Editing Hennessy (section)

==History==
[[File:Richardhennessy1724-1800.jpg|thumb|[[Richard Hennessy]] (1724–1800) founded the distillery in 1765]]
The Hennessy cognac [[distillery]] was founded by [[Irish people|Irish]] [[Jacobitism|Jacobite]] military officer [[Richard Hennessy]] in 1765, who had served in the army of [[Louis XV]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Time Inc|title=LIFE|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1kQEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA64|date=24 May 1937|publisher=Time Inc|page=64|issn=0024-3019}}</ref><ref name="MHD {{!}} Moët Hennessy Diageo">{{Cite web |title=MHD {{!}} Moët Hennessy Diageo |url=https://www.mhdkk.com/en/brands/hennessy/history/index.html |access-date=2022-03-23 |website=MHD {{!}} Moët Hennessy Diageo |language=ja}}</ref> The Hennessy family's seat was Killavullen near Mallow, and was closely related in County Cork to the Nagle, Burke and Roche families. He retired to the [[Cognac, France|Cognac]] region, and began distilling and exporting brandies, first to Britain and his native Ireland, closely followed by the United States.<ref name="MHD {{!}} Moët Hennessy Diageo"/> In 1813 Richard Hennessy's son James Hennessy gave the company its trading name, Jas Hennessy & Co.<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Hennessy, l'empire du cognac |url=https://www.francesoir.fr/lifestyle-gastronomie/hennessy-lempire-du-cognac |work=[[France-Soir]] |date=31 December 2014 |access-date=22 April 2019}}</ref> He was also responsible for choosing Jean Fillioux as the house's Master Blender. A member of the Fillioux family has occupied the role ever since, a business relationship that has lasted eight generations and more than 250 years.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Morganstern |first=Adam |title=Hennessy 8: A $40,000 Cognac Celebrates Two Families Working Together For Eight Generations |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