At the beginning of the 19th century the Frenchman Emmanuel Courvoisier, who came from the Jura region, started as a wine merchant in Paris. Together with a partner, one of the largest wine and spirits warehouses in France was set up, which in 1811 was even visited by Emperor
Napoleon (1769-1821). Félix-Joseph Courvoisier (the son) and Louis-Jules Gallois then founded the cognac company in Jarnac in 1835. Although it was founded only a few years after Napoleon's death, the ex-emperor is said to have taken several barrels with him in his exile on the island of Saint Helena (perhaps a preliminary product). During the political unrest of 1848, Félix-Joseph distinguished himself by calming the population and was awarded the title of Knight of the Legion of Honour. In 1869, the company became a purveyor to the court of Napoleon III. (1808-1873). In 1909, the company was sold to the English Simon family. It was here that the famous cognac trademark "Napoleon" was introduced with a silhouette of the Corsican contained on the label. This quality for oldest and best
cognacs of the highest class "Konto 6" is used today by many cognac houses for their best products.
Today, Courvoisier is one of the four largest cognac producers and delivers to over 160 countries around the world. The grapes are supplied by 1,500 winegrowers from the four best areas Grande Champagne, Petite Champagne, Fins Bois and Borderies, which are processed in two of the company's own distilleries and four other distilleries. Each year, 2,000 new barrels are made from oak wood from the forests of central France. The annual production is around 90 million bottles. The wide range of products includes the "Initiale Extra" (replacing the Extra Vieille), a VS (mainly from Fins Bois), the XO "Imperial" and the "Napoleon". The "Collection Erté" was started in 1988. It consists of seven different cognacs bottled in glass decanters created by the French Art Deco master Erté. The last one was created in 1994, entitled "La Part des Anges" (angels' share), contains distillates from
Paradise back to 1892 and is limited to 12,000 bottles each.
