Why do Cognac Houses Have Sub-Brands of Cognac?

In a previous post, I was commenting on how common it is for Cognac Houses to have multiple brands of cognac. In marketing & Brand Management, this is called the multibrands strategy. There are many reasons for this, here are a few:

As the company grows they start being distributed everywhere and they often have exclusive agreement for territories. Along with this, they make new and wider relationships, and they cannot satisfy the opportunities offered through these new distributor relationship in the same areas where they have already agreements. Hence, the need/ opportunity to develop sub-brands.
Also as the business grows they may acquire other houses along the way and this explains the multi-brands.
They may want to cover a wider target market and thus require multiple brands.
It may be a competitiveness plan, such as based on cost leadership. No brands does it all.

This multiple cognac brands situation is not common among the ‘big four’ cognac houses. Or rather not anymore, since Hennessy let go Cognac Davidoff last January 2011 to its competitor Thomas Hine & Co. Davidoff is a brand mostly associated with cigars. Founded by the Davidoff’s family when they moved to Geneva Switzerland in 1911, and brought to an international fame by Zino Davidoff (son).

Cognac Paradis Cognac Davidoff

Davidoff is a brand owned by the The Oettinger Davidoff Group whose business is mostly into cigars and managing licenses of its trade name to specialized producer. The way I look at it it makes more sense that Cognac Davidoff be produced by someone else than Hennessy. Hennessy should not be tied to any other cognac brands and stand alone. They do not need to and they should not. That is not to say that this is also not true for Hine, but it makes more sense that Hine be in charge of this. Hine is a much smaller house of cognac than Hennessy, and it makes more sense that Davidoff be a small special offspring of Hine rather than Hennessy. Hine is such a distinguished cognac House, everything about it is ‘neat’!

www.zinodavidoff.com

The Calvagnacs: The Gallic Version of a Scottish Whisky Tour

For many decades people have visited France for wine tastings or winery tours of Bordeaux, Burgundy, etc...  Now, this has become an international hobby and even the focus of a vacation.

More unique has been people touring spirits production regions, with Scotland and the Bourbon's trail leading the way in this matter. However, I have been meeting or directing an increasing number of people to what I would call "The Calvagnacs' Trail" that is the Gallic version of a Scottish whisky distillery tour = Calvados + Cognac + Armagnac. These trails are often visited separately but I think it makes sense to organize to tour them all at once because of the local proximity of all things in France.  It takes about 10 hours of driving from the north to the south of France. I am not saying you can do the Calvagnacs' trail in one day but you could do it if well organized in 4 days and up.

I am not sure of any enterprises doing this already but it would be a fun thing, as we see people worldwide growing interest for distillation and spirits.

For further reading and entertainment I stumbled across this very nice article in the Washington Post which relates this matter.

Washington Post, Paul Abercrombie, Published: May 4 2012,  "France’s cognac country: So much to drink in". http://tinyurl.com/76hcn32

Cognac Paradis - The Calvagnacs: Calvados Cognac and Armagnac Maps

Sources:
map: www.calvados-lauriston.com
map: www.thecognac.fr
map: www.armagnac.fr

Winners of the 2012 ExperienceCognac.com Essay and Cocktail Competition

I feel I know a lot about cognac. Do you? How would I know?
Let's take the quiz!
The Cognac Trade Board (BNIC) has a cognac website that is outstanding www.cognac.fr
It allows you to learn and better understand the details behind the production, history, mixology, and uniqueness of Cognac. They also offer a quiz to test your knowledge on the subject.
http://www.experiencecognac.com/quiz.php
This quiz had a competition for bartenders only that just ended! The ExperienceCognac.com Essay and Cocktail Competition winners were eligible for the Grand Prize* - a Scholarship to the BAR 5-Day Program and a free trip to the region to experience Cognac in person.

Five bartenders have been chosen to compete in the live finals to be held May 15th in New York City during the Manhattan Cocktail Classic. Benjamin Augustine from Sepia Restaurant in Chicago, Brian Matthys from Le Bernardin in New York City, Joshua Pearson from Sepia Restaurant in Chicago, and Ezra Star from Drink in Boston will compete in a live cocktail competition for a chance to win a trip to Cognac, France to become a certified Cognac Connoisseur.

This competition was designed by six leading spirits and cocktails experts: Steve Olson, Andy Seymour, David Wondrich, F. Paul Pacult, Doug Frost, and Dale DeGroff. Experience Cognac leads bartenders on an exploration of Cognac and also offers tips, cocktail recipes and food pairing suggestions.

