EXQUISITE COGNACS SUCH AS COMANDON OR BISQUIT, AND VINTAGE COGNACS LIKE FROM 1822 WILL BE AUCTIONED IN PARIS NEXT WEEK

Maître Christophe MOREL from Sarl Christophe MOREL will auction a list of most sought after wine and spirits next week in Paris (Tuesday, December 10 2013 at 2:00 PM in Drouot Richelieu).

This public auction will include a list of rare wines but also an exquisite selection of rare cognacs including: Cognac Comandon Trois Etoiles from the 50s, Cognac Grande Champagne Héritiers Marquis de Lep from the 19th century, Cognac Bisquit Dubouche Trois Etoiles from the 50s, Cognac Grande Fine champagne Grande réserve CAVO from 1822, with the Coats of Arms of Rothschild (avec les armoiries des Rothschild à 4 branches sur l'étiquette), etc.

Sarl Christophe MOREL Auction at Drouot Richelieu 2013

This auction will include very desirable wines such as: Mouton Rothschild 1959 Pauillac, Château Talbot 1961 Saint Julien, Château Latour 1929 Pauillac 1st Grand Cru, Château Cheval Blanc 1967 St Emilion 1st Grand Cru, Château Beau Site 1964 Saint Estèphe, Château La Fleur 1966 Pomerol, Mouton Rothschild 1955 Pauillac, Château Mauras 1970 Sauternes, Château d'Yquem 1901 Sauternes, Mouton Rothschild 1947 Pauillac Magnum, Château Cheval Blanc 1964 Saint Emilion 1st Grand Cru, Château Marquis de St Estephe 1971, etc.

Sarl Christophe MOREL Auction at Drouot Richelieu 2013

SALE VENUE: 

• DROUOT RICHELIEU
  9 rue Drouot
  75009 Paris

EXHIBITIONS :

• Monday, December 9 2013 from 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM : Drouot Richelieu, salle 8.

Sources: Interencheres for Maître Christophe MOREL from Sarl Christophe MOREL

DISTELL CHINA IS FOCUSING ON COGNAC BISQUIT AND AMARULA FIRST

South African wine and spirits producer Distell has expanded its global presence with the acquisition of a 60% share in fast-growing Chinese liquor distribution firm CJ Wines & Spirits.

Amarula Cream and Cognac Bisquit from South African Spirit Company Distell

CJ Wines & Spirits is based in Zhongshan in the Pearl Valley Delta of Guandong province in southeast China and has operations in Hong Kong, Macau and mainland China.

The new venture - now trading as Distell China - is headed by managing director Rody Wong, who previously ran CJ Wines & Spirits.

Wong has established a strong support base for cognac brand Bisquit that Distell bought in 2009.

"The partnership with Distell creates the opportunity to accelerate the excellent progress achieved thus far with two of the company’s major brands Bisquit and Amarula," Wong said in a statement.

Wong said that Distell China’s focus will be on building the presence of Bisquit in the southern part of the country initially. South China is referred to as the country’s "cognac belt" as this is where most cognac is consumed.

The Far East is now the world's biggest importer of cognac, with turnover exceeding US$1.25-billion.

"CJ’s conversancy with the cognac market is an important asset, and we plan to bring this expertise in marketing to retail and on-consumption channels, to Amarula, which is currently one of the fastest-growing spirits brands worldwide," Wong said.

According to Distell Group managing director Jan Scannell, the plan is to capitalise on the strong market potential of South China and then address markets such as Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu.

"The new venture will carry spirits and wines from around the world, and that obviously gives us the scope to explore avenues for some of our other brands," he said.

He added that the priority for Distell China was to focus on Bisquit and Amarula before considering other brands within the company’s portfolio for distribution.

Source: SouthAfrica.info

New Brands, Revived Brands and The Angry Birds!

There are over 1000 brands of Cognac that have been created since the foundation of cognac about 500 years ago. There are about 400 brands still existing and many of these brands have existed for a long time, and even they have been in the same families for centuries.

Recently, new brands have come up. The main reason: the democratization of cognac, that is cognac is not anymore just an elitist old man’s drink, but now an artistic, entertaining, hype, and gucci-gucci spirit worldwide. The ascension and development of cognac brands have significantly changed and perhaps insidiously cognac is becoming a mass-marketed product like yogurt and detergent with I call the "deluxury concept".

The good news is that cognac is still made the ‘good old way’. Or at least pretty much. It is not hand picked anymore ... but this is OK. Distillation in pot stills are now longer using manual mechanism and wood or coal but computerized automated systems ... but this is OK too. Ugni blanc grapes are used 99.99% of the times instead of folle blanche or colombard ... not such a big deal.  Vineyards are using modern pesticides, herbicides, and so called proven chemicals ... Not too sure of this one. Aging, storing, selection of wood barrels, assembling, bottling, ... are still pretty much the same.

So what is so different now? A good deal of attention has been on branding & rebranding, positioning and else. Marketing is muscling in!

Five Basic Brand Strategies

1)  Therefore, new brands have been created: Cognac Alizé, Cognac Conjure... even Cognac Gucci! But more significantly, a huge number of brand extension have been launched: Hennessy Black, Remy Red, ... and Courvoisier Rose.

2)  Old brands have been revived: Bisquit, Comandon, ... and recently Mestreau from Cognac Grosperrin.

The cognac industry has seen some product line extensions with the creation of mixed drinks based on cognacs: Hpnotiq, Meukow Vanilla, ... and more recently Courvoisier Rosé.

3)  And in some clever way the know-how nested in the region of Cognac has revealed brilliant creations and business ventures using that experience for the benefits of new products: Grey Goose Vodka, Ciroc Vodka, Citadelle Gin, ... and more recently Monteru Single Brandy.

4)  Certain brands have even developped  'brand extensions' with for instance Courvoisier Edition Imperiale perfume.

Courvoisier Edition Imperiale Perfume

5) I leave you to guess what the ‘Angry birds’ could be!

angry-birds