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Torula News

a news service for Cognac and the region

December 1999

24/12/99 The Torula News correspondents around the world wish you a Happy Holidays and share with you the Cognacs they will enjoy this holiday period:

24/12 Mac in La Pinelle, France celebrates the holiday season with Paul Giraud Très Rare, Richard in Los Angeles, USA celebrates with Frapin Extra

25/12 John in Inverness, Scotland spreads the warmth with Michel Forgeron Hors d’Age, Martine celebrates with Frapin Château Fontpinot

26/12 Charlotte in New Jersey, USA celebrates with Gautier Madame France, Sharon in Paris with Jean Dubiny Très Vieille

27/12 Geordi in London, England shares the holiday spirit with Leopold Gourmel Age de Epices

28/12 Gorgen in Göteborg, Sweden enjoys A. Hardy XO, Reidar in Jönkoping, Sweden drinks Delamain Famille de la Reserve

29/12 Mya in San Francisco, California, USA drinks Ragnaud-Sabourin Fontvieille, Alexandra in London, England shares the holiday joy with Drouet Top2000

30/12 Olga and Philip in Moscow, Russia warm up with A. de Fussigny Ebony Blend, Eric in New Hampshire, USA enjoys André Petit XO Extra

31/12 Natsuko in Tokyo celebrates with Hennessy XO Grande Champagne and Mac in Paris celebrates with 1875 Rouyer Guillet but 50+ Norwegians rent Bar 1 in Oslo for the night to celebrate top of the quality Cognacs including Bertelson XO.

We wish all of you Happy Holidays!!! Torula News will be back on Monday, 3 January 2000.

