Monnet Cognac

The family's most illustrious member Jean Monnet, founding father of European integration, worked at the family firm and often made references to its formative role in shaping his beliefs and world view: cognac involves patience, because the product must age for years before commercialization, and it entails a global perspective, because the market is mostly outside France.

[1] In 1838, Pierre-Antoine de Salignac, a progressively minded local aristocrat, gathered several hundred wine growers to form the Société des Propriétaires Vinicoles de Cognac (SPVC), a cooperative endeavor aiming at marketing their product directly to international clients and bypassing the dominant market power of established houses such as Hennessy or Martell.

For nearly six decades the SPVC was led by members of the Salignac family, but in 1897 the shareholders dismissed them and chose as its new head Jean-Gabriel Monnet, a former employee of the rival Pellisson cognac producer.

[3] His son Jean Monnet worked for the firm in his youth before the outbreak of World War I, and again briefly in the mid-1920s after resigning from his position at the League of Nations in December 1923.

In 2013, then-struggling CL Financial sold Hine and Monnet to EDV SAS,[7] an investment vehicle of the Guerrand-Hermès family,[8] owners of a significant stake in the Hermès luxury brand and also formerly associated with wine retailer Nicolas until its 1988 acquisition by Castel Group.