In 1828 Félix Courvoisier and Jules Gallois merged the cognac production and wine & spirits businesses founded by their fathers Emmanuel and Louis a few decades earlier and established the Courvoisier cognac house in Jarnac, where they built a large chateau that still serves as the brand’s headquarters today. Courvoisier received the Imperial seal from Napoleon III in 1869, and the company was purchased in 1909 by Simons Freres, a pair of Anglo-French brothers who styled Courvoisier ‘The Brandy of Napoleon’.
The Courvoisier chateau was occupied during WWII by the Nazis, who used it as a casino. Courvoisier’s famous dumpy, slender-necked ‘Josephine’ bottle was first introduced in 1951 and in 1964 the company was bought by drinks multinational Hiram Walker, which subsequently became part of Allied Domecq. Jim Beam’s owner Fortune Brands acquired Courvoisier during Pernod’s dismantling of Allied in 2005 and today the company is part of Beam Suntory.
BID | DATE | TIME | |
---|---|---|---|
£55.00 | 22nd November 2023 | 20:02 | |