Chalky soil are called Champagne either in Champagne or Cognac region. The chalky soil of Segonzac hills produces the finest eaux-de-vie which ages the best.
Grande Champagne represents only 17 % out of the 75 000 hectares of the Cognac vineyards . Most often Grande Champagne is known as an improver of the best blend.
At Pierre de Segonzac's 100 % of the Cognacs are Grande Champagne as you can read it on our labels.

Let's talk economics

Every year more than 140 millions of bottles of Cognac are sold worldwide for a value of about 2 billions Euros. During the eighties, 25.000 people used to earn a living out of this activity; today no more than 15.000 are involved, directly or not in Cognac production.

Hennessy, Remy-Martin, Martell, Courvoisier and Camus are the most popular brands. These companies share more than 90% of the world sales of Cognac. These merchants came mostly from United Kingdom. They make the Cognac well-known around the world since the 18e century. But today, they are no more family-runned business. These brands are owned by big groups, powerfull spirits traders of any kind.

Today, they are very few small merchants or wine-producers who succeed to stay in the competition. 10.000 brands of Champagne exist in Reims but no more than 900 compete in Cognac.There is no other wine or spirits production concentrated such as Cognac..

25 000 wine producers existed in the early eighties. Today, no more than 5000 still produce their wine, distill and age their eaux-de-vie, the raw material needed to blend a great Cognac. Weary of selling their eaux-de-vie at a giveaway price, some of the bouilleur de cru have decided to sell their own brand. They don't carry much weight : less than 0,5% of the world sales of Cognac.

However, it's true enough that these fierce craftsmen are the best champions of tradition and defenders of an exceptionnal know-how transmitted through generations. Pierre de Segonzac is a figure beyond this passionate world of Grande Champagne producers. Among them, you can find the oldest, finest and very rare Cognac made by their fathers, grandfathers, great-grandfathers and so on.

The most expensive and most prestigious alcohol

Cognac represents only 1 % of the alcohols drinked in the world. It's also the most expensive of all : made out of grapes, protected by an AOC (Guaranty of Origin), distilled twice and aged for years, the cost price of a Cognac is five times the whisky, ten times the rhum, and twenty times the vodka.

Cognac is only from Cognac.

To learn more : www.bnic.fr