Five Continents 120 Countries Contents
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FIVE CONTINENTS 120 COUNTRIES CONTENTS HENNESSY WORLD p03 Call of the Horizon p05 e “Hennessy Cognac Road” p11 New rituals for new generations p15 ADVENTURES IN AMERICA p23 Focus: e Hermione, e winds of history: A star-studded success story, Key events FRANCO-RUSSIAN NOTEBOOKS: A meeting of minds p37 Focus: e Hennessy Foundation, Two centuries of adventures in Russia, Key events HENNESSY IN CHINA: The legend of the ages p49 Focus: e Cognac Road, Key events “HENNY”: An African saga p61 Focus: Boundless energy HENNESSY Five Continents 120 Countries p01 THE HENNESSY WORLD We are not the “bearers” but rather the “vectors” of a culture and of a certain way of seeing the world. What makes us different is a global vision since our very earliest days.” Bernard Peillon, Hennessy 2015 HENNESSY Five Continents 120 Countries p03 Call of the Horizon ould Richard Hennessy tionally free-thinking, internation- Silk Road, there is a Hennessy and his eldest son James ally oriented men: people “on the Cognac Road that tells its extraor- possibly have imagined move”, driven by a desire to see dinary tale: it is the same route Cat the end of the eighteenth more and discover new horizons. taken in 1992 by the ship Spirit of century that, one day, their In 1902, James Hennessy, a Hennessy to celebrate the 120th cognac would have travelled the 5th-generation Hennessy, made anniversary of the first shipment world over, ignoring borders and a Grand Tour from India to of Hennessy X.O to Asia. challenging traditions? Perhaps, Australia… And just as there is a yes. When you belong to a “clan” with its roots in Ireland, a family boasting more than its share of sailors, you have the love of travel in your blood. It is no accident that the Irish who came to settle in France under Louis XV were known as the “Wild Geese”… Nor should it surprise us that Richard, who founded the Maison in 1765, gave rise to a dynasty of excep- HENNESSY Five Continents 120 Countries p05 Hennessy Advertisement Hennessy Advertisement Futura them. Far from wanting to impose French savoir-faire, networking Honouring a tradition that goes The street art icon Futura, one of Cosmopolitan, Urban, themselves, they dreamed of before the concept even existed, A player on a world back eight generations to the the most recent to collaborate Modern melting in, adapting to local the drive to innovate, an openness stage eighteenth century, music-lovers with the brand, best expresses the habits and consumer practices, to others, a respect for legacy and in the Hennessy family have bond between Hennessy and the At the dawn of the nineteenth hoping that each country would transmission: this was the winning The fusional relationship between followed an eclectic variety of artists it works with when he says century, the world had become adopt Hennessy cognac as its formula for this larger-than-life Hennessy and urban cultures and avant-garde musicians and artists that all his life he has refused to their “playground”. Radiating out own. Above and beyond any spirit saga. It is also how Hennessy its long-standing commitment to of all inspirations, from classical take anything for granted and has from a tiny point on the map of of conquest, there was the desire became a “chameleon brand”, music is one of the prime reasons to jazz, and supported innovation constantly tried to reinvent and France, in Cognac, the Hennessys to please and to keep the brand popular with people ranging from for its pre-eminence in the world in the world of art and design, challenge himself. And when he travelled the world spreading centre stage, “never settling”. The tsars and mandarins to new today. Hennessy’s commitment often in their most contemporary looks at the history of Hennessy, their label’s reputation. They were results of this approach can be generations of Russians and to promoting excellence in the forms. Hennessy understands he has “the impression that it’s there when maritime routes were seen today: Hennessy is firmly Chinese, from the streets of New music world reflects the true naturally how to “speak to” Gen- the same for them”. opened, and when the Suez and rooted in more than 120 countries York to those of Johannesburg. soul of Hennessy, better than eration Y, the Millennials so at Panama canals were dug, and is still growing, in a constantly Applauded by trend-setters, words could ever do. In more ease in the eervescence of expanding their networks from changing world. referenced by rappers, discov- than 40 countries, Hennessy modern urban cultures. Asia to Latin America. On the way, ered by Millennials and followed private concerts and perfor- they collected many “firsts” in the on social networks that are mances, featuring