marque de cognac (Pernod-Ricard), a été exclu du syndicat des exportateurs pour n'avoir pas respecté les contrats passés avec les viticulteurs. Le temps n'est plus au paternalisme triomphant qui voyait garantis l'emploi à vie des ouvriers dans les chais, la vente des eaux-de-vie des viticulteurs aussi bien que les ressources des nombreux clubs de sport de la ville.
Les sociétés de négoce sont passées sous le contrôle de grands groupes internationaux de vins et spiritueux: Louis Vuitton-Moët Hennessy (LVMH) pour Hennessy, Allied Domecq pour Courvoisier, Seagram pour Martell... Qui souhaitent acheter au meilleur prix en laissant faire la loi du marché.
...
Produit de luxe très élaboré, le cognac a un prix de revient élevé: 5 fois celui des alcools de grain comme le whisky, 25 fois celui des alcools de canne, explique Jacques Fauré. En plus, il faut le distiller deux fois et le vieillir longtemps. Le stock actuel représente 7,5 années de consommation.
...
Le négoce s'apprête à vivre de nouvelles concentrations: Camus est à vendre. Rémy-Martin cherche des partenaires et la coopérative viticole de Cognac est en difficulté ...
«La région de Cognac est aujourd'hui dans une situation comparable à celle de la métallurgie lorraine voilà quinze ans.» Répétée par un cadre supérieur d'Hennessy, cette petite phrase semble plus menaçante qu'un orage de grêle en septembre, sur un coteau de Grande Champagne.

Thursday, September 27, 2012

GOOGLE CELEBRATES ITS 14TH BIRTHDAY TODAY WITH A DOODLE CAKE


Google was founded on Sept 4th 1998 by Sergey Brin and Larry Page, hence why did Google announced its own 14th birthday today?
They do what they want ... they decided to celebrate it today with a specially designed Google Doodle birthday cake.
Google Doodle 14th Anniversary Cake
Google Doodle 14th Anniversary Cake
Why is the Google home page is so simplistic?  The founders originally had minimal knowledge of html coding and kept things simple and clean. 
Simplicity has been kept and most people like me keep hitting the key enter at the end when searching as an habit as the original page did not have an icon saying enter.

Thanks to Google when searching 'cognac paradis' we appear 2nd! Hooray!

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

GIVE ME BACK MY CHATEAU AND I WILL LET YOU HAVE THE FRIES SAYS THE FRENCH


Chateau Margaux, Chateau Talbot, ... are very famous vineyards in France, specifically in Bordeaux. The use of the term 'chateau' is highly regulated in France and not everyone can use this term unlike in other countries such as the USA.  A news story about the French fighting to limit the use of this term only to French estates came to a pause on Tuesday at the European Union’s wine management committee in Brussels, Belgium.

The European Union’s wine management committee was supposed to approve an application to allow US wine exports to Europe to use the word “chateau,” in what one EU official described as a “purely technical rubber-stamping exercise.”

But this was not accounting for the passionate rivalry between France and California wine producers dating back let's say to the blind tasting competition from 1976 "the jugement de Paris" in which a californian wine won.

French legal representatives will get an extended delay to  present alternative proposals. One may wonder if  people would prefere the term 'castle' to 'chateau': 'Chateau Sainte-Michelle' would be called "Castle Sainte-Michelle" or "Chateau Diana" would become "Castle Diana".  It does not sound good to me!
Chateau Thepump Winery
Chateau Thepump Winery
Personally, I have no doubt that the use of the word 'chateau' enhances the brand as it premiumizes  it, and it makes it more sound like old/traditional/ and European style.

It is not deceiving  just good branding as it enriches the product quality perceptions. It creates positive co-branding and country-of-origin effects. 

1/3 of the wines produced and exported from the US goes into Europe. Mondialization and globalization of the wine industry may explain why the term chateau is less discriminatory to French vineyards now than before.  

However, the problem gets more complicated when letting the use to other production areas. Thus, one may expect a "Chateau Hong Kong" or a "Chateau India" to appear soon and then consumers may not know what they are really getting if the term becomes so generic. 

I do not think we will easily agree on generic terms with a single worldwide regulation to apply.  Hence, one may rather encourage differentiation and region specificities to entertain diversity. In a way a culture is made to tell you where you are coming from and where you are going to.

Who knows what 'cognac' would mean today if someone a long time ago had not protected it?

Source: Reuters India

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

THE 2012 and 7TH ANNUAL EDITION OF LA PART DES ANGES AUCTION RESULTED IN 136,000 euros OF WINNING BIDS


2012 7th Annual edition of La Part des Anges auction was successful with this year with a result of 136,800 euros for the 27 cognacs auctioned.

This is more than 30% increase from last year auction.

