In 1858, Henri Mounier, a former captain in the Merchant Navy, shifted his focus to eaux-de-vie.
Together with his father-in-law, Jean Salmon, as cellar master, and Eugène Bellet as a business partner, they established Mounier et Compagnie.
Mounier was a stickler for quality, and it's said that if he was dissatisfied with an eau-de-vie, he'd personally roll the barrel out of the cellar.
His dedication soon made him a prominent figure in the Cognac world. From 1858 to 1874, Cognac saw its golden age, expanding its influence across Europe.
Mounier, recognizing the significance of perfection, sourced the best terroirs, emphasized meticulous distillation, and aged his Cognacs in oak casks. By 1874, he transitioned to trading bottled Cognac, promoting it both domestically and internationally under the Henri Mounier & Co brand.
Fast forward to 1947, the Prince Hubert de Polignac brand was launched, marking an unprecedented collaboration between the descendant of a renowned French lineage and a Cognac house. In 1960, the house allied with the Unicoop group of vine-growers, inaugurating cellars in Gensac La Pallue, adjacent to Cognac. By 1969, they had introduced Reynac, which became the top-selling Pineau des Charentes brand.
In a surprising move, 1997 saw H. Mounier collaborating with the American, Sydney Frank, to craft an all-French vodka. The result was Grey Goose, which, under the Bacardi Group, skyrocketed to become one of the most purchased vodkas globally. The turn of the century witnessed further innovation with the 2006 introduction of the liqueur Kismi and the 2007 unveiling of state-of-the-art blending cellars.
H. Mounier's forward-thinking approach continued into the 2010s. By 2013, they were leveraging cutting-edge technologies for everything from bottling to brand creation and packaging design. This was followed by the 2014 debut of the Marquis de La Fayette cognac range and the 2017 establishment of the SOURCE Vodka & SOURCE Gin brands. However, in 2019, the company decided to part with the Prince Hubert de Polignac brand.
Henri Mounier VS
For years, the VS has forged the personality of Henri Mounier cognacs, by its purity and precisely-chiselled aromas.
