Improved rating for LVMH
14 mai 2007
Standard and Poor has raised the long term debt rating of the French luxury goods company LVMH (Hennessy cognacs) from BBB+ to A-. First quarter turnover at LVMH has risen by 13% in annual terms.

Chill wind at L&L
14 mai 2007
The commercial court in Cognac has appointed an administrator to run the L&L company (Alizé cognac-based cocktail). The decision follows action brought by L&L’s partner, the American Kopf family.

Cognac : over 600,000 hectoliters distilled
11 mai 2007
This year wine growers in the Charente region distilled a little over 600,000 hl of pure alcohol, exceeding the scheduled quota of 588,000 hl by 12,000 hl. Yet there will be no excess distillation because total outputs of cognac have risen from +5 to +7%. The QNV is expected to exceed 9 this year, compared to 8.35 hl of pure alcohol per hectare in 2006.

National eaux-de-vie commission
10 mai 2007
Jean-Pierre Lacarrière, the president of the Bnic, has just taken over the presidency of the national commission for eaux-de-vie.

Unicognac bottling in new facilities
7 mai 2007
Unicognac has developed a new 5,200 m² bottling site in the activity park at Saint-Germain-de-Lusignan which meets the new high environmental quality norms (4.5 million euros). It will be able to produce 5 million bottles each year with 49 employees.

Pernod-Ricard forging ahead
7 mai 2007
Growth has risen sharply at Pernod-Ricard (+6.8% in the third quarter of fiscal 2006-2007 and +12.2% over a year on comparable basis terms), thanks notably to spirits (Martell and Bisquit cognacs) with +12.9%.

Winegrowers’ union general assembly
7 mai 2007
The winegrowers’ union is holding its general assembly on 22 May in the presence of Yves Benard, the president of the National committee for wines and eaux-de-vie and other alcoholic drinks and of the Institut national de l’appellation d’origine.

Etapes du Cognac
4 mai 2007
The association Les Etapes du Cognac has a deficit of 32,994 euros for a total budget of 176,281 euros. An audit is to be carried out to measure more clearly the impact of the tourist network.

Death of Patrick Firino-Martell
4 mai 2007
P. Firino-Martell, the former president of the board of directors at Martell, died on Monday at the age of 62.

Doubts at the Bnic
27 avril 2007
The Bnic professional trade organization has expressed doubts concerning the purchase of about a dozen vineyards by Russians. These operations may be a cover to pass off brandies labeled as cognac in Russia.