Top 10 best-selling Cognac and brandy brands

The Cognac and brandy industry experienced a mixed bag of fortunes last year, with highs and lows across the entire spectrum of the sector.

These are the world’s best-selling Cognac and brandy brands, according to our recent Brand Champions 2015 report

According to a recent Rabobank report, Cognac in particular has been one of the “most challenged of all Western spirits segments” in recent years, witnessing dramatic losses in light of China’s clampdown on extravagant spending.

Three of the world’s four largest Cognac houses experienced stagnant sales or marginal declines, while the fourth has declined to make its sales figures public.

The picture for brandy is more complex, with a number of leading Indian labels reporting both significant gains, and extensive losses.

One brand in particular has boosted the entire US brandy category with a 23% sales increase in 2014, prompting The Spirits Business to bestow it with our Cognac and Brandy Brand Champion 2015 title.

Following our recently published Brand Champions 2015 – our pick of those brands selling over one million cases annually that are performing exceptionally within their category – we run through which are the world’s best-selling Cognac and brandy brands on the market today.

Click through the following pages to discover the top 10 best-selling Cognac and brandy brands, listed in order of their nine-litre case sales.

10. Courvoisier

2014: 1.4m

2013: 1.4m

% change: -1%

Place last year: no place

Entering the best-selling list once again after an absence last year is Beam Suntory’s Courvoisier, despite its very marginal decline in 2014. The brand has managed to avoid the more drastic declines experienced by its Cognac brethren in recent years by focussing on the promising US market amid turmoil in China. Courvoisier launched its Here’s to the Now campaign towards the end of 2013 as part of a bid to broaden its appeal among a younger market. It remains to be seen if a complete redesign of the brand’s packaging – unveiled just yesterday – will positively impact sales in the coming two years.

9. Paul Masson Grande Amber

2014: 1.6m

2013: 1.3m

% change: +23%

Place last year: no place

Constellation Brands’ Paul Masson Grande Amber saw the greatest volume growth of any Cognac and brandy brand in 2014 by far. Named Brand Champion of its category in 2015 by The Spirits Business, Paul Masson has been credited with driving growth across the entire US brandy category. The brand said its peach-flavoured variant revitalised sales, and also boosted growth of its VS and VSOP expressions in turn.

8. Rémy Martin

2014: 1.7m

2013: 1.8m

% change: -6%

Place last year: 10

Despite a significant 6% sales drop, Rémy Martin has managed to move up the best-selling list. While the brand, owned by Rémy Cointreau, was hit by destocking in China, it bounced back in the second half of the year by making the US its priority market. Rémy Martin may have returned to its lower 2010 volume sales, but 2015 could provide a brighter outlook as the brand continues to post “high growth” in the US.

7. Martell

2014: 1.9m

2013: 1.9m

% change: 0%

Place last year: 9

While sales remained perfectly stagnant in 2014, Pernod Ricard’s Cognac brand Martell sits at a comfortable 7th in this list. The brand witnessed improved sales in China in 2014, although shifted focus towards its more middle range expressions which brought down value in the region. More recently, Martell partly recovered over Chinese New Year in 2015, reporting a 7% sales boost. The outlook of the brand looks set to continue to improve after beautiful actress Diane Kruger was brought on board as Martell’s brand ambassador in celebration of its 300th anniversary this year. 

6. Men’s Club Brandy

2014: 3.3m

2013: 2.9m

% change: +15%

Place last year: 7

India’s Men’s Club Brandy, owned by Diageo-controlled United Spirits, would have found it near-impossible to match the jaw-dropping 1,300% sales growth it saw in 2013, when volumes leapt more than 2.5m cases. However, the brand has reported a solid 15% boost in 2014, allowing it to move up to the 6th best-selling spot. The brand is solely available in India and is predominantly sold in Tamil Nadu.

5. Dreher

2014: 3.4m

2013: 3.3m

% change: 2%

Place last year: 6

A modest 2% sales growth was enough to push Gruppo Campari’s Brazilian brandy brand Dreher up to position number five. Following two years of stagnant sales in 2012 and 2013, the brand added 100,000 cases in 2014. It had previously struggled against economic turmoil in its home market, as well as a consumer shift towards premium, international vodka and whisky brands.

4. Old Admiral

2014: 3.5m

2013: 3.9m

% change: -11%

Place last year: 4

Striding into the top four is Old Admiral, owned by Indian drinks producer Radico Khaitan. However, its 11% sales increase in 2013 was reversed to a decrease in 2014, dropping to pre-2012 volumes as it battles to remain relevant in a predominantly whisky-drinking India.

3. Honey Bee

2014: 3.8m

2013: 3.4m

% change: +12%

Place last year: 5

Growing an impressive 12% in 2014, United Spirits’s Honey Bee has jumped from fifth to third place. The sales boost represents a complete turnaround for the brand, which saw the greatest decline of any Cognac and brandy label in 2013, dropping case sales by an enormous 32% to 3.3m. However the brand has some way to go to match its 5m cases sales of 2012.

2. Hennessy (estimate)

2014: 4.47m

2013: 5.17m

% change: 

Place last year: 2

While LVMH declined to reveal the 2014 sales figures of Hennessy Cognac, the drinks business‘ Power Brands report estimates the brand shifted almost 4.5m cases last year, which according to The Spirits Business figures collated in 2013, means it may have declined up to 13% last year. Nevertheless, it remains the world’s largest Cognac brand, and sits significantly ahead of the world’s second largest brandy brand.

1. McDowell’s No.1

2014: 10.2m

2013: 11.5m

% change: -11%

Place last year: 1

McDowell’s No.1 still sits below Philippines brandy goliath Emperador in terms of volume sales, but the United Spirits-owned brand has been placed at the top spot in light of Emperador’s decline to publish its sales figures. Shedding almost one million cases in 2014, McDowell’s continued its trend of decline, which it has failed to deviate from over the last five years.