Cognac Louis Royer was established in 1853 in Jarnac. With more than 2,000,000 bottles sold they appear as one of the leader in the 2nd group of cognac trading houses.
First group is composed of Hennessy, Remy Martin, Martell and Courvoisier.
In 1989, Louis Royer was purchased by Suntory, a Japanese brewing and distilling company more famous under its malt whisky named Yamazaki. First thing the japanese did in the early 1990 was to refocus the business on the core competencies and they sold the vineyards in the Borderies.
After the first group cognac houses announced paying 10% more for the eaux-de-vie just this months, and all indicators showing a healthy growth for the cognac market, and that Cognac Louis Royer is benefiting from this growth it seems logical that they look and why not acquire again a vineyard in cognac. Well, it is done. The local newspapers Charente Libre and Sud Ouest have both announced that Cognac Louis Royer purchased last Monday 12th November 2012, a vineyard in Grande Champagne.
- Cognac Louis Royer Happy Bee Going to the Vineyards
Exactly, they acquired 83 hectares of land including 34 hectars of planted vineyard in Saint-Fort sur le Né from SCEA Domaine Du Ménis, created in 1961 was in the hands of the Giraudet family since 1980.
One would imagine that this purchase may limit their dependencies on other suppliers but perhaps this is not the reason since they need about 15,000 Hecto liter of Pure Alcohol (HPA), and this vineyard will only contribute up to 350 HPA.
Suntory has already invested in vineyards in Bordeaux and perhaps they are trying to gain more control by vertically integrating the production. Traditionally, Cognac Louis Royer has not been involved in the cognac vineyards, and this change will be something new for the company.
Sources: Charente Libre and Sud Ouest
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