Fromy-Rogée - Cognacton english

Fromy & Rogée

This company was founded in 1815 by François Fromy in Coivert, were he had several large vineyards. Coivert is just a few kilometres above St. Jean d’Angely which was a stronghold of the brandy trade, thanks in particular to La Boutonne, a waterway much used at the time. To be closer to the shipping ports of La Boutonne they moved to Saint-Jean-d’Angély sometime before 1840.

He was succeeded in 1863 by his son Frédéric and by his son-in-law Louis Eugène Rogée. This led to a name change: Fc Fromy Fils & Rogée.
Around 1880, new cellars and larger offices were built on Avenue Port Mahon, also in St Jean d’Angely.

[Frédéric Fromy had no children, but two sons of Louis Eugène Rogée worked in the company, Fernand and Jean-Eugène. Fernand Rogée, however, started his own brand after a business dispute with his father. This new company was Martin & Rogée, Martin being his brother-in-law. Fernand died young and his wife Bathilde Bernard took over and the company was renamed Veuve Rogée. She went into partnership in 1894 with “la société des propriétaires vinicole MONNET”. The “Martin et Rogée” brand continued, but the company became “Vve Rogée et Monnet”. It would later become “Monnet” after Bathilde’s death.]

After the dead of Louis Eugène Rogée and the retirement of Frédéric Fromy in 1897, Jean Eugène took over and renamed the company Fromy, Rogée & Co. In 1908, Rogée changed the family name to Rogée-Fromy for commercial reasons.
By then, Fromy et Rogée was widely known and highly regarded and their cognacs were shipped all over the world. They won many awards for their products and were themselves judges in many competitions. They received a Royal Warrant at the Austro-Hungarian court in 1897 and later also at the Swedish court.
As a person, Eugène was very active and took on many responsibilities in national unions and at the local political level.

Jean-Eugène died in 1939 and his son Louis Rogée-Fromy became director. During the Second World War, business was not doing well. Some data suggests that production stopped in 1939, but according to family acquaintances production continued for years afterwards.

In the late 1950 the company was bought by Cinzano-Dubonnet. The Fromy-Rogée brand continued until around 1975 and was then taken over by Pernod-Ricard.

Fromy, Rogée & Co. also owned the brand names Lamothe & Cie, Rayon d’Or, Marlot & Cie and Distillerie de Saint Eutrope.

In addition to the usual qualities (3 stars, VSOP, VESOP and vintages), they also released the following cognacs: Cognac Brandy, Fine Abbay, Impérium, Cordon Amarante, Cordon Rouge, Cordon Jaune d’Or, The Golden Cognac, Cognac Blond, Fine Champagne de Maréchaux, Le cognac des Connaisseurs, Dry Brandy, Prestige.

This fromy-Rogée emblem is still on the facade of the former warehouse on Avenue Port Mahon. It says: “Si tu me trompes, tu me perds”.