world-class world of fine spirits, from the cosmopolitan, urban, modern. talent from living legends to the United States to China and Russia. A 360° perspective on the world. stars of tomorrow, illustrate the Yet as they set out to conquer the unique way in which the Maison is world, they had no warlike ambi- an active player in contemporary tions, despite the arm and the axe culture, creating universal and they had borrowed as an emblem undying bonds. from their family crest. They dreamed only of creating beauti- ful things and letting the rest of the world discover and enjoy HENNESSY HENNESSY Five Continents Five Continents 120 Countries 120 Countries p06 p07 Perpetual motion “Cognac travelled abroad thanks travelling the world in the brand’s Maison has become almost a to a river and traders and good name. They take their passion for natural part of the landscape, a strategies, as well as ships taking this terroir to the four corners of representative of a certain French Bog ota to the seas,” as the Maison’s man- the globe, telling of its art de art de vivre that was adopted agement puts it. “But the success vivre, its traditions, and even by and has adapted to so many of Hennessy lies in its mastery of some of its secrets. They are the other cultures. Like its eaux-de-vie, its distribution networks, and in living memory of a dynasty in carefully blended with each men willing to go where they were perpetual motion for the last 250 other, the men and women of needed to see that everything ran years. They convey the legacy of the Hennessy story have been smoothly.” creativity that has been transmit- brought together to form a And indeed, what would ted to the world by eight genera- perfect whole. There is a sense of Hennessy be without them, the tions of the same family, a legacy “hybridisation” and a respect for men and women of all nationali- that fascinates Americans and multiculturalism, deeply rooted ties and cultures who have made Russians alike, the Chinese like in the family history. the brand a world leader, starting the populations of many English- with the great agents who speaking countries in Africa. continue today to shape its On the map of the “world accord- history: Twiss & Browning in ing to Hennessy” there are several England and South Africa; Trum- centres of gravity where the bull, Blackburn and Schieelin in the United States; Rondon in China; Boustead in Malaysia, and many more. They are supported by the Hennessy Ambassadors: either members of the family or natives of the Cognac region, HENNESSY HENNESSY Five Continents Five Continents 120 Countries 120 Countries p08 p09 e “ Hennessy Cognac Road ” 1765: Richard Hennessy creates the Hennessy trading company. 1794: Hennessy cognac arrives in America (New York). 1817: The Prince of Wales, future King George IV of England, orders an “Excellente eau-de-vie vieille de couleur pâle”, which will become V.S.O.P (very superior old pale). 1818: The Dowager Empress of Russia, Maria Feodorovna, places a special order for her son, Tsar Alexander I. 1819: First shipments to India (Calcutta). 1855: First shipments to Australia (Melbourne). 1859: First shipments to China, Peru. 1860: First shipments to Cuba, Uruguay, Chile. 1863: First shipments to Panama, New Zealand. 1866: First shipments to South Africa, Mauritius, Hong Kong. 1866: First shipments to Singapore, Japan, Argentina. 1867: First shipments to Malaysia. 1870: First shipments to Brazil. 1871: First shipments to Nicaragua, Burma, Puerto Rico. 1878: First shipments to Indonesia. ... 2015: Hennessy, the undisputed cognac leader, present in more than 120 countries HENNESSY Five Continents 120 Countries p11 Hennessy advertisement in Columbia Hennessy advertisement in Mexico Hennessy advertisement in China Celebration of 120th anniversary of the first shipment to China To the south, there remain today shipped as early as the 18th In a surprisingly short time, Hennessy demonstrated its How the West was won vivid traces of a long history with century: in Trinidad and Barba- In the footsteps of Hennessy had become the brand pioneering attitude yet again, Mexico that began in the 1890s. dos, where musical events organ- everyone was talking about, from blazing new trails and taking Were Hennessy to create a world Marco Polo Thirty years later, in the Twenties, ised by Hennessy are attended by India to Vietnam — which had the spirit of Hennessy to new map, its centre would be France, the Mexicans had come to believe 10% of the population, but also in Since the opening of the Suez become a key market for the horizons, innovating as ever at where it all started: the anchor that “Brazo Armado” — the signa- the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, and Canal in the mid-nineteenth Maison — by way of Cambodia, every step.