| 17/01/00 |
KPC, an investment group led by Gary Klesch, an
American based in London, and in which a French insurance company has interest, wins a
long and protracted battle for the A. Hardy company, makers of Cognacs,
brandy and Pineau des Charentes with strong selling presence in USA, Scandinavia
(especially in Norway) as well as in Europe. The final decision of the newly reconstituted
Tribunal du Commerce in Cognac was welcomed by the management and the
employees of the company. Was it necessary to go through the 12 months of political
manipulations, that in the end cost Gerald de Ramefort, his presidency of
the Tribunal du Commerce, replacement of 5 judges, business losses as yet to be
calculated? Of course not, but the old stubborn Cognac guard is only now in a slow retreat
after precipitating the current Cognac crises - stock it up, there will be a shortage was
their cry of late 80s. You can still hear them, 10 years later, repeating the same
nonsense. For A. Hardy Company a new beginning, a bright future but let us not forget what
brought this situation in the first place. So, we love the winner and wish that they cut
the costs, outsource most of their non-essential work, reduce number of products, re-think
their packaging, concentrate on the their prime markets and tread gently in Asia. The team
is there and with a bit of tweaking, the Company will be a big winner. |
| 17/01/00 |
On 10 January 2000, the second largest Swedish newspaper, Göteborgs
Posten, has published an article about Cognac quoting several
known personalities from the region; Antoine Braastad, Jerome
Royer, François Moines, Serge Arrau. The main points in the article are: -
bulging inventories of Cognac in the producers chais, nobody has any solution to the
inventory problem, neither the producers, nor the big Cognac houses and
definitely not the BNIC, the article quotes 3.5 million hectoliters AP
which is aging in the warehouses of the big producers, which is a record. Tiffon,
alone has an inventory equivalent of some 20 million bottles alone. (Tiffon is an
important producer for a Swedish market as it supplies their biggest selling product under
the label of Gröndstedt - Torula News) - Scandinavia drinks more and more Cognac in
higher price brackets, a trend not seen elsewhere in the world. Asian markets are slowly
recovering but the XO bottle at a dinner is a rarity nowadays. - Systembolaget, a
government monopoly that controls all of the alcohol stores in Sweden sold 445000 liters
of Cognac in 1999. (The population of Sweden is about 10 million - Torula News) - Jerome
Royer of Louis Royer is quoted: "Late 1980s was a Russian roulette. We
mishandled the riches. Later on he adds: We must fit in. Good Cognac is sold Cognac, Not
everyone agrees that competing with whisky is a good thing for Cognac as Cognac is at risk
destroying its own image." - François Moines of Freres Moines says:
"All producers are in agreement that a lot of vineyards should be removed - but, of
course, not mine but my neighbors." - To add to the current misery of the producers,
the local banks are beginning to sell their customers Cognac stock which they took when
the producers defaulted on their loans. This, drives the price down, significantly, as
well. - In the middle of this, the BNIC is trying to find new channels for Cognac sales.
In an expensive ad campaign BNIC recommends mixing Cognac with different items; ice cubes,
water, tonic, juices etc. - The female bartender at the Cognac Cafe in
Cognac, has been showing off with a great vigor for such mixings. In front of the Cognac
Cafe there is also an ad for X.O. Beer. An advice from the Cognac Cafe bartender:
"Cognac image must be younger." And many around her bar agreed with her praising
new Cognac based cocktails. - The challenge for the industry is how to protect what Cognac
has developed for many decades - a luxury brand image. - Serge Arrau of
La Cognathèque in Cognac is very upset today. He says that what is happening today is
monumental stupidity! "My customers are proud in knowing good Cognacs warmed in their
hands - and now they see posters with Cognac on the rocks. BNIC is on the way to turn
appreciation's of Cognac upside down. He finally adds: It would be better if all of the
Cognac producers got together to create a new beverage which could be sold under a new
name." - All the actors in the Cognac drama are
in agreement that it is impossible for all to agree. Some hope, in their desperation, that
competing spirits made from grain should be hit by a run of bad publicity. A real whisky
scandal, that uses GM grain should play into those dreaming Cognac producers hands. While
waiting for this miracle, Cognac producers continue to harvest and the big Cognac houses
continue to stock. A fair assessment of the
situation from a Swedish journalist point of view. BNIC Communication Department
that has always ignored Scandinavia ("No film festivals" says our correspondent
in Göteborg) should at least attempt to be more visible in that part of Europe. The
Swedish article is not doing the Cognac industry any good!!! |
| 15/01/00 |
This week the Cognac industry was subjected to another
embarrassing performance by the BNIC. This time, it was a matter of
terminating 16 jobs. Not really 16 if you do your math right but 10. Yes, BNIC is
dismissing 16 but than employs 6 new ones. Figure that one!!! Led by Alain
Philippe, Executive Director and Jeanine Bretagne, Secretary of
Employees Council, we were subjected to a spectacle of a complaining group of
schoolchildren that have not realized what is wrong. In no reports, we have seen a word of