The grand prize for the highest bid went to a Malaysian guest of Martell who purchase Cordon Bleu Centenary Edition for 21,000 euros.

The lowest winning bid was 900 euros and the 2nd highest was 14,000 euros.

It would be great to hear what the two charitable organizations, ie. Ordre de Malte and Parenthese are going to do with the money so as to give more impact to this event. We will share with you if we can find out. I invite you to learn more about the 'Order of Malta' in short or more officially called The Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and Malta. It is even older than cognac since it was established in 1048 during the Crusades, it is also fascinating and mysterious, not to say secretive kind of like 'cognac'!

In total this was about 700 guests from the cognac houses that attended the event at the chateau Chesnel in Cherves-Richemont.
Beautiful Chateau Chesnel Cherves-Richemont
Beautiful Chateau Chesnel Cherves-Richemont

Thursday, September 20, 2012

2012 LA PART DES ANGES ANNUAL AUCTION 7th EDITION: 26 OUTSTANDING COGNACS TO BE AUCTIONED


The annual auction called 'La Part des Anges' - the angels' shares is happening this evening and organized by the National Interprofessionnel du Cognac (BNIC)

. 26 Cognacs will be auctioned to the profit of the French Order of Malta and local charities in Cognac.

Last year in 2011, the auction exceeded all forecasts, the grand Cognac charity auction raised a total of more than 100 000 €.

My 10 comments prior to the event:
1) This auction offers 2 types of cognac: some with more form than content, and some with more content than form.
2) There is a good number of vintage cognacs. Strangely mostly around 1970, 1971, and 1972.
3) My favorite presentation is CAMUS CUVEE 2-105.
4) Most sensible cognac is Normandin-Mercier 'La Peraudiere'.
5) The cognac I would most likely favor as a gift to myself is DUPUY BORDERIES 1971.
6) The cognac I would most likely  favor as a gift to others is Monnet Extra Capiello.
7) My favorite background story is Godet War Treasury.
8) The cognac I would most favor to taste is PINET CASTILLON GRANDE CHAMPAGNE 1840.
9) The cognac I am most excited to see here is REMY MARTIN EXTRA in a Limoges porcelain. Limoges is a special place with artists and artisans whose knowledge is unfortunately being compressed by the modern world. I hope Limoges will become again fashionable soon. This is an heritage we do not want to loose.
10) I hope Leopold Gourmel Vintage 1972 will auction for much more than 275 euros. This is a bargain!

---> The +++ about this event:  this is a noble cause, let's hope it does better this year in 2012. The cognac is the epitome of premium spirit. It is always a good news when it is presented in all its glory.
---> The --- about this event: this event should be much more widely known and covered by the media. I think this is a big deal and I hope it will grow into something much bigger. Obviously, with time  like 'cognac' it will get better - hopefully.
A de Fussigny 1970
A de Fussigny 1970
ABK6 Famille No.1
ABK6 Famille No.1
AE DOR No.9 and No.10
AE DOR No.9 and No.10
Braastad STETANGEN
Braastad STETANGEN
Camus Cuvee 2 105
Camus Cuvee 2 105
Chateau de Montifaud 1972
Chateau de Montifaud 1972
Courvoisier Edward VII Reserve
Courvoisier Edward VII Reserve
De Luze Extra
De Luze Extra
Delamain Vintage 1972
Delamain Vintage 1972
Dupuy Borderies 1972
Dupuy Borderies 1972
Frapin Baccarat Royal Eagle
Frapin Baccarat Royal Eagle
Hardy Caryota Privilege
Hardy Caryota Privilege
Hennessy Special Reserve
Hennessy Special Reserve
Leopold Gourmel Petite Champagne 1972
Leopold Gourmel Petite Champagne 1972
Leyrat Copy No.1
Leyrat Copy No.1
Louis Royer Royal Reserve
Louis Royer Royal Reserve
Martell Cordon Bleu Centenary Edition
Martell Cordon Bleu Centenary Edition
Meukow Nec Plus Ultra
Meukow Nec Plus Ultra
Monnet Extra Capiello
Monnet Extra Capiello
Normandin-Mercier Peraudiere
Normandin-Mercier Peraudiere
Otard Exception Part des Anges
Otard Exception Part des Anges
Pierre Ferrand Memorable
Pierre Ferrand Memorable
Pinet Castillon Grande Champagne 1840 Offered by Cognateque to 2012 Part des Anges Auction
Pinet Castillon Grande Champagne 1840 Offered by Cognateque to 2012 Part des Anges Auction
Prince Hubert de Polignac 888 Trunk
Prince Hubert de Polignac 888 Trunk
Remy Martin Extra in Limoges Bottle
Remy Martin Extra in Limoges Bottle
Godet War Treasury
Godet War Treasury
Source: Photos: www.lapartdesanges.cognac.fr