Opening of the Institut de la vigne (ITV)
24 juillet 2002
The Institut technique de la vigne et du vin (Vine and wine technical institute) will open its doors in September near the Université des eaux-de-vie in Segonzac. The ITV will lead studies into vines as part of its diversification. At first it will employ an engineer and a technician before increasing its staff numbers from July 2003.

Bisquit merges with Martell
10 juillet 2002
The Bisquit cognac house is merging with Martell which now handles the administrative side of sales by the Rouillac-based brand. The companies are both subsidiaries of the Pernod-Ricard group.

Camus modernizes
3 juillet 2002
The Camus company in Cognac is reaching the end of its modernization plan which was started in 1998 (new machines and reorganization of buildings) and is preparing ISO 9002 certification for its new facilities. Camus sells 20,000 cases each year.

Cognac : one third of sales at Remy-Cointreau
19 juin 2002
At the end of the 2001-2002 fiscal year which saw the arrival of Bols and an increase in turnover of 10 % to 1.02 billion euros, cognac now only represents 37 % of sales for the Remy-Cointreau group (compared to 41 % a year earlier). Turnover in the cognac sector rose by 1.3 % but volumes have dropped to 1.72 million cases sold. Remy-Cointreau is aiming at increasing profits by 50 % over 3 years.

Martell reduces its purchases by half
12 juin 2002
Martell has just announced a 50 % reduction in its purchases of eaux-de-vie this year in order to reduce its overstocks. The Pernod-Ricard group is set to finish its inventory as new owner within a few weeks.

Rémy-Martin
12 juin 2002
Rémy-Martin has presented its new visitors’ trail which has been reorganized since 1 April with the accent on aromas as well as the marriage of food and cognac.

Cognac label goes international
12 juin 2002
Cognac producers, in a meeting of the Forum des appellations historiques (historic labels forum), have appointed a workgroup to lobby the European Commissioner for Trade. The aim is to achieve greater international recognition of labels of origin in order to combat counterfeiting more effectively.

Bouilleurs de cru
12 juin 2002
The AGM of the bouilleurs de cru (private distillers) association has examined the numerous events held to promote cognac. This year alone, twelve events have been organized since January. Promotional sales events in supermarkets are to recommence. An Internet site http://abc-cognac.com has been opened.

Cognac houses in Tokyo
12 juin 2002
Two major houses, Rémy-Martin and Martell, and two smaller ones, Meukow and L&L have participated in Vinexpo Tokyo for three days.

Space and packaging
5 juin 2002
Pierre Brisson, an engineer at the European Space Agency, explained the numerous spin-offs of space experiments in day-to day life during a conference organized by Atlanpack at Hennessy. In addition, the ESA has published a TEST catalog (transferable European space technologies) aimed at companies and several dozen partnership agreements have already been signed. Rémy-Martin has just launched "Remy Space", a cognac in a pressurized container which can be drunk in weightless conditions.