the fact that 97 present employees have done absolutely nothing for the Cognac industry
other than spend their money (statistics will show a 50% market loss of 10 years), new
rules and regulations that the BNIC bureaucrats pile on the unsuspecting producers have
nothing to do with product sales or its quality, the determined sponsorship of odd ball
Film Festivals, as an example, is uncalled for under present financial situation in the
industry, the BNIC has no registry of all Cognac produced by name, by label; BNIC has not
offered a plan of how to lower present inventories of Cognac, there is no plan how to
sell, how to promote for a simple reason there is not a single person at BNIC who has any
idea of what is going in the world-wide markets. ...and, of course, we could go on
... Let us say, that in September 99 we suggested eliminating half of the employees, We
talked to many producers and not a single one could tell us that they will miss a single
service from the BNIC. 16 poor and mismanaged employees will not know until 3 February.
But, according to our sources, a list of 16 (originally 25) existed since 15 December 99.
Why to keep prolonging this agony? Nowhere within the industry we found any sympathy for
the BNIC and this public cry for pity is ridiculous. So, we propose to the Cognac industry
that the time has come to replace all of the management team of BNIC. When Gerard
Pierrone, Director responsible for computing, statistics etc. left recently nothing
changed, no one really noticed. When Alain Jougla, Director, Legal left recently nothing
really changed. And one last comment; why not to outsource computing (we have had email
chats about it with the BNIC) and we are more than ever convinced outsourcing is the way
to go. It saves money, Mr. Philippe. |
| 12/01/00 |
This market was for century good to the Cognac industry,
regardless if the Tsar was in charge, Communists or a transition group. When the 26 March
Presidential election in Russia confirms Vladimir Putin as the new President, we expect a
rapid opening of the markets which will include new opportunities for Cognac.
In the meantime, get ready by clicking www.pravitelstvo.gov.ru/english/
to read a sobering assessment of the Russian market, among other items, by its future
President. |
| 11/01/00 |
While the BNIC is still struggling with its
mission, with number of its unproductive employees and in general with its role in the Cognac
industry, a little noticed discussion is taking place within the BNIC walls. How
to invent more bureaucracy but this time under the pretext of quality control of the
product - Quality Idea, we called it. The proposal is to create new
categories (qualities) of Cognac with labels like VS grand cru,
VSOP grand cru, XO grand cru in addition to VS, VSOP and
XO existing labels. All Grande Champagne cru products
will retain its premier grand cru identification. All other crus, and we
assume blends, will have a choice to use grands cru identification, as
well. This new idea about quality will take effect with production 2000 for availability
to consumers in year 2003. And, of course, there will be grandfather clauses and exception
to this new idea making it all just another bureaucracy layer on the top of the present
one. Today, there is no depository of Cognac labels at BNIC nor is there
a mechanism of approving them. The guidelines of what goes on the label are there but,
again, they are just guidelines. So, in the end BNIC has no mechanism to enforce neither
the new nor the old labels. Two important items are forgotten; BNIC and its product
tasters are incapable of identifying bad products nor forcing them from the market - under
the new Quality Idea this will continue. Second point is that the BNIC is
incapable of promoting Cognac (as proven for the past 10 years at least) thus it is
incapable of explaining this new nomenclature of Cognac to the buying public. Another
disaster in making! |
| 10/01/00 |
As the electricity slowly returns to the Cognac region
(though Torula News is still without it) an early talk of extending the distillation
period past 31 March proved to be premature. The industry will simply distill less,
smaller producers will outsource their distilling or simply buy eaux-de-vie from other
sources like Reunis. With the unstable 1999 wine, natural disaster of 27
December and failure of the BNIC promotion campaign in France and
elsewhere, many Cognac producers are taking an easy and safer way out of
production, and supply and demand problems. What will this do to the quality of the
product??? |
| 10/01/00 |
All Cognac industry awaits decision of the
Tribunal du Commerce on Cognac Hardy disposition. In the 12 months saga
of political missteps, judicial errors and lack of electricity, the company managed to
survive and fulfill orders. Either on the 14 or 21st of January the final decision will be
known; KCP (the highest bidder but with an American involved, which makes
the Cognac industry conservatives very nervous)), Eymard-Croizet (a bid
nicknamed a "F20 million family revenge" as the other side of Hardy family is
involved in it, CCG (hard to understand and even harder to justify this
bid) and Vinexport (a determined low bidder or just might be the one who
has got the valuation right). Employee council at Cognac Hardy after several negotiating
sessions has carefully decided to support the highest bidder. In the end, we believe, it
will be between KCP and Vinexport; the highest and the lowest bidder. Decision, please!!! |
| 10/01/00 |
At www.luxuryfinder.com
you can find many luxury items including champagne and scotch but no Cognac.
Other luxury item sites worth visiting are: www.lvmh.fr, www.bulgari.com and for upscale merchandising www.sephora.com. |
| 07/01/00 |
December 1999 was a record month not only for Dow Jones, NASDAQ and CAC-40
but also for TWIX (Torula Weekly
IndeX of Cognac producing spirits companies) and our web sites. We have recorded
35823 visitors in December and a 53% increase in the total visitors between 1998 and 1999. |
| 06/01/00 |
Visit www.webbar.fr on the web
and in person in Paris; great place, great idea!!! |
| 05/01/00 |
Click here: http://auctions.bidz.com/Scripts/ListingInfo.asp?LotNo=6064323
and bid!!! |
| 05/01/00 |
Adrien Grande Champagne from Domaine P. Frapin was
our last new Cognac that we tried to taste in the old Millennium. But when we called
0326569956, as the ad in Le Figaro indicated on the 31/12/99, there was no answer. We will
try again, this Millennium. |
| 04/01/00 |
Our web sites, our servers and all our remote locations have survived Y2K
without a problem. However, the clock that is part of Year 2000 presentation of the Cognac
VSOP Prince Hubert de Polignac translated analog time of 13:16 to a digital
reading of 208 minutes and 01 seconds on its display. But the product is still drinkable
and the bottle might be a collectors item. (Sud-Ouest03/01/00) |
| 04/01/00 |
While the storm came and passed leaving behind enormous damage, the 3 weeks
old oil disaster (tanker Erika broke in bad weather off the coast of Brittany) has
now landed permanently at the Ille de Re destroying wild life, beaches
and oyster and mussels farms. This was avoidable, if the French government had reacted
quickly and decisively at the beginning of the accident. But like the storm in the Cognac
region demonstrated, French emergency services are incapable of reacting quick. 8
days after the storm several Cognac producers are still without
electricity unable to continue or in many cases, unable to start distillation. Where
there is power, it is not enough to run a bottling plant, for example as experienced today
in the town of Cognac. |
| 04/01/00 |
We are several hours late. We apologize. At 17.13 on Monday 27/12/99 the
lights went out. Winds hit 200+ km/hour and the Cognac region like the
rest of South West France faced a huge natural disaster; no electricity, no phones, no
water, torn roofs, silent alambics. We assemble and edit Torula News 18 km north of the
town of Cognac, 84 km east of La Rochelle and 36 km west of Angouleme. In another words,
we are in the center of the Cognac region with no electricity, no water, no phones and no
roof. But, courtesy of our neighbors, Jean- Michel Baussay who extended his electrical
line and Nathalie who lend us her phone lines (our portable phone network accepts only
emergency calls) we are able to update Torula News. Thank you. |
| 01/01/00 |
Torula News correspondents have created a Cognac Calendar; a
different cognac for each day of the year. Print January 2000
calendar and enjoy it. |
| 01/01/00 |
To celebrate the beginning of year
2000, we offer you the largest selection of Cognac
cocktails (an other goodies) on the Internet. Our
correspondents donated their favorite recipes, Claire Coates of BNIC and Pierre
Forgeron of Nuit de Cognac contributed as well. |
