The origins of the company, which is one of the oldest cognac houses in Frankerich, go back to the British brandy merchant Jacques Roux. His descendant Rachel Lallemand was the second wife of Jean Martell, who founded the company in 1715 and subsequently made his products synonymous with cognac. From the middle of the 19th century, the company was taken over by the Firino family by marriage. The company became one of the largest in France. In 1922, theCognac companies Hennessy and Martell set a price for young brandies and shared the world market (Hennessy in the USA and Martell in the Far East). Martell was run by eight generations of the family. In 1988, Martell was taken over by the Seagram group, with M. Patrick Firino-Martel, a member of the founding family, acting as president of Martell. Since 2002, however, the company has now belonged to the French beverage multinational Pernod Ricard.
The property in the Cognac region comprises 270 hectares of vineyards, but only covers a production requirement of just under 5%. The rest of the grapes are supplied by 2,300 growers in the Grande Champagne, Petite Champagne, Bordieres and Fins Bois areas. Processing then takes place in Martell's own distillery and in 13 independent distilleries working exclusively for Martell. Ageing takes place exclusively in 340-litre Tronçais oak casks.
The most important variants of the product range are the VSOP "Medaillon" (since 1831), the Prestige Cognac "Cordon Bleu" (since 1912), the Napoleon "Special Reserve" and as the latest creation "Martell Noblige". The top products are the XO "Suprême" (large proportion from the Paradis), the "Classique de Martell" (distillates matured for up to 50 years) and the flagship "L'Or de J&F Martell". The latter is an assemblage of the best distillates from the Paradis. This exquisite cognac, which is only produced in small quantities, is bottled in a decanter whose top and stopper are made of foil with a layer of 24-carat gold. The Martell cognac has a special connection to the mysterious "Poe toaster".
Image: by Florian Hoffmann(Katanga) - Own work, CC BY 4.0, Link
