Author: Bev Appleton

Our export sales continue to increase but our business in Asia has recently had an added boost.  Previous sales in Macau and China have been overtaken by our first contract in Thailand.  The initial order is underway and agreement to ship a couple of containers annually is in the final stages.  We are confident that it will be the start of a long and fruitful relationship with our Thai customers.

Not to be outdone, a delegation of Chinese businessmen is visiting Brandyclassics next month to negotiate a much larger and longer term contract which could amount to five containers per annum.  This presents a significant expansion of our sales in China to date and indicates that the Chinese demand for top quality cognac continues unabated.  Fortunately the French arm of our business, SARL Hermitage, is ideally placed to provide the infrastructure and logistic support required to fulfill such large, on-going orders.

Coupled with our current customers in Russia and the Middle East, including the Raffles Group and Jurmeirah Hotels in Dubai, this expansion in our export market certainly confirms our position as a truly global supplier of luxury, vintage cognac.

The harvest this year will start on the first week of October and the quantities allowed will be substantially greater than ever before. Technically we are allowed to produce nearly 20hl of pure spirit per hectare but this cannot ever be made as it would be impossible to grow enough grapes for such an optimistic target. However, it does at least show that the authorities are serious about increasing stock levels which we hope will save some of the older cognacs being used for the younger blends and allow an increase in overall quantity.

So far the quantities are looking good, as is the quality. We are expecting both the sugar levels and acidity to be good as well but the weather needs to be kind.  Poor weather before the harvest could create a very different picture from that which we are currently anticipating. We need every drop we can make this year; we keep our fingers crossed!

It seems that the French are almost paranoid about their holiday.  It starts in July and they gradually come back to reality at the end of August when there is so much to do one is lucky to be able to talk to them, let alone visit, for the following month. Of course at SARL Hermitage we carry on and this year we are hoping to be busy with orders from other countries. It is true to say that unless there is inclement weather, there is little to do in the vineyards at this time. Last year it rained all through the summer in France and there was a real risk of rot setting into the grapes so spraying was the name of the game.  We still managed to get good yields so let’s hope this year is even better!