Martell is the oldest of Cognacs big four firms. It was started in 1715 when Jean Martell arrived in Cognac from his native Jersey, which was in those days a centre for smuggling brandy into Britain. He married (in succession), the daughters of two Cognac merchants. The second, Rachel Lallemand, was descended from one of the earliest brandy merchants in Cognac. After Jeans death she carried on under the name of Verve Martell-Lallemand. Martell became the leading firm in Cognac during the revolutionary period and is still one of the two largest.

In the mid 19^th century control passed to the Firino-Martells who had married into the Martell family and continued to control the business for 150 years. The firm reasserted its dominance after the phylloxera and built magnificent new distilleries, many warehouses and bottling lines. The firm flourished by hard, painstaking selling of its brandies to pubs and cafés in France and Britain (incidentally, Martell pioneered the half bottle, still to be found in many homes today).

In 1922 the Martell’s struck up a 25 year deal with Maurice Hennessy, who were friends. This helped the firm gain dominance in Britain and Hennessy in Ireland. Martell also built up considerable land holdings in Grande and Petite Champagne as well as the Borderies, from where much of its wines originate. In all they had about 270 hectares, but today only a small percentage of that is still owned by the company, producing only one or two percent of their needs.

The firm are firm believers in blending and buy their brandies from around 2600 producers in the main cru’s. The cognacs are stored mainly in Tronçais oak – it is a more tightly grained wood which allows them to mature more slowly. It is often well suited to cognacs from the Borderies, much preferred by Martell, and providing a nutty style to their cognacs.

The Larsen brand of is probably known in every cognac drinking country for their Viking Ship logo. The firm was established in 1926 by Jens Reidar Larsen who came from Tromso, north of the arctic circle in Norway. The firm are quick to point out that the term Viking refers to a state of mind rather than the plundering race of warriors searching many countries for wealth!

Jens Larsen was a cognac connoisseur and became charmed by the inimitable atmosphere and people of Cognac. Jens was a businessman and after a while bought a small cognac company belonging to a Joseph Gautier. There were many difficulties, but he eventually managed to change the name to Larsen, which quickly became recognisable to the Scandinavian markets.

He married a local girl and had two children. Jean, the eldest took over the business in the 1960’s and was largely responsible for building up the prosperity of the Larsen brand throughout the world. The present generation, Frédéric, Nicolas and Anne now control the reins of the family business, utilising the trademark “Drakkar” – symbol of its Norseman history.

Originally the firm sold most of its cognacs in casks mainly to the state monopolies of its native Scandinavia, before it widened its trade throughout Europe, which nowadays buys more than 75% of its cognacs. It buys its cognacs mainly from the Fins Bois and the Champagnes – but less than a fifth of its sales go to the top end of the markets and they concentrate on the cheaper end of the market. They often distinctive bottles and decanters, including ceramic Viking Ships and Norseman Warriors, which have been successful in the Far East. Larsen pride themselves on the lightness of their cognacs but in truth many have to be reduced – sugar syrups are used to reduce the aggressiveness of their character. The firm still have a few vintage cognacs including an interesting 1973.

Hine is one of the most venerable and deservedly respected names in Cognac. It was founded by an immigrant from Dorset, Thomas Hine, who settled in Jarnac in 1791 and married into the Delamain family and became a partner.

The Hine company was founded in 1817 by Thomas who died aged 47. He was succeeded by Isaac Georges (1843-1902), Georges Thomas (1881-1940), Francois Thomas,(1908-1983), Robert (1912-1994) and Bernard Thomas Hine 1939 the current Hine family member.  The firm became well known for the cognacs it shipped in cask to British Wine Merchants, for bottling under its name for sale to the aristocracy (the firm still supplies the Royal Family).

With reluctance Hine accepted the necessity for its own trademark, the stag (this may be a pun, since a hind is a female deer), and only introduced after the Second World War. In 1971 Hine was bought by the Distillers company, which was itself taken over by Guinness in 1986, and was then sold by them to Hennessy. The firm is still run by the cousins Jacques and Bernard Hine, the founder’s great-great-great-grandsons.

Bernard Hine, a well known taster still blends Hines Cognacs to maintain the family’s tradition of elegance and lightness. Hine has neither stills nor vines of its own, buying half its cognacs young, the other half old. They use only small Limousin casks to store their cognacs.

The Hine style excludes cognacs from the Borderies, so the cognacs are only from the Champagnes and the premier Fins Bois. At their best Hines cognacs have a rare balance of warmth, depth and elegance. But their necessary and newer dependence on younger eaux de vie has reduced the minimum ages of their blended cognacs, which tends to affect their balance. Hine has always sold cognacs to be matured in Britain, many of which have a fine elegance as a result of their long ageing and proving that vintages do matter in Cognac.