Top 10 biggest brandy and Cognac Brand Champions
While brandies had an overall positive 2024, the category’s regulated stablemate Cognac had a less pleasant experience.
Last year was an inarguably tough 12 months for Cognac. Along with brandies from the EU, Cognac was subject to an anti-dumping investigation in China, which heavily impacted its exports. (‘Dumping’ refers to when a company sells a product in a foreign market at a lower price than what is charged in its home market, which is considered unfair as the overseas price does not reflect the product’s true value.) In April this year, the investigation was extended by another three months.
It has, however, already taken its toll on Cognac. Exports in 2024 fell by 10.6% in value (BNIC), largely due to declines in VSOP and XO expressions. Volume sales were up slightly, however, by 0.4%, indicating a shift to cheaper Cognacs.
Only two Cognacs featured in The Brand Champions 2025 report, compared with four brands a few years ago. Former million-case-selling Courvoisier fell below the one-million-case mark in the 2024 report, and new owner Campari opted not to share the latest figures, as did previous million-case-selling Rémy Martin, which sold 2.3m cases in 2020.
Below, we outline the 10 biggest Cognacs and brandies from The Brand Champions 2025 report, which is available to read online in full for free.
The data is listed to one decimal place for ease of reading, but the percentage changes were calculated on the full data supplied. All data is recorded in millions of nine-litre cases.
10. Old Kenigsberg
Volumes: 2020 1.1 | 2021 1.2 | 2022 1.0 | 2023 1.5 | 2024 1.5
% change: 1.3%
Place last year: 8
Alliance 1892 Brandy Factory’s Old Kenigsberg brandy held steady in 2024, reporting a slight increase of 1.3%. In a challenging market, and after a strong uptick in the previous year, this is not bad going for the brand at all.
9. Silver Cup Brandy
Volumes: 2020 1.3 | 2021 1.8 | 2022 1.6 | 2023 1.7 | 2024 1.6
% change: -9.9%
Place last year: 6
Amrut Distillers has had a bit of a rollercoaster ride with Silver Cup Brandy. Year-on-year sales switch from up to down, and unfortunately 2024 was a year of decline for the brand – though it still sold a respectable 1.6m cases, 9.9% less than the previous year. It has some way to grow, though, to return to its position on the fastest-growing table in 2021.
8. Aznauri Brandy
Volumes: 2020 0.3 | 2021 0.5 | 2022 0.6 | 2023 1.1 | 2024 1.6
% change: 45.4%
Place last year: N/A
A newcomer to The Brand Champions in 2024, Aznauri continued its year-on-year growth in 2024 and is now one of the top 10 best-sellers among brandies and Cognacs.
The brand reported one of the strongest growth spurts, not just here, but throughout The Brand Champions report, as its sales soared by 45.4% last year. Another year like this, and it could find itself as a multi-million-case-selling spirit brand next year.
7. Martell
Volumes: 2020 1.9 | 2021 2.6 | 2022 2.3 | 2023 2.3 | 2024 1.9
% change: -15.5%
Place last year: 5
Sitting mid-table is Pernod Ricard’s Cognac brand, and the struggles of 2024 are evident in its 15.5% sales drop, which brought it just below the 2m-case mark.
In Pernod’s half-year sales results, reported in February this year, Martell’s sales fell by 25%, contributing to around 90% of the group’s total net sales decline. In its third quarter, sales of Martell continued to drop in China. The impact of the ongoing anti-dumping investigation is unfortunately evident to see.
6. Courrier Napoleon Brandy
Volumes: 2020 0.6 | 2021 0.7 | 2022 1.0 | 2023 1.5 | 2024 2.0
% change: 28.3%
Place last year: 7
A stark contrast to the previous entry, 2024 was a very strong year for Courrier Napoleon Brandy, which was named the Brandy & Cognac Brand Champion this year. The brand’s sales rose by more than a quarter in 2024, following a 55.5% increase the year prior.
Owned by Indian company Tilaknagar Industries, chief sales and marketing officer Ahmed Rahimtoola said: “Our success in 2024 was rooted in a clear, consumer-first approach. In a year marked by dynamic shifts in consumer preferences owing to a major shift in route to market in our largest market, we focused on making Courrier Napoleon Brandy more accessible and contemporary without compromising its authenticity.”
5. E&J Brandy
Volumes: 2020 4.0 | 2021 3.6 | 2022 3.4 | 2023 3.2 | 2024 3.0
% change: -8.0%
Place last year: N/A
Unfortunately for E&J Brandy, 2024 marked a five-year streak of declines for the brand. In 2024, E&J Brandy dropped by 8.0% to sit right on the cusp of the 3.0m-case mark. Unless the brand can maintain its sales or return to growth this year, it will likely slip further down the sales ranking.
4. Dreher
Volumes: 2020 2.7 | 2021 2.8 | 2022 2.4 | 2023 2.7 | 2024 3.0
% change: 13.2%
Place last year: 4
Hailing from Brazil, Campari Group’s Dreher brandy held on tight to its fourth-place spot with another year of growth. Despite a dip in 2022, the brand has been rather consistent over the past five years, and enjoyed double-digit growth in 2024 to bring its volume sales to 3.0m cases.
3. Old Admiral Brandy
Volumes: 2020 3.7 | 2021 3.8 | 2022 4.3 | 2023 3.7 | 2024 4.4
% change: 19.3%
Place last year: 3
Old Admiral was also able to keep itself in third place this year with a strong sales performance. Last year, the brandy’s sales soared from 3.7m cases in 2023 to 4.4m in 2024 – a 19.3% increase, making it one of the top brandy performers in this year’s report.
2. Hennessy
Volumes: 2020 7.8 | 2021 8.6 | 2022 7.9 | 2023 6.5 | 2024 6.3
% change: -2.9%
Place last year: 2
It’s been a tricky road for Hennessy Cognac since its peak in 2021. A 2.9% sales dip in 2024 marked the third consecutive year of declines for the brand. However, given the large volume base the Cognac brand starts from, plus the myriad economic headwinds it faced last year – including the aforementioned anti-dumping investigation in China – a low single-digit drop is pretty good going, all things considered.
1. Mansion House Brandy
Volumes: 2020 4.8 | 2021 4.5| 2022 7.1 | 2023 8.3 | 2024 7.8
% change: -6.5%
Place last year: 1
After growing by more than 1m cases in 2023, Mansion House wasn’t able to repeat such a stellar performance. The brandy dropped by 6.5% last year to 7.8m cases – but it still remains top of the table among brandies and Cognacs. All eyes will be watching to see if it can return to growth this year.
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