FAMILY SPIRIT

Sometimes, we don’t always realise the significance of what we have. Marie-Amélie Jacquet remembers when friends, visiting her home in Paris, were surprised by the amount of Rémy Martin cognac she had. “I explained they were from my mother, and that cognac was something quite usual in our family,” says the 37-year-old. “And, when I told them that it part of our family business, they were stunned!”

It’s a story she has told often but it perfectly encapsulates how Jacquet sees her life. She is part of the fourth generation of the Hériard Dubreuil family that has been running the house of Rémy Martin for more than 90 years. Her mother, Dominique Hériard Dubreuil, was previously Chairman of Rémy Cointreau, the French spirits company that owns Rémy Martin as well as Mount Gay, Cointreau, Passoã, Metaxa and Bruichladdich. “For me, it was just where my mother worked and it didn’t seem to be anything special. It was something that my mother, uncles, aunties and grandfather did. In Cognac, where I spent my summers as a child, everyone seemed to be involved, in some way or another, in the making of cognac, so it didn’t feel all that exceptional,” she explains. “It was only through the reflection of other people that I realised how significant it was.”

This, perhaps, was reinforced by the fact that neither Jacquet nor her cousins from her generation were compelled to join the family business. “There was no pressure from our parents. We were allowed to choose our own paths. The only thing they stressed was that, regardless of what we ended up doing, we had to do it well.” For Jacquet, it meant pursuing a career in finance and spending eight years in London as an investment banker with NM Rothschild & Sons. Similarly, her cousins went their own ways: “There’s quite a lot of diversity among us – apart from me in finance, there’s also a journalist, lawyer, fashion retailer, and even textile and furniture designers.”

The significance of their heritage, however, couldn’t be denied. “Much like making cognac, it took a bit of time but a few of us felt that we had experiences that could be useful to the business. We discussed it as a group and the others encouraged us to join the company – as long as we shared what we learned with them.” Although their parents were pleased, Jacquet and her cousins had to do it the usual way. “We had to apply for a job!” she remembers. “There were a number of positions opened and we had to go for interviews just like anybody else. Which was good, actually, as it meant we were hired not because of our family connections.”

That was five years ago and, now, there are four from her generation in the operational side of the business; another two sit on the company’s board. Jacquet ended up moving to Singapore, working in Rémy Cointreau’s Global Trade Retail Division. While it was an unfamiliar area for her – “I like numbers!” – she sees it as part of the process. “Today, I know a lot more about the overall company than when I first started, but I also realised that there is still so much more to learn.” Being in Singapore was also a personal challenge. “Before coming here, I had only spent one week in this part of the world. And, really, Asia is a small word for a very big place. There are so much cultural differences but it’s helped me understand how global we are.”

As she spends more time absorbing Rémy Cointreau, Jacquet finds her increasingly drawn into the wider world of Rémy Martin. “I might have grown up in a family that has spent generations making cognac but I honestly have to say that we have some customers who know more about it than I do,” she laughs. Although it came to her belatedly, she can understand the universal passion for Rémy Martin, especially its cognac par excellence, Louis XIII, the house’s exceptional blend of 1,200 eaux-de-vie, none of which are less than 100 years old.

“I grew up in Paris, where I was born, but every summer, I would spend two months in Cognac, in the family estate, Le Grollet. It was a wonderful place to grow up in. I didn’t know then but Le Grollet was also where the final ageing of Louis XIII takes place. I remember playing among the barrels and the place was full of dust and spiders,” she remembers. “It felt like a magical place and I wonder if it’s because of all the angel’s share floating in the air! I’ve been back later, as an adult, and it still has the same fascinating quality. It may have been 30 years for me, which, in a human lifespan, is pretty significant. I can’t help but think that, for those barrels of Louis XIII sitting there, my decades are almost like the blink of an eye. Some of them may even outlive me but that, I realise, is my heritage. For me and my cousins, our task is to ensure that it remains strong for the next generation of our family. In a way, we are the curators of Rémy Martin’s nearly 300-year legacy; our duty is to preserve it for our children as well as all those people around the world who love it.”