On the occasion of the arrival of Grosperrin cognacs on Rhum Attitude, we went to Charente-Maritime, to Saintes, where Guilhem Grosperrin opened the doors of his business to us. There we discovered a profession, at the heart of a fascinating world, rich in history and traditions.
The history of Grosperrin cognacs
The history of the Grosperrin house dates back to the 1980s. Guilhem's father, Jean, was a traveling distiller in Lorraine. Coming from the agricultural world, this craftsman later joined the Maresté company, a boilermaker and distiller in the Cognac region . In 1991, a major frost damaged the region's production. This caused a sudden rise in the price of cognac, immediately followed by an equally sudden drop, due to the Japanese crisis.
Until then, this country was the leading market for cognac. The 1989-1990 financial year had broken all export records. As a result, and in anticipation of this huge success, producers had stockpiled a lot, thus taking significant risks. When a speculative bubble burst in Japan , the purchasing power of spirits lovers suffered a dizzying drop. Producers found themselves with huge stocks that were no longer sold. When we know that debts to banks were indexed to the value of these stocks, we understand that this crisis led to the bankruptcy of many traders and distillers.
Thus began the long cognac crisis, which lasted more than twenty years. Even today, cognac is very dependent on the state of world trade. Indeed, more than 95% of production is exported .
In the context of the time , Jean Grosperrin quickly understood that he would no longer be able to make a living from his profession as a distiller. He therefore decided to obtain his diploma as a country broker. An intermediary between winegrowers and merchants, he travelled the region in search of samples, looking for batches of brandy that would suit his clients. The latter were primarily looking for brandies of a certain vintage, with a certain age.
Cognac age accounts
Let's take this opportunity to take a quick look at how age calculations are established in cognac:
The distillation period begins in mid-November and extends until the end of March. During this period, the brandy that comes out of the still has an age count of 00. It will only take its age count of 0 on April 1 , count 1 the following year, and so on. Thus, for example, a brandy distilled on December 1, 2021 will be "count 2" in April 2024 , with in reality 2 years and 4 months of aging. The s ecurity monitoring of age accounts stops at 10. But of course we can have spirits of 20, 25, 50 years and more…
L et's pick up the story of the Grosperrin house where we left off, in the slump of the 1990s. The crisis is getting worse and worse, the market is as if blocked. Production is still too high compared to demand. A policy of bonuses for the uprooting of vines is even put in place, and the cellars are still full to the brim with unsold stocks.
In 1992, Jean Grosperrin created his brokerage company and sold lots to traders . He then had the idea of bottling himself, in a very artisanal way. In 1999, he bought a few barrels from one of his suppliers, the Vallein Tercinier company , which allowed him to get his foot in the door. Success was there, and he then bought from other producers. Then he toured wine merchants throughout France to sell his bottlings.
His son Guilhem joined him in the early 2000s, while continuing his studies at the same time. Prices are still extremely low. A hectolitre of pure young alcohol "compte 10" sells for around €850, while a "compte 00" fresh from the still costs €2,200 today in Grande Champagne, a historically high price on the secondary market .
A family story from the beginning
Unfortunately, in 2003, Jean's illness no longer allowed him to work, and the company was put on standby. Guilhem took over the business in 2004. He was then one of the only young people in the region to take up this profession. The world of cognac brokers struggled to survive on the 2% commission they received on each transaction.
So how do you get the sector going again and boost it? The decision was made to go back on the road, to meet wine merchants. Guilhem Grosperrin then travelled the length and breadth of France for 10 years. He visited around thirty countries each year. This allowed him to exchange a lot, and to make some good sales that allowed him to finance new interesting purchases. In 2007, he extended his activity to the sale of bulk goods to merchants.
The need for workspace gave rise to the project for the current site in Saintes in 2008, a project that would come to fruition in 2012. It was in this same year, 2008, that cognac experienced a serious upturn, unfortunately immediately halted in its flight by the subprime crisis. In 2012, a new crisis occurred, when it was discovered that certain cognac spirits contained worrying levels of phthalates . Many orders were blocked, particularly with Asia, and prices fell again.
The renaissance of cognac
And then in 2013, thanks in part to the end of the uprooting policy, production returned to adequate levels. The market finally stabilized . Good capital gains were naturally made on the stocks acquired in the meantime . A good sale in bottles to China in 2015 once again allowed for good purchases. The improvement was definitely there.
All the lights are green: the United States market is on the rise. The big cognac houses are consolidating the operations carried out a few years earlier with rappers , representatives of a black American youth who have adopted cognac as a marker of identity . This phenomenon is quickly finding its equivalent in Mexico, Canada, Africa…
On the European side , the decline is slowing down. International success is spilling over into France, into the world of nightclubs, cocktails, and spirits lovers. The clientele and consumption patterns have changed, and cognac knows how to take advantage of this.
The Russian market is experiencing a nice rise, and in China, Hong Kong and Singapore, it is a real explosion.
This revival is naturally accompanied by enormous pressure on production, and prices are reaching new heights. A production frenzy follows, and vines are replanted as much as possible . Around 2,500 hectares per year are planned between 2021 and 2027 .
The unique success of cognac in the United States
Let's go back for a moment to the strange cohabitation between the "bling bling" of American rappers and our very traditional spirit from the French terroir. This phenomenon might seem strange, and one could imagine a certain outrage experienced by the artisan distillers. However, this is not the case, and the very history of cognac helps explain it.
This type of gap is something the region is used to. Historically, the wine world is different from that of the merchants. The latter are of Anglo-Saxon, Nordic, Scandinavian, Protestant origin. The winegrowers , for their part, come from a Catholic heritage , with a very strong Roman peasant anchorage in the region.
English merchants are merchants who got close to the raw material. Originally wine merchants, they then became interested in cognac, which appeared at the turn of the 17th century . They bought from intermediaries, then finally directly from distillers . They settled little by little , founding a family on the spot , which gave rise to the great cognac houses. All the great merchants today are thus of foreign origin: M artell, Courvoisier , Delamain (England), Hennessy (Ireland), Bache Gabrielsen (Norway), Godet (Holland) …
The Cognac region, almost an English enclave…
From the beginning, and as today, the domestic market of these great brands of Cognac was not France . We can compare this phenomenon to that of Port or Madeira wines , which also share the same logistical organizations ; a mark of the efficient, " English " way of doing things , which in a certain way differentiates the international success of Cognac from that of Armagnac .
Even today, the merchant who goes to the producer is in some way "the Protestant who goes to the Catholic ", even if these religious considerations are now outdated. There is still this mixture of incomprehension and mutual respect , of two worlds that need each other. So " bling bling" and cognac, that surprises, but winegrowers and distillers are used to these oddities. They are no longer surprised (" as long as they buy!" ).
On this subject, know that rapper JayZ's cognac , " D'Ussé ", has become the 5th brand in the world of cognac in the space of 10 years!
In the rest of this article , you will learn more about the job of selector, cellar master, and it is just as exciting!
Thank you for this reading