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August 17, 2007
Glenmorangie Brand Malt Scotch Whisky Gets Facelift
Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, (LVMH), has unveiled a new look for its Glenmorangie single malt Scotch whisky. Starting next month, the brand, distilled in the Highland town of Tain, will be packaged in an ultra-modern, curvy bottle featuring the “Signet,” inspired by ancient artwork on a Pictish stone.
“We believe the stylish, contemporary look will appeal to a much wider audience at a time when more and more people are opening their eyes to the world of malt whisky,” said Paul Neep, Glenmorangie’s Chief Executive.
Glenmorangie is one of the world’s top five single malt brands, with annual sales of around 300,000 cases. However, it has a relatively low profile in the U.S. market, where it sells approximately 35,000 cases per year and has a category share of less than 5%. LVMH, which acquired the brand in 2005 (when it bought the majority stake from the Macdonald family), is hoping the redesign will help change that.
About LVMH:
LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton S.A. (Euronext: MC), usually shortened to LVMH, is a French holding company and the world's largest luxury goods conglomerate. It is the parent of around 60 sub-companies that each manage a small number of prestigious brands. These daughter companies are, to a large extent, run autonomously. The group was formed after mergers brought together champagne producer Moët et Chandon and Hennessy, a leading manufacturer of cognac. In 1987, they merged with fashion house Louis Vuitton to form the current group.
The group is partly owned by the Christian Dior group, and Bernard Arnault is Chairman and CEO of both companies. His successful integration of various famous aspirational brands into the group has inspired other luxury companies into doing the same. Thus Gucci (now part of the French conglomerate PPR) and Richemont have also created extended portfolios of luxury brands. The oldest of the LVMH brands is wine producer Château d'Yquem, which dates its origins back to 1593.
De Beers LV: in 2001 De Beers launched a joint venture with LVMH in order to establish De Beers as a retail brand
About Glenmorangie:
Glenmorangie—"the Glen of Tranquility"—is a distiller of single malt Scotch whisky, located on the south coast of the Dornoch Firth, one mile northwest of the town of Tain, Ross, Scotland. It is the best-selling single malt in the United Kingdom market, and has been best-selling single malt in Scotland for over 47 years—"Scotland's Favourite Malt".
Glenmorangie is distilled in the tallest pot stills in Scotland, at over 5.1 m (16 feet 10 inches) in height. The distillery claims that this produces the purest, lightest spirit possible, due to the high level of reflux the spirit undergoes during the distillation process. The whisky is distributed in 10-, 12-, 15-, and 18-year-old varieties, as well as older caskings in special releases. The Glenmorangie is initially aged in American bourbon casks made of white oak from the Ozark Mountains of Missouri.
Glenmorangie's quality standards dictate that these casks are made of specially selected, slow-growth wood and then air-dried for two years. Casks are then seasoned by either Heaven Hill or Jack Daniel's distillery for a further five years, to remove unwanted levels of wood tannins. Seven years since the trees were felled, casks are ready for Glenmorangie to age their spirit. Exclusive use of American white oak imparts delicate but complex aromas of vanilla, citrus orange and delicate floral hints. Glenmorangie 10 Years Old was tested by a French perfume house and found to contain at least 26 separate identifiable aromas.
Also released are a range of malts that, after aging in ex-bourbon white oak casks, are transferred to casks that have been used previously to mature wines. This process is known as finishing.
Glenmorangie offers whisky finished in sherry, port wine, madeira, and burgundy casks as part of their permanently available portfolio. For the enthusiast, from time to time they also release rare, "Special" Wood Finishes. Examples from the past have been the award winning Sauterne Finish, the Tain l'Hermitage Finish and the most recent, Margaux Cask Finish (rumoured to have been finished in the very finest Château Margaux casks).
Another Glenmorangie innovation is their bottling of whisky that has matured in casks in the distillery's cellar, number 13, that lies closest to the sea. It is thought that this different environment gives the whisky a character distinct from the standard Glenmorangie.
Glenmorangie refuses to sell whisky for use in blends, fearing that casks will find their way to independent bottlers. Recently, the distillery has sold casks to blenders with a small amount of Glen Moray Single Malt added, so that the whisky is technically a vatted malt, and can not legally be bottled and sold as a single. Note that Glen Moray distillery is owned by the same parent company, Glenmorangie plc.
New York, NY--August 17, 2007
Posted by fortna at August 17, 2007 02:05 PM
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