The spirit of Paris

Award-win­ning cognac Cour­voisi­er® has been the spir­it of choice in toast­ing cel­e­bra­to­ry moments in his­to­ry for more than 200 years. Courvoisier’s lega­cy began when it was found­ed by two entre­pre­neur­ial vision­ar­ies in the 1800s, reach­ing its ini­tial peak when it was cel­e­brat­ed dur­ing the French capital’s most exu­ber­ant of times – the Belle Époque.

Take the year 1889, when Paris wel­comed the world to the Expo­si­tion Uni­verselle, one of France’s great­est-ever cel­e­bra­tions, the piv­otal moment of Paris’s gold­en age when the eyes of the world descend­ed on the city and each day was even more aston­ish­ing than the last. And for all of those great cel­e­bra­tions, gala din­ners and ban­quets, what else was suit­ed to toast this extra­or­di­nary moment in Parisian his­to­ry but fine cognac? And the finest was, of course, Cour­voisi­er.

After all, Cour­voisi­er was pre­sent­ed at the grand open­ing of the Eif­fel Tow­er dur­ing the expo­si­tion, a mon­u­men­tal event at which some of history’s most icon­ic fig­ures – kings and queens from around the world, famous inven­tors, artists and archi­tects, and Gus­tave Eif­fel him­self – came togeth­er to enjoy a lux­u­ry ban­quet in the ultra­fash­ion­able restau­rant that Eif­fel and his team had installed on the tower’s sec­ond plat­form.

The tow­er was fes­tooned with 10,000 gaslights adding to the mag­i­cal atmos­phere and in the glass­es of the assem­bled dig­ni­taries was a fit­ting­ly cel­e­bra­to­ry drink – Cour­voisi­er, the fine cognac then well known as the offi­cial cognac of Napoleon’s impe­r­i­al court, and which had won the wine and spir­its gold medal at the 1867 Expo­si­tion Uni­verselle. It was to do so again that very year.

The Expo­si­tion Uni­verselle of 1889 was the most spec­tac­u­lar and excit­ing yet in a sequence of such fairs designed to show­case France’s tremen­dous achieve­ments, not just in fine spir­its but in the arts and sci­ences. These were achieve­ments that peo­ple trav­elled from the far reach­es of the world to wit­ness.

A hun­dred years on from rev­o­lu­tion, Paris was also the first cap­i­tal city to be lit by gaslight, allow­ing its denizens to dance and par­ty into the night. Nev­er had the city seemed more cos­mopoli­tan, more alive. The Art Nou­veau style lent its lan­guid grace to door­ways and win­dows, restau­rants such as Maxim’s, and Hec­tor Guimard’s unmis­take­able Met­ro­pol­i­tain entrances.

Cognac is seen as the per­fect cock­tail spir­it – lux­u­ri­ous, cel­e­bra­to­ry and with a wealth of his­to­ry

A dar­ing and bohemi­an way of life took hold, cabaret sprang up, and artists, writ­ers and musi­cians thronged to the city. Hen­ri de Toulouse-Lautrec, a name syn­ony­mous with the age, became known for walk­ing with a cane hol­lowed out to con­ceal a unique flask that could hold his favoured Cour­voisi­er which, in turn, could be used to invent new cock­tails dur­ing his famed Fri­day night par­ties.

You can still feel the influ­ence of Paris’s last gold­en age when­ev­er you raise a toast with a glass of Cour­voisi­er. The cognac con­tin­ues to cap­ture that spir­it of won­der, spec­ta­cle and splen­dour, adding an air of glam­our and sophis­ti­ca­tion to any cel­e­bra­tion.

Its beau­ti­ful new bot­tle takes inspi­ra­tion from the gold­en age and in par­tic­u­lar details inspired by the Parisian archi­tec­ture of the era, includ­ing the unique per­spec­tive look­ing up through the steel struc­ture of the Eif­fel Tow­er, are grace­ful­ly inter­twined on the new Cour­voisi­er design. It offers a glimpse back into his­to­ry, along­side a jubi­lant vision of moder­ni­ty.

This new design coin­cides with a shift in mod­ern imbib­ing that embod­ies the social and inno­v­a­tive atmos­phere of the Paris gold­en age. Post-reces­sion, drinkers are becom­ing much savvi­er regard­ing their drinks choice. Cognac is seen as the per­fect cock­tail spir­it – lux­u­ri­ous, cel­e­bra­to­ry and with a wealth of his­to­ry. Clas­sic cock­tails such as the Side­car, Ren­dezvous and Cham­pagne Cock­tail are hav­ing a renais­sance and giv­ing drinkers a taste of cognac’s her­itage.

The mod­ern drinker thrives social­ly and wants this immer­sive, share­able expe­ri­ence. They are increas­ing­ly inquis­i­tive and respect­ful of the process behind their drinks and lean towards spir­its that can sat­is­fy this demand. With its rich her­itage, evoca­tive design and per­fect aro­mat­ic bal­ance for clas­sic cock­tails, Cour­voisi­er is the epit­o­me of the mod­ern lux­u­ry brand.

For more infor­ma­tion please vis­it courvoisier.com/uk