24/12/99 Le Cognac en Fêtes! organized by the Bouilleurs de Cru de la Région d'Appellation Cognac comes to a rousing year-end finale on Sunday, the 26th of December. All roads lead to 500+ distillers who have opened their gates to the public.
24/12/99 Cognac and Pineau des Charnetes of Jacques Esteve and the family is now on the Internet.
24/12/99 New web site on Armagnac can be found at www.armagnac.org
23/12/99 In a local, public auction, in the town of Cognac, some surprising prices were recorded last week; Hennessy XO at FRF300, Larsen Très Vieille Réserve in a Baccarat carafe FRF750, FRF450 for Martell Extra, Frapin VSOP at FRF180. These results, in a small way, contradict efforts of the producers to keep raising Cognac prices. (20/12/99Sud-Ouest)
22/12/99 After a year characterized by no real accomplishments (except for a new XO age definition to be effective in 2003) but lots of talk, the BNIC is taking a holiday break. While everyone in the industry has laid off people, the 97 strong bureaucrats are refusing to face reality. The talk now is about cutting 25 positions - too late, too little but still better than nothing. On the topic that is close to our heart, the quality, the BNIC proposes yet another gimmicky re-labeling to take effect in 2003. On the subject of promotions, we quote Le Paysan (a local monthly magazine) October 1999 Cognac export volume statistics: USA +2.8%, Hong Kong +7.6%, Taiwan +83.3%, Holland +1.7% and Norway +15.5%. On the negative side are UK -7.6%, Japan -22.1%, Germany -0.3%, Singapore -6.1%, Finland -1.4%. France registered +0.2% increase between October '98 and '99. and yet, the promotion program proposed by the BNIC for the year 2000 stubbornly continues along the same ineffective lines of the past several years. With the rumored involvement of the Scotch Whisky Industry in Armagnac, how long will it be when they will get active in the Cognac industry?
22/12/99 Led by Catherine Mattei of their PR department, Cognac Courvoisier, a Jarnac based Cognac house is putting an extra effort with local promotions around this holiday season.
21/12/99 Planet Vins & Spiritueux issue No.3 arrived on the stands without an XO in its tittle putting a further distance from its humble origins within the Cognac region. Slick, full of ads and skimpy content with an outstanding interview with J-P Lafragette (of L&L) being an exception. A glossy mag that does nothing for Cognac except carrying a double spread ad from the BNIC and a few other Cognac ads.
20/12/99 Le Cognac en Fêtes! organized by the Bouilleurs de Cru de la Région d'Appellation Cognac seen another successful weekend. Many visitors and many repeats and for the first time an organized group (Camping-Cars) that rented buses to get its members to Martell, Tesseron, Raffaux, Dubiny and others. Our correspondent stopped by 14 distillers and discovered a very good, small producer in Borderies cru - Paul (father) and Michel (son) Tallon. At Stephanie and Patrick Drouet, big celebration was underway as it was the first "Porte Ouverte" for Mathilde, their 15days old daughter (already nicknamed Waltzing Mathilda) and the introduction of Pineau Blanc X'cep Nº1 with 1000 numbered bottles bottled on 25/11/99 as well as biblically named vin de pays Charentais Rouge Cabernet '98 Verbe. Distillers are busy but this coming Sunday, the 26th, they open their gates again. And we will be there ...
18/12/99 TWIX - Torula Weekly Index of selected spirits companies passed 90 points fueled primarily by LVMH and RémyCointreau stocks.
16/12/99 Paying attention to the need of visitors to the town of Cognac, the Taverne du Coq d'Or is offering 94 Cognacs from 43 producers. In addition, their friendly manager will help with the tastings and advice by offering 3cl of Cognac in 2 or 3 glasses. Selection is impressive and the prices are reasonable. Click here for their list. And, we hear that the Cognac Cafe is following their example. Finally, a visitor can afford tasting different products at the bar in the town of Cognac.
16/12/99 Etienne Angel from www.cognac-france.com has began cyber-publishing La Petite Semaine de Cognac. Torula News welcomes a friendly competition.
16/12/99 The colorful packaging of the Hennessy VSOP (see our story from yesterday) was created by Gerard Pouves who has done Hennessy Holiday Cards for the past 2 years and now brought the cheers to their packaging. The product is available world-wide but only during the Holiday Season. Why not to keep the color, the brightness and the visual appeal year around?
15/12/99 Led by Gaston de Lagrange VS (Château du Cognac), Camus Neon and Hennessy VSOP, it appears that Cognac producers have realized that color, design and catchy packaging generates sales. Those 3 products in their new, and not necessarily millennium clothes are the stand outs. Gaston de Lagrange packaging was designed by the Optima Agency in Bordeaux and is available in the USA, Canada and France.
14/12/99 RémyCointreau (a parent of Cognac Rémy Martin) shares are moving up. The investors prompted by strong first half results and coverage by CNN's Business Report have bid the shares past F23 on CAC-40 in Paris, yesterday from as low as F12.06 on 26/03. The company attributes its improved performance to the millennium period, Asian recovery and increased sales in the USA through its Maxxium network (Highland Distillers, Jim Beam Brands and RémyCointreau). But to sustain its recovery, Cognac Rémy Martin must do more than rely on RémyRed in the USA, its VSOP workhorse (about 70% of its worldwide sales) and tired qualities like XO, Extra and Louis XIII.
