Beverage Dynamics is the largest national business magazine devoted exclusively to the needs of off-premise beverage alcohol retailers, from single liquor stores to big box chains, through coverage of the latest trends in wine, beer and spirits.
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Brand innovations for Courvoisier include Courvoisier Rose, Courvoisier C and the recently released Courvoisier Gold. Other houses are taking chances as well. Camus recently introduced three expressions with a maritime connection, collectively called Ile de Ré after the island off the west coast of France where the grapes are grown. Influenced by the island's turbulent weather and the island's pre-phylloxera vines, the three expressions are Ile de Ré Fine Island Cognac, Ile de Ré Double Matured and Ile de Ré Cliffside Cellar, all particularly specific for Cognac, where consistency has usually been paramount. Innovating Is Working brand today, with those newer spirits accounting for about 25% of the mix. "We made a strategic decision to focus on innova- H tion, and it's had a halo effect on our base business of VS and VSOP," she says. Including the two main Cognac iterations in all the marketing, sampling and upcoming advertising for the extensions guarantees the halo effect is broad and bright. "Our new approach and focus on innovation is working – we're having success driving growth via inno- vation and outpacing the category and key competitors, showing positive net sales growth in a category that had been declining," she says. New products can enliven an entire category, says JC Iglesias, marketing director, Scotch and Cognac for Pernod Ricard USA. "New products bring in new consumers or bring back consumers to a category that may have gotten stale, contemporiz- ing the product for consumers distracted by other spirits." New consumers targeted include more women. Courvoisier's Frank says Gold and Rosé, both combin- ing Cognac with wine, are designed to be approachable and have brought more women into the category, and Courvoisier C has picked up appeal to younger African- American males. Things haven't been so rosy for other brandy makers – in the U.S., that means mostly California brandies, and the contrast between brandy and Cognac trajectories continues: brandy, the larger of the two in volume, dropped 1.5% in 2011, with only sub-category leader E&J gaining any ground (+ 0.5%), while Cognac volume grew 2.8% with the top three brands – Hennessy, Remy Martin and Courvoisier – all adding 30,000 – 35,000 9-liter cases. ow important is the new innovation in the region? Megan Frank, brand director for Courvoisier, says it's the watchword at the The Rules of the Region A ll Cognacs are brandy but not all brandies are Cognacs, goes the old saying, useful in reminding everyone that the classic French grape brandy can come only from a specific region. Cognac also has numerous rules and regulations that have made it the world's most sought after brandy. All Cognacs are also blends of many dif- ferent spirits from the allowed regions, aged for different lengths of times and brought together by a house's master blender, the person really responsible for the final bottled product. Start with VS, or Very Special, some- times called Three Stars – first, it can be made of up to 40 different eaux-de-vies that come from all of the six crus, or vineyard regions, allowed to provide spirits for Cognac (For the note-takers, these areas are Grande Champagne, Petite Champagne, Borderies, Fins Bois, Bon Bois, and Bois Ordinaires). VS must also contain no spirit aged less than two years, and probably most spirits have been aged between three and five years. In a VSOP (Very Superior Old Pale), also called Reserve, the youngest spirit is by law allowed to be four years old, though they usu- ally contain spirits up to 10 or 12 years or even older, depending on the house style, tradition and the needs of the blender. In an XO (for Extra Old), also called Hors d'âge, components must be at least six years old, and they are likely to include some of the oldest Cognacs used. Most Cognac makers will use Cognacs much older than required by law, allowing, say, XOs to reach a minimum of 20 years in order to create an attractive blend. 14 • Beverage Dynamics • www.beveragedynamics.com • November/December 2012