Gautier, cognac firm in Aigre

[not to be confused with the following brands that have disappeared: I. Gautier, Guy Gautier, Dyke Gautier and Joseph Gautier.]

As stated above Gautier should not be confused with H. Dyke Gautier & Fils in the town of Cognac with the logo of a lion. Later their name changed into Guy Gautier & Co. and had three little trees as a logo. This brand is now owned by Hine. I. Gautier & Co is another brand with a logo of two swords and three lilies; this brand is taken over by by Frapin (around 1883). The third Gautier brand was Joseph Gautier & Fils, also in the town of Cognac, established in 1886. They had the well known logo of the ibis. This firm has disappeared also.

Gautier is part of the Belvedère group, as are Normandin, Isard, Girard and Faucon d’Or de Laage. But Gautier is their number one brand and is, in contrast with the others, a subsidiary company. The other brands have found a place at Gemaco.
The official date of establishment is 1755. The oldest known document is from this date, but the familie Gautier was already active in wine-growing from 1644 when Jacquette Brochet married Charles Gautier.

  • 1700 Louis Gautier, Sieur de la Plaine (1678-1733) expanded the cognac business.
  • 1755 Gautier recieves a Royal Warrant and officially establishes his company in Aigre.
  • 1783 The name changed to Veuve Gautier ans later on to Gautier Mère & Fils. Widow madame Marie-André runs the company.
  • 1796 The sons of Marie-André take over the company and the name changes to: Gautier Mère et Fils.
  • 1814 Anothe name change: Gautier Frères.
  • 1913 Joseph Gautier dies; his daughter Simone was married to Michel Hériard Dubreuil, a cousin of Joseph Gautier.
  • 1920 Gemaco is established; a coöperation of several old family companies. In the years to follow several cognac producers join this coöpration: Gautier, Pascal Combeau (in 1972), De Laage (in 1976), E. Normandin (in 1976) and Girard (in 1976).
  • 1952  Gautier Frères becomes Gautier & Cie.
  • 1970  sold to? the Berger group (it is not entirely clear whether Berger took over Gemaco or the other way around). The name is now Gautier S.S. or S.A.)
  • 1995  fusion of Berger with Marie Brizard & Roger (1755, Bordeaux). In the past Marie Brizard & Roger produced cognac themselves to sell under their own name.
  • 2006  Belvédère group buys Marie Brizard & Roger and Gautier becomes a subsidiary company with some form of independancy.
  • 2015 Name change: Belvédère group is now Marie Brizard. Gautier keeps its relative independancy.

Nowadays Gautier is a rather independant company, but still belongs to the Belvédère group (now Marie Brizard) and Gemaco is a separate holding company of Marie Brizard that holds the brands Normandin, Girard, Combeau and Isard (and some other brands that are not cognac).
Maître de chai: Jérémie Durand.
Directeur: Erwan Guezennec.

Gautierdoes not own any vineyards anymore, but they do own some distilleries.
They buy eaux-de-vie from five crus: Grande champagne, Petite champagne, Borderies, Fins bois en Bons bois.
They store their cognacs on an isle that has a very favorable, moist climate.
The youngest eau-de-vie stays for several months in new Limousin casks, after which it is transferred in to very old casks. They do not want too much tannines in the liquid.

Range of cognacs: VS, VSOP, Napoléon, XO Gold & Blue, Extra 1755, Tradition Rare, Eden. They also have two different Cigar Blends: Pinar del Rio and Panatela. Eden has a website of its own http://www.cognac-eden.com/

They produce the cognacs for Rosersholm, a company in Norway that was established in 2005: Henrik-Ibsen, Alfred Nobel and Birkebeiner.

Their logo used to be three deer heads, but they changed it to a picture of the family house, an old water-mill.

On the left the old logo with three heads of a deer on an escutcheon (top middle of the logo) and on the right the new logo with the water-mill.

 

Other brands in possession of Gautier or which have been used in the past by Gautier:

  • Ace Brandy
  • Bach
  • Bagier (Pascal Combeau)
  • Belgontier
  • Brun, Robert
  • Le Caillou
  • Le Caton
  • Cheval Ardent
  • Chollet
  • Christian
  • Clément
  • Cockburns (they produced the cognac for Cockburns)
  • Pascal Combeau (now owned by Gemaco)
  • Comte de Tremorède
  • Crourard
  • Devillard
  • Dugontier
  • Faucon d’Or de Laage
  • Fayard
  • Fountainblue
  • Frontin
  • Gervais
  • Girard (Gemaco)
  • Guérin, Bernard
  • Guibert
  • Isard (now owned by Gemaco)
  • Laplenne
  • Lignac
  • Lorel
  • Moco
  • Mondésir
  • Normandin (Berger)
  • D’Orfin
  • Pelton
  • Pierre, Gustave
  • Pierrefont
  • Pomarel
  • Rebel
  • Reuss
  • Rex
  • Rivière Gardrat
  • Robert, J.
  • Robillot
  • Roland, Geo
  • Sodicognac
  • Vannier
  • Versayes
  • Veuve Machet
  • Vivienne
  • Vrillaud
  • Yvon
http://www.cognac-gautier.com/
Address: 28 rue des Ponts, 16140 Aigre. Telephone: 0545 211002. (not open for visitors).