Follow and find out more at:
www.experiencecognac.com
www.Facebook.com/CognacManiac
http://goodspiritsnews.wordpress.com

News Video of Jay-Z Releasing His Own Cognac d'Usse with Bacardi

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HprSeU4LQp0&w=560&h=315]

Bacardi Publicly Announced Cognac D'Ussé (Henri D'Ussé) is their New Cognac and is Endorsed by Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter.

When Bacardi announced they were going to launch a cognac sometimes this summer 2012 in the USA (see, March 20, 2012 blog) I was not surprised as I knew they owned Baron Otard Cognac, and I thought this brand should have a bigger share of the American marketplace (still 50% of cognac consumption is in the USA). My surprise was that they stated they would not use the Baron Otard brand but rather create a new one. I really wondered why?

On May 9, 2012 Jay-Z attended a private event in New York to announce his endorsement of Bacardi‘s Cognac D'Ussé, a new VSOP cognac priced at $45 for a 750ML bottle.

Mr Carter also known under Jay-Z is expanding his list of endorsement deals in an attempt to become the first Hip-Hop billionaire. I cannot blame him.

There are five artists on the short list of soon to be billionaire: Sean "Diddy" Combs (rich from Vodka Ciroc, marketing firm, and clothing lines ...), Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter (rich from Rocawear clothing, Live Nation, Reebok, HP, ...), Andre "Dr. Dre" Young (rich from HTC headsets, ...), Bryan "Birdman" Williams (rich from Young Money Cash Money productions with Drake, Nicki Minaj and Lil Wayne, ...) and Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson (rich from VitamineWater ...).

So why have another cognac?

This is Jay-Z 2nd endorsement of spirits, he had previously invested in Scottish vodka Armadale. A Scottish Vodka!! drinkarmadale.com

He is joining Ludacris in this rappers’ cognac venture. Ludacris with Cognac Conjure made a huge impact when endorsing and carrying very personally Conjure everywhere he went www.conjurecognac.com. I remember very well when it happened as I was at Vinexpo 2009 yards away when they got their first launch party. It was let’s say different, different than Cognac Houses tend to do things. I thought to myself “why not!”.

Perhaps Bacardi was inspired by Conjure’s success and the fact the company behind the scene Park Street Imports, LLC is right on their door steps in Miami.

Cognac D'Usse, Henri D'Usse from Bacardi

One will have to explain why they are using the Croix de Lorraine which is (1) the symbol of Lorraine in France which is distinctively unrelated to the Cognac region and whose origin dates back to the French crusaders, (2) it is the symbol of France's resistance during World War II, but also (3) the symbol of the free army forces in WWII and (4) strongly associated with the General De Gaulle, President of France between 1959 to 1969.

My guess is they used this insignia because Jay-Z has long been associated with the champagne called Armand de Brignac also known as Ace of Spades champagne, which is using a very flashy glitzy gold and chrome bottles with a large conspicuous ace of spade logo. Now, with this experience rather successful why not using this concept again and place another big logo on the bottle of cognac, and 'voila' would say a proper Frenchman. They did it and they can do it again. It also reminds me of the type of bling bling hanging around the neck of rappers. I suppose it will do well with the obvious target.

Now, next question is ‘Why calling it Cognac ‘D'Ussé’? Everyone knows that in marketing a new product everything is hard enough that no one wants to had more difficulties as it is, and the number 1 rule is to have a name that the target market can remember, spell, and pronounce. Let’s add identify, relate, etc... Well, I do not think this is the case with ‘D'Ussé’ but perhaps this is the idea, kind of like Häagen-Dazs. I mean who can spell that made up brand owned under a collaboration of Pillsbury and Nestlé. Cognac D’Ussé will also be known under Cognac Henri D’Ussé, however it does not identify a particular living individual. Humm!! The plot thickens.

Perhaps, the inspiration comes from the famous castle from the Loire river called ‘Chateau D'Ussé depicted in Frenchman Charles Perrault’s fairy tales ‘Sleeping Beauty’ made famous by Disney.  www.chateaudusse.fr

I am also getting inspired now myself. Why not a Cognac Cinderella or Cognac Chat Botté? Charles Perrault’s other famous original fairy tails.

Bacardi owns the Baron Otard Cognac brand cellared in the Chateau of Cognac, a 15^th century building overlooking the Charente River in Cognac originally purchased by Baron Otard in 1796 and previous home of Francois 1er, king of France in the 14th century.

