Rémy Martin Cognac

Rémy Martin was founded in 1724 by a 29-year-old winegrower of the same name from Rouillac, who began selling his own eaux-de-vie under his own name. In 1738, King Louis XV granted him the rare privilege of planting new vines, recognition of the quality of his cognacs at a time when new plantings were tightly restricted. The house passed to his grandson in 1773, and in 1810 his descendant Paul-Émile Rémy Martin began exporting beyond Europe to the United States, Asia, and the Pacific, introducing the first Grande Champagne cognac in 1830 using grapes sourced only from the region's most prestigious vineyards.

In 1924, the Hériard-Dubreuil family took over the house and chose to specialize exclusively in eaux-de-vie from the Grande Champagne and Petite Champagne crus, whose chalky soils are especially suited to long ageing, a focus that makes Rémy Martin one of the few houses entitled to use the Fine Champagne designation. Today it is regarded as one of cognac's "big four" houses alongside Hennessy, Martell, and Courvoisier.

The house's most storied creation is Louis XIII, first crafted by Paul-Émile Rémy Martin in 1874 from a blend of up to 1,200 eaux-de-vie aged between 40 and 100 years, sourced exclusively from Grande Champagne. Its decanter design was inspired by a metal flask from the 1569 Battle of Jarnac that Paul-Émile found in a field in 1851, and every crystal version since has been hand-produced by master glassmakers such as Baccarat, with a single decanter requiring the coordinated work of eleven craftsmen.

Beyond Louis XIII, Rémy Martin has released striking limited editions such as the Black Pearl, cast in dark crystal to echo the original metal flask, and 2018's Le Salmanazar, a nine-litre one-off format. Its core range of VSOP and XO remains widely available, giving the house a presence at both the everyday and ultra-luxury ends of the category.