logo janneau black

THE HISTORY
OF A SYMBOL

1310

Armagnac is the oldest spirit French Spirit. The first writings mentioning Armagnac date back to 1310. This eau-de-vie was born of the meeting of three cultures, Roman - who first planted grapevines in the region, Celt - who introduced the use of barrels, and Arabic - who brought alambics and stills and the science of distillation.

Creation of Maison Janneau

Under the reign of Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, Pierre-Etienne Janneau and Joseph Dubourdieu created Maison Dubourdieu Janneau & Cie.
Five generations of Janneau succeeded each other at the head of the Maison: Pierre-Etienne; Pierre-Louis; Etienne; Pierre; Michel and Etienne.

1907

Pierre-Louis Janneau stands against the proposal - finally adopted in 1909 - of splitting the Armagnac in 3 zones (Bas-Armagnac, Ténarèze, Haut-Armagnac). According to him, the small market of Armagnac should have bet on unity. Faithful to his ideal, Maison Janneau has always blended its armagnacs from the best eaux-de-vie from each region.

1970-1972 Pierre Janneau and Georges Samalens petition the INAO to accept the production from Charentais pot stills. Following this petition, in 1972, a decree from the INAO authorized discontinued distillation in Charentais pot still.

1974

Martell & Co acquires Maison Janneau.

1976 Grand Armagnac Janneau is served on the AirFrance Concorde flights Paris-Washington and Paris-New York.

1978

New tagline for exports in Great Britain: ‘Grand Armagnac Janneau Ordinaire it is not’.

1980
 Creation of the Basque bottles with ‘godrons’ (ridges), signature bottle of Maison Janneau.

1992 Big advertisement campaign in London with visuals inspired by Robert Doisneau and the tagline ‘Rather more Janeau-sait-quoi than mere brandy’.

1994

The Italian spirit-trade family-group Giovinetti & Figli SpA becomes the new owner of Janneau.

2010

When he is not on the run, George Clooney appreciates a glass of Grand Armagnac Janneau in Anton Corbijn’s movie The American.

2014

The Spirit France group, specialist in producing and selling French spirits, acquires Maison Janneau.

Today

Grands Armagnacs Janneau are the leaders of their category for the export and in duty-free shops.