The member of cognac royalty spills the beans on family politics, the future of cognac, and what it was like to grow up with one of the world's most famous surnames
Hennessy is one of those names that are so singular and so prevalent in our world that it seemingly transcends any mortal provenance, or has become completely untethered from whomever it originated from—so imagine my mild surprise to find myself sitting opposite Maurice Hennessy, practically cognac royalty as the direct descendant of Richard Hennessy, the founder of what is now the largest cognac producer in the world.
Born in the Parisian suburb of Neuilly in 1950, Maurice grew up in the region of Cognac and studied agriculture at the Institut Technique et Pratique de l’Agriculture. After a short stint working on international development projects in West Africa, he returned to Cognac in 1975 to join the family firm—first in distribution, then later in communications, before becoming Hennessy's global brand ambassador, circumnavigating the world to spread the gospel of cognac. These days, you'll find him at the family vineyard with his wife Catherine, overseeing the harvest of grapes to create the very liquid that bears his name.
Maurice, a member of the Hennessy family's eighth generation and the brand's former global brand ambassador, is a prolific storyteller, so it's only appropriate that we meet in the fairytale-like chambers of MGM Cotai's 1001 Arabian Nights-inspired, invitation-only residence, The Mansion. Hot off an Asian roadshow for the launch of the Kim Jones x Hennessy collaboration, Maurice—who came out of retirement for the occasion—cuts a slightly imposing figure at 73, though his affable demeanour and animated gestures quickly put newcomers to the world of cognac at ease.
Here, he looks back on the history of Hennessy as it transitioned from a family-run firm to part of the world's largest luxury conglomerate, the family tensions that dogged the interregnum, and the future of cognac amid a turbulent world today.
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On growing up as a Hennessy
I didn't realise that because, well, I was living in the town of Cognac, which is a small town and there were other boys in my school whose parents had their names on a bottle. We were kids and we didn't bother so much about who was who. My father wasn't working at Hennessy, so for me, the firm of Hennessy was something bearing my name, which was run and owned by my grandfather who I admired very much, but I was brought up like it wasn't really a big deal.
It's really when I started to work at Hennessy and I realised the size and the importance of the work that I woke up, because before that it was just a job. The funny moment when I realised something was one of my first trips to San Francisco by plane. I went through the customs and the lady at the customs says, “Oh, Hennessy, like the cognac,” and then I realised there's an Asian lady working in the San Francisco border office who knows my name. And then, you suddenly realise that you are something.
On how he began working for the family firm
I studied agriculture and farming, really; that's what I wanted to do at the beginning, but I was encouraged to do an internship on the sales of agricultural products, which is reasonable because what's the big deal of making milk or meat or wheat if you don't know how to sell it?
Farming was exciting and I liked it, but when I started to actually work as a distributor, you visit restaurants, you meet a lot of people—I even went to the Elysée Palace to meet the president, but I knew that he drunk Hennessy—and you suddenly realise, well, I probably would be happier doing this rather than being on the back of my cows, although I love cows very much.
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