I am personally very excited by this news as it shows that cognac is becoming a growing spirit category and Jay-Z’s endorsement is sure to provide even more growing interests for the cognac from consumers internationally. The question is not about good or bad, but rather about keeping the cognac interesting. And it should do this. This marketing move does not win an award for originality but it does bring more buzz and that is what cognac needs. I cannot wait to try Cognac D’Ussé VSOP, and others qualities soon that will be coming after...

www.bacardi.com

www.baronotard.com

Whisky While You Do Kamasutra

The whisky marketplace is much larger in volume than Cognac. However, the whisky has a much larger number of producers and divergence not only in styles but more critically in origin - shall I say a much larger problem; what problem am I talking about? English whiskies (e.g., Saint-Georges), Welsh wiskies (e.g., Penderyn), Irish whiskies (e.g., Jameson), Australian Whisky (e.g., Lark), Canadian whiskies (e.g., Crown Royal), US whiskeys/Bourbons (e.g., Eagle Rare), Japanese whiskies (e.g., Yamazaki), French whisky (e.g., Glann ar Mor), German Whiskies (e.g., Gruel) Scottish whiskies/Scotch (e.g., Cardhu) and many other countries are producing whiskies like the Netherlands, Finland, Belgium, etc...

More recently India entered the whisky production in a big way with a bold winning proposition: a whisky made in India blended with Scotch blends. Whattttt!!!! you are thinking while reading this a second time!  Can they do this? Yes and they did.  This whisky is now coming to America and it is called: "Royal Challenge".

Next thing you know it could even be very nice, experts in blind taste may rave about it and it could costs less than premium fruit juices. In slower or hard economic downturn people are price sensitive and these whiskies coming from India or soon China may prove to be successful operations. In Fact, India offers a dozen of brands of whiskies made in India inside the Indian market. In the last Wine and Spirits Wholsaler of America (WSWA) trade show Royal Challenge was launched in the USA by Toni Bedi, the President of the UB Group. The UB Group is a huge multinational from India more famous for its beer business and its high tech division, but also airline business. www.aubsl.com

Royal Challenge Whisky made in India by the UB Group

People Don't Know How Good is Pineau des Charentes: Bonfun has a solution!

Pineau des Charentes is coming back in France with some difficulties as it has been a long time since people have had the habit, ritual, routine of consuming pineau. For the past year, Pineau des Charentes under the Pineau Committee (www.pineau.fr) that is the entity that is serving the interests of the pineau producers has been offering a new face using popularity as a method to revive the appeal. Songs inspired by Michel Fugain on the radio have started to spike interest.

I have myself been thinking for many years of the ambiguity created by the Pineau des Charentes. I explain myself. What is Pineau des Charentes? Which product category does it belong to? Is it a dessert wine, a mixing alcohol, a wine, an aperitif, to drink before or after diner, ... The first and main problem comes from its name: too long, too hard to spell, too hard to remember, quite misleading - people think it is a pinot as of pinot grigio for instance. What does it do and what does it taste? I personally believe one should mostly focus on the market and come up with a new name for it, or just brand it. it's a 'Schmutz'!

Nobody is more pragmatic than the Americans when it comes to taking a great complicated idea and shaping it up to fit a need. American businessman are always good at focusing at the essential and that is how they invented KIS, that is for Keep It Simple!

Hence, this explains the simple and I believe l0gical creation of 'BONFUN'. Bonfun wines are purposively avoiding any mention of Pineau des Charentes. They would rather concentrate on the essential the product. I really enjoy Pineau des Charentes not just because it contains cognac nor because it is made in Charentes but because it is delicious. In fact, I have to admit I think it is so good that no one should mention about it but just let it be for the happy few.  Unlike cognac it is not an elite drink but a popular drink which drinks easily as it belongs to the fortified wine category.

Specifically, Pineau des Charentes is made from blending grape must, i.e., lightly fermented grape juice, just when the sugar content gets very high and young cognac blends. It is very refreshing cold and very complex and aromatic - people are very surprised how much they like it in particular women. Pineau was historically created by someone who poured by error cognac into a barrel where they was some grape juice. Having said this, try aged Pineau. Like many other fortified wines aging in the bottle will not do anything but aging in the oak barrels will tremendously mellow and increase the complexity and flavors.

After having had a good experience with Pineau des Charentes people are often considering trying cognac. You will notice it says Pineau des Charentes and not de Charente, but it is plural because they are 2 Charentes: Charente and Charente Maritime. The production of Pineau des Charentes is also authorized from the North of Dordogne region. Tip: try mixing 4/5 of Organgina and 1/5 Pineau des Charentes with lot of ice. Really nice!

Once again: "let's keep it simple folks", was the motive behind BONFUN. A nice Saverglass glass bottle,  a white and red Pineau des Charentes and voila a not so new product but a new idea on to present it. BONFUN makes no mention of Pineau des Charentes, just a 'more spirited wine'. BONFUN seems particularly targeting younger women.

Other famous brandy appellations than Cognac offer their version of the Pineau des Charentes: Armagnac as the Floc de Gascogne and Calvados makes the Pommeau.

Bonfun Pineau des Charentes

www.bonfunwine.com