14/12/99 Additional bidders are lining up for the spoils of Cognac A. Hardy;CCG (owners of Meukow, Brugerolle and more), Eymard-Croizet and original two bidders; KCP and a Parisian based wine merchant. In the meantime, Cognac A. Hardy is showing extraordinary resilience under difficult circumstances - it is winning and fulfilling lots of new orders. The newly reconstituted Tribunal du Commerce in Cognac is expected to rule on 7 January 2000.
14/12/99 One of our readers called to agree with us that there is a need for generic Cognac promotion and pointed us to what the sherry industry has been doing recently. In summary;  the sherry people are investing F7.500.000 on a national color press advertising campaign, PR and promotions. We quote: "The objectives of the campaign are to introduce new drinkers to the pleasures of Sherry, to encourage existing drinkers to try more styles and to persuade the lapsed drinkers to return to the delights of one of the world's great wines. This campaign will be seen 18 times by 20 million adults aged 25 plus. This year sees the introduction of 'Style Branding'. etc. etc. " And there are extensive samplings, radio, TV, tastings, trade fair participation and more promotions. And all of this is targeted at one country; England! With no surprise, we noticed no film festivals, no dinners, no Spoleto and no Halloween parties - just plain and simple targeted advertising and promotion effort. Will BNIC learn a trick or two from the Sherry Institute of Spain? But more importantly will the Cognac producers stand up and change the current ineptitude at the BNIC?
13/12/99 French made vodka, Grey Goose beats all other vodkas at the tastings at the Beverage Institute in Chicago. Check www.tastings.com for results. Surprise, surprise!
13/12/99 Recently published book titled Spirits by Alan S. Dikty, editor at the www.tastings.com contains more than 1,000 distilled spirits rated and reviewed in this fact-filled guide that rates both popular and premium spirits. Choose from Brandy, Eau de Vie, and Grappa; Scotch, Irish, New Zealand, and Japanese Whiskies; North American Whiskies; Rum; Tequila and Mezcal; Vodka; Gin; Liqueurs; and Fortified Wines: Madeira, Port, and Sherry. Paperback, 6" x 9 ", 256 pages, published 10/99, $11.96 on www.amazon.com  (save $2.99).
10/12/99 What a week it was! BNIC unveils selective results of the first survey (only in France, only 1202 participants) in 15 years by Osband (i.e. 8% drink it with tonic making CognacTonic promotions for the past couple of years a failure), Alain Philippe refers to 3rd World War on Food Products (i.e. pizza, Cantonese rice, spring rolls) and the need to make Cognac a spirit of the next millennium, Pierre Nouailletas writes about the success of Cognac Long Drink in the USA (a fantasy that have yet to be realized) and no one talks about markets (how to protect existing markets i.e. Scandinavia), about sales (how to increase sales within EC, how to take advantage of recovery in the Asian markets) and about lack of direction (the same failed programs -one glass and now 2 glasses), lack of leadership (i.e. no bold new strategy i.e. like the one at Hennessy, no bold new promotion programs - i.e. like the Neon at Camus) and finally no one talks about quality. Time has come, or maybe it is too late for a reality check within the BNIC and the Cognac industry. We propose words of Montaigne: "The speech I love is a simple, natural speech, the same on paper as in the mouth; a speech succulent and sinewy, brief and compressed, not so much dainty and well combed as vehement and brusque." (IHT10/12/99, Torula News)
09/12/99 Following on Alain Philippe's 3 magic words from the BNIC 1999-00 Promotion meeting in Cognac; 1. Promotion - to do it right you need to present Cognac in generic terms, globally - a product of wine from France, a quality product that can be enjoyed straight, with a mix and is unisex. 2. Protection - on this subject, we suggest that BNIC studies new research that will affect AOC definitions (see Torula News from 6/12/99). Furthermore, it is the Cognac people who are the biggest abusers in this area (especially in South America), though the commercial impact is insignificant. When Armenians, South Americans or Georgians produce brandy and incorrectly call it cognac that is for cultural and linguistic reasons primarily. Protecting Cognac is important but there is no justification to make it a 2nd priority. 3. Knowledge - if anything, this is the key element to any Cognac campaign; educate, educate and educate again. And then promote! The key omission is lack of the word Quality. Finally, as the consumer gets more access to information, more access to products and more ability to choose, it is the quality that will sway their purchasing decision. Clearly, BNIC does not think this to be important! Again, we point to the dramatically dropping sales (Asian crises playing some role in it) in the past several years. They regretfully, parallel the drop in quality of the product. Sometime ago, Claire Coates and her people had a great idea: Les Ambassadeaurs du Cognac. But like so often at the BNIC, the idea got localized, bogged down and too obsessed with whisky. The beauty of this idea was its simplicity; identify restaurants, bars, hotels etc. that offer Cognac. We wrote before, after receiving several emails from many hospitality businesses abroad and in France who wanted to qualify for this recognition, that this is one of the most interesting and potentially important promotion programs for the BNIC. But it died, it disappeared. Let every Cognac producer, every person interested in Cognac identify 10 top places where the product is sold, in France and abroad. Use the www.bnic.fr web site to obtain additional nominations. Let the BNIC set up a small group (it is a good time to include outsiders in this process) that will be responsible for awarding this recognition - Les Ambassadeaurs du Cognac 2000, design a simple but distinguish plaque and forget the "anti-whisky contract" when awarding this recognition - this is about generic promotion of Cognac. Simple, not expensive program and generic! Make it an annual event. Why not?
08/12/99 What any politician, anywhere, likes best  is an audience that does not ask questions, next to lights, cameras and action. Where the message they deliver is slick and makes the audience feel good. The feel good factor must be strong as to erase any desires of knowing "How are we doing?". In the best of these traditions, BNIC has unveiled its new promotion campaign "The mix is in..." as Charente Libre suggested it or as the BNIC tongue-in-cheek words say: "Cognac on ice melts your inhibitions. In French: Le Cognac fait fondre tous les glaçons." The official year 2000 Cognac promotion poster will have 2 whisky glasses with ice (one with a lipstick imprint as to signal that women are also drinking it). This poster will be primarily displayed in the Cognac producing region and Lille, Paris, Nantes and Rennes. No Nice, no Lyon, no Strasbourg, no foreign cities! According to the planning action (which to all but the BNIC indicates future) the world-wide dinners will continue, the film festivals in Murioka and Cognac will continue etc. etc. Bernard Guionnet, President of the BNIC, opened these proceedings and quickly passed the microphone to Alain Philippe, Executive Director who quickly declared: "Promotion, protection and knowledge of Cognac is our global mission. Our objective is to increase the sales of Cognac and make it a spirit of the 3rd millennium." And then, Philippe Trautenaere of Courvoisier who is the President of the Communication Committee at the BNIC announced: "The image of Cognac is good but exclusively as a men's drink and as an alcoholic drink. The budget has tripled in the past 3 years to F25 million. We want to conquer young audience, seduce women and pass an idea of a drink for all times." The 300+ people who attended this meeting left a bit confused. If all is so well, why the consumption of Cognac lost over 50% of the world-wide market share in the past ten years? But, of course no one asked the question, as the same people at the BNIC continue to be responsible for the promotion programs that are poorly designed, narrowly focused and unable to keep up with the fast changing pace of today's consumers. Politicians win again? Well, maybe there is still hope that the dinosaur like BNIC (or as Jacques Berthomeau calls it, a relict of the Vichy period) goes away, gets transformed into an aggressive industry association or just maybe, the quality producers will continue working around it. But it will be much easier and better for all, if BNIC changed its ways and saw the light of the 21st century business where quality, knowledge and service will be the cornerstones of success. Even the best of the politicians get replaced with time.(Charente Libre, Sud-Ouest, Torula News)
06/12/99 Known as the New World's Vatican of viticulture, the oracle of grape-growing, the University of California in Davis trains most of California's winemakers and provides root stock for much of America.  Their geneticist, Carole Meredith has recently introduced a new method of unraveling the grapevine's complex family tree. Simply said, several best known white grapes are not pure strains but hybrids between other varieties. And that send the shock waves into the wine world especially affecting the theory behind France's quality control system, the Appellation d'Origine Controlée. And that, of course affects directly Cognac. This is all about DNA,  grape fingerprinting and correcting years of mistakes. Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay grapes are not pure but are hybrids. This is not an exclusive California research as she works with French (Domaine de Vassal, near Montpelier) and Australian wine centers. There is now a Vitis Microsatelite Consortium that shares results of this research. The impact on the wine (Cognac) business will be significant although once the politicians take over, it might be years before anything is done. In France, for example, there are 872.000 hectares of vineyards as compared to Spain with 1.155.000 and the USA with 315.000. In France there are 450 AOC and VDQS designations and some 149 vins de pays. Cognac producers use AOC classification as well, thus it is now the time to begin working in a constructive fashion to assess and to incorporate the findings of this study. And let's not run to EC, WTO and other bureaucratic organizations in search of delays. It is exactly at such times that a need arises for the strong Université Internationale des Eaux-de-Vie & Boissons Spiritueuses in Segonzac, that BNIC should show its leadership role and Jean-Marc Giradeau of the BNIC needs to adjust his speech. (IHT29/11/99, statistics from ONIVINS, Torula News)
06/12/99 Targeting a different consumer than Cave Particulieres, the Salon Saveurs at the Espace Champeret in Paris had only a few Cognac and Pineau des Charentes producers in the stands (Fouquet Couzin, François Voyer, Bernard Vaudon, Manier and Domaine de Saint Hermine). Representing Armagnac products were Darroze, Auban, Boingeres and  Ryst Dupeyron. Some Cognac producers have presented an impressive range of products, quality and outstanding packaging. It was no surprise that the stand of François Voyer was constantly busy. The best looking and the most topical stand belonged to BNIC which they shared with the CBNews. Using the theme of Women in Cognac, the Communication Department of the BNIC presented a scaled down version of the Cognac Tower with some 50 products. Sonia, Dominique and Cathie of the Magnificent Seven (a CastelTonic group of female Cognac producers from around Chateauneuf) worked hard introducing Cognac to the consumers together with the BNIC personnel. This was an exhibition which required offering something beyond CognacTonic in plastic tall glasses. This was an opportunity to remind consumer that Cognac straight (XO and above) still exists. Newly promoted (i.e. in New York) Cognac Cocktails were only available in print. And finally, this was to be a MagnificentSeven (CastelTonic) exhibition but their badges only said 'Le Cognac". A very well done presence which needed a few adjustments.
06/12/99 At the 21st Salon National des Vins des Caves Particulieres de Paris there were some 1000 wine makers representing every region of France. As the  Cognac is a product of wine, there were also 22 Cognac and Pineau des Charentes producers (Boutinet, Esteve, Bossuet, Arnaud, Collin, Giraud, Leonard, Roy,Thorin,C. Landreau, Begaud, Château Guynot, Gousseland, Cartais-Lamaure, Grateaud, Pelletant, Querron, Pouillox, Couillaud, Simmonot, Tesseron and Vallaeys. Demand was very good but many described a Belgian rush across the border at a similar exhibition in Lille last week as something to see. Among the limited presence of the Armagnac producers were Ladeveze, Lacave, Loss, Auban, De Luze and Faget. The business was quite brisk with many buying more than a bottle. The wine remained to be a case by case purchase item. Last year attendance of 160,000 should easily be bettered based on the Friday afternoon crowds.
04/12/99 Alain Philippe, an Executive Director of the BNIC, has been re-elected for another one year term as the President of the Association of  the French Agriculture and Agrifoods professionals in China. The wine and spirits regions are represented by CIVB (Bordeaux), CIVC (Champagne), BNIC (Cognac) and ONIVINS in this Association. Will this mean improved sales of Cognac in China?.
03/12/99 Latest tasting results of Cognacs Delamain are now available on this web site.
03/12/99 Cognac invades Paris starting today; at the salon Saveurs at the Espace Champeret and at the 21st Salon National des Vins des Caves Particulieres de Paris at Porte Versailles (Hall 7/1). Great opportunity to check the latest offerings from the Cognac producers.
02/12/99 At a recent impromptu tasting of some 21 products, we had the pleasure of enjoying  outstanding quality XO products from Dudognon-Buraud, Bisquit Cohiba, Petit XO Extra, Hine Antique, Merlin Hors Pair and Dubreuil Très Vieille Champagne.
02/12/99 The battle for the Mayor of Cognac has began with an announcement by the incumbent (Francis Hardy) of his choice of the successor (dauphin). But there is still 2 years to go before elections. Well, only in the City of Cognac such things are still possible.
01/12/99 Led by the steady hand, unbelievable eye and the creativity of Régis de Bony of SIG Sandmark, we notice a dramatic increase in very creative engravings of the Cognac bottles. From Rémy Martin' Louis XIII and Léopold Gourmel' Millennium to many surprising bottlings to be introduced early next year. Among them, will be a collaborative effort of a famous Maître d'Chai and his graphically minded wife. He assembled the content, she designed a stunning carafe which SIG Sandmark brilliantly executed. The product will be commercialized early next year at which time we will reveal the product name (a promise is a promise!). But we have taste it, seen the carafe and were very impressed, indeed.
01/12/99 The Cognac Tasting Society have concluded their tasting gatherings for this year with a stunning event at the Cognac Léopold Gourmel. This was the fourth sold out event this year. The participants celebrated with 5 high quality Cognacs: Le P'tit Gourmel, Age de Fruit, Age de Fleurs, Age de Epices and Quintessence.

Torula News Archive for: 1999: November October September August July June  May April March February January    1998         Torula News logo courtesy of Marie Claire Pajeile.

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