Cognac "Elegance" from Paul Giraud
8 septembre 2004
The producer Paul Giraud (Bouteville, Charente) has launched the cognac "Elegance", recommended for the aperitif.

Rémy-Martin : new director general
8 septembre 2004
Jean-Baptiste Maugars is to become the director general of the Rémy-Martin cognac house. He replaces Jean-Pierre Lacarrière who takes charge of relations between Rémy-Martin and the BNIC (cognac national trade office) of which he is president.

Pineau riding high on new advertising
31 août 2004
Sales of pineau reached 14,950 million bottles in 2004 compared to 10,500 million in 1996, a rise of 42.5% over eight years. Advertising, with a budget of one million euros, is contributing to these good results. 3,750 million bottles are exported. The leading importer is Belgium, where the Comité du Pineau is organizing a promotional event on 19 September in Brussels. In addition, the Comité du Pineau and the ministry of Finance are continuing their discussions concerning taxes on liqueur wines. The producers are still protesting against the tax which they have not paid since 2001. They are calling for aids and for their case to be heard by the European authorities.

To cut or not to cut ?
31 août 2004
In the wine growing fraternity, some are in favor of cutting the grapes in order to remove the excess production and guarantee the quality of the vins de pay. Others, however, are not convinced by this practice which they say ìmakes the remaining grapes bigger and does not necessarily improve the quality.

2004 harvest looking good
31 août 2004
The 2004 harvest may provide Charente wine growers with 8.2 million hectoliters of white wine for transformation into cognac.

New threats for the vines
31 août 2004
New vine diseases have appeared, for which there is currently no known treatment. They include eutypiosis (caused by a fungus), esca and black dead arm. The use of sodium arsenite protected the vines against the last two diseases but its ban in November 2001 has led to the reappearance of these diseases.

New director for Courvoisier
31 août 2004
Philippe Treutenaere, the CEO of Courvoisier cognac, is due to leave his post in September as a result of a reorganization led by Allied Domecq, owners of Courvoisier. The French units of Allied Domecq are to be brought together in a division whose headquarters will be in Madrid under the direction of a Spaniard. Jean-Marc Olivier, currently cellar master at Courvoisier, should become director general while Philippe Treutenaere should be appointed at the head of Allied Distillers Limited in Glasgow.

Cognac and cigars
25 août 2004
The review "Cigares, spirits & Co", devotes three pages of its August-September issue to the Ecomusée du Migron, dedicated to the "inevitable alliance" between cigars and cognac.

The Château de l’Yeuse honored in the press
25 août 2004
The review "Cigares, spirits & Co", devotes seven pages of its August-September issue to the Château de l’Yeuse, the prestigious Cognac establishment.

A Lithuanian crazy about cognac
25 août 2004
Juozas Kabasinskas, an international financial consultant based in Vilnius, is a lover of cognac. As a result of his passion, he has made numerous trips between Lithuania and the town of Cognac and had his automobile registered with the name "COGNAC". More seriously, Juozas Kabasinskas intends to write a "reference book" on cognac and the people in the industry. For the last eight months he has spent his time combing the cognac production houses and brokerages. He has already visited 72 and hopes to publish his book next winter. He also hopes to open a cognac lovers’ club in Vilnius.