France's Cognac Producers May Not Speak Jay-Z's Language, but They Like the Plugs

Listening to a recording of Busta Rhymes's hit song "Pass the Courvoisier," Anne-Sophie Louvet cringes at the thumping rap music and says she doesn't understand the lyrics.

But what the shy French grape-grower does understand is that she owes a debt of gratitude to American hip-hop artists. Rappers' adoption of cognac, the storied French spirit, as their preferred party booze has been a godsend for Ms. Louvet and her fellow farmers.

Five years ago, the region surrounding the small, conservative town of Cognac in southwestern France was on the brink of ruin. An economic crisis had sent consumption of the brown liquor plummeting in Asia, its No. 1 market. In 1998, furious grape growers blockaded the town for four days after cognac makers slashed grape orders.

These days, the cognac industry is thriving -- thanks to America, not Asia. Exports of cognac to the U.S. have nearly tripled over the past 10 years, and last year Americans spent an estimated $1 billion on Napoleon's nightcap.

Behind this trend are the likes of Sean "P. Diddy" Combs, Snoop Dogg and other rappers who have embraced the pricey brandy with the 300-year history as a status symbol. That has spawned a cult cognac following among young urban blacks, who mix the liquor in new cocktails with names like "Thug Passion" and "French Connection."

Long associated with gastronomes and white-shoe bankers, cognac has become ubiquitous on the black night scene in New York, Atlanta and Chicago, among other places. Eric "Kaine" Jackson, 24, half of the Atlanta hip-hop duo the Ying Yang Twins, calls cognac a mellow "man's drink" but cautions against overdoing the 80 proof liquor.

"It can wake something up" in you, he warns. Speaking on a cellphone on his way to shooting a video for his band's new song, "Naggin,' " he says he and his partner drink cognac "on the club scene doing our shows, or at the end of a date," or at midday, when there "ain't nothin' to do."

Often referred to by the hip-hop crowd as "yak," cognac figures in countless rap songs. Hennessy, the preferred brand of many rappers and the drink of choice of the Ying Yang Twins, is itself affectionately known in about 100 songs as "Henny," "Henn-dog," or "Henn-roc."

Cognac "is a classy, sophisticated and really smooth thing to drink," says rap star Jay-Z. His new Manhattan club, 40/40, features a "Remy room" in honor of his own favorite cognac brand, Remy Martin. He says he likes to sip Remy Martin's Louis XIII -- which comes in a gold-encrusted Baccarat crystal bottle for $5,000 -- "whenever I wanna have a really relaxing moment, usually with a cigar."

The rappers' ostentation is in stark contrast to the frugal lives of grape growers in and around Cognac, who have been tending to family-owned vineyards for generations. "It's not quite the same world," says Ms. Louvet, 44 years old, whose great-grandfather, in 1890, bought the 74 acres of land she cultivates.

"In this region, you don't show your wealth if you have some, and you don't talk about money," Ms. Louvet says. She is keeping an open mind, though. "We have our values here, but we tolerate the values of others. What we want is to make a living."

That hasn't been a problem recently. The U.S. imported 3.7 million cases of cognac last year, up from 1.3 million in 1993, accounting for 36% of the world-wide market. Hennessy, the biggest cognac brand in the U.S., with 53% of the market, says young blacks now account for 60% to 85% of its U.S. sales. That surge in consumption has helped the roughly 20,000 Cognac-area inhabitants whose livelihoods depend on the cognac trade.

Cognac was first produced in the 17th century, when Dutch sea merchants found they could better preserve the white wine they shipped from southern France to northern Europe by distilling it. Shipping delays eventually made them realize that the distilled wine got better as it aged in wooden barrels.

In the U.S., cognac has been popular among affluent blacks since the 1970s. But it didn't become big on the hip-hop scene until the late 1990s, when rappers took to mixing it with other drinks. Mixing cognac had been considered heresy by traditionalists, who savor the high-end brandy straight, in a snifter, as an after-dinner drink. Desperate for new growth, cognac makers seized on the trend, openly targeting their marketing at young blacks and touting cognac in mixed drinks.

There are four main cognac companies: Hennessy, Remy Martin, Courvoisier and Martell. They buy grapes from growers but handle the aging, blending, marketing and distribution themselves. Hennessy is owned by LVMH M'et Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA, Remy Martin by Remy-Cointreau SA, Courvoisier by Allied Domecq PLC, and Martell by Pernod Ricard SA. The centuries-old arrangement has left growers cut off from the ultimate consumer and often oblivious to the latest market trends.

In April, Courvoisier decided to educate its grape suppliers about the U.S. market. The 900 farmers gathered for an event near Cognac were aghast when the company played a video of Busta Rhymes's ode to the brand, which includes sexually suggestive and violent scenes. "They didn't know what to make of it," says a Courvoisier spokeswoman, who adds that the projector broke down before they could see the part where a bottle of Courvoisier gets passed around.

"We weren't expecting cognac to be associated with those types of people," says Jean-Marie Macoin, a 55-year-old grower who attended the presentation. But, he says, "we know we have to adapt to a changing world."

At Jay-Z's New York club, bottles of cognac more than 100 years old are displayed in glass cases sealed by digital combination locks. The rapper has given the drink plenty of free publicity, including this plug in his 2000 tune "Change the Game": "Yak in my pocket, smokin' the sticky chocolate (OO-WEE!)"

Juan Perez, a friend and business partner of Jay-Z, says the cachet of cognac is what draws him to the drink. Lounging on a sofa and watching Black Entertainment Television on a giant plasma screen at 40/40, he explains how best to appreciate it: "What you do is you take your $650 shot of cognac and you put it in your $4,000 glass and you smoke a big doobie." He compares other expensive liquors to "a Benz" and cognac to "a Bentley."

Frank Delour, a hip-hop disc jockey and producer, says cognac was the "old school pimp drink" when he first tried it in 1987. Then rappers embraced it as a way of saying, "I'm livin' fly," he says. Mr. Delour recently spun records at a Courvoisier-sponsored event in Bryant Park in Manhattan.

In Cognac, locals try to digest the culture of their new customers as best they can. "There are times when I don't ask myself too many questions," says Yann Fillioux, Hennessy's 56-year-old master blender, who has been selecting and aging cognacs for 37 years. Asked whether he listens to rap, Mr. Fillioux, who is the seventh-generation master blender in his family, deadpans: "I'm more of a classical-music kind of guy."

Hoping to bridge the cultural chasm, Hennessy plans to fly a half-dozen grape growers to New York in the fall for a tour of night spots. Ms. Louvet, who plans to make the trip, is guardedly looking forward to her first visit to the U.S.

"The more Americans drink cognac and prefer it to whiskey, the better it is for us," she says with a shrug.