Camus, cognac merchant in Cognac
Chateau de Plessis of Camus
- Established in 1863 by Jean-Baptiste Camus at Plessis. He and several other winegrowers united to form a
consortium: “La Participation Charentaise – La Grande Marque”. - Camus bought his fellow partners out in 1890 and becomes sole owner of the company
- Before his dead in 1898 he added his own name to the brand: “Camus La Grande Marque”.
- Much later this name was changed to just “Camus”.
Camus used to be very big on the Russian market, but the Russian Revolution in 1917 brought Camus to the brink of the abyss. It lasted decades before they recovered. In their strategy three important ingrediënts played a key role: duty-free shops, the Asian market and the book-shaped porcelain flask wich originally had a bust of Napoléon on it. The Japanese fascination for collecting bottles of cognac helped enormously and in the years following ten more flasks with different colors followed.
Cyril Camus is the current owner of the company.
Camus used to have vineyards in the grande champagne and borderies districts, but today only 190 hectares in borderies. They buy most of their wines and cognacs from other winegrowers.
In the last century they owned four domains: Chateau d’Uffaut in St-Brice (Grande Champagne), a domain in Bonneuil (Grande Champagne), Chateau du Plessis in Saint-Sulpice-de-Cognac (Borderies) and a domain in Vignolles (Borderies). Today only Domaine de la Gîte (according to Frédéric Dezauzier, master blender at Camus).
Of the four distilleries they had (La Nérolle, Longchamp, Lorignac and Saint-Laurent-de-Cognac, with all together 44 stills) only one is left: Distillerie du Buisson (also according to Frédéric Dezauzier).
They are the fifth biggest cognac producer. They have several other brands, two of wich are Chabanneau and Planat.
They primarily make blends in wich a minimum of 10% borderies is used. They prefer a light style. The eau-de-vie is put in young casks for one year and after that it goes in old casks. By siphoning the cognacs on a regular basis more oxygen is obtained, resulting in a dryer cognacs.
Range (blends): VS Elegance, VSOP Elegance, XO Elegance, Extra Elegance, Family Legacy.
Borderies: VSOP, XO
Also some ‘rarissimes’.
Other cognac brands possession of Camus or which have been used in the past by Camus:
- Ascott
- Bonaparte
- Boncourt
- Bouchard
- Jean Canon
- Cardinal
- Carnaval
- Chabanneau
- Chabot
- Chatelle
- Delafargue
- Dormont
- Dunhill
- providing cognacs for J. Dupont, a brand of Wenneker (Netherlands)
- Dussaut
- Fol Amour
- Franceville
- La Gamme Elite
- Gérard
- Grande Marque, la
- Guillot
- Ile de Ré
- Louis Amiaud & Co.
- Paulhiac
- Pionneau
- Planat
- Château de Plessis
- Roos
- Segrestan
- Smart
- Staub (coöperation)
- Superlative
- Jules Tamon
- Gérard Texier
- Château d’Uffaut
- Vignelac
http://www.camus.fr/en/
Address: 21 rue Cagouillet BP19 – 16100 Cognac. Telephone: 0545 327296 (visitors are welcome, closed on sundays. Booking is recommended)
Good afternoon.
I became the owner of such a bottle. This is a gift from a colleague. Kindly tell me what year is this?
I don´t have a table with the numbers and corresponding years, so it is impossible to give an exact year. But it is a relatively low number and there is already an EAN on the back. This must be an early 1980s bottle.
Merci beaucoup!
Hi
First of all I would like to say thank you for the information on your website, very interesting and unice! I have some botlle of cognac. I can’t find any information about the year of it’s production and the price. I hope you might be able to help me.
I am attaching a picture of the bottle.
Thank you
Thanks for the compliments.
These were produced in the 1960s. On auctions they sell for €50-70.
Ton
Thanks a lot for the answer!
You’re right about Chateau du Plessis being located in Saint-Sulpice. I once long ago had a bottle from that Borderie estate and misremembered its location. I think it is still the home of the owners of Camus and I believe the estate’s vineyards are still part of Camus’s flask decanter Borderie bottling which, I think, they continue to offer,
Chateau d’Uffault is actually in St. Brise east of Cognac. Used to be a premium brand of Grande Champagne by Camus. Same with Chateau du Plessis, a premium Camus bottling of Borderies cognac from Saint Laurent. Both sadly no longer available.
Mr. Miller, thank you for correcting me.
Though to be precise I think the Chateau de Plessis is actually in Saint-Sulpice-de-Cognac, just a little North of Saint-Laurent. And indeed, Chateau d’Uffaut is in St-Brice and not in Saint-Laurent-de-Cognac.
I understand that Camus sold the Ascott Brand last year,
Can you tell me who bought it?
Sorry, I don’t know. Where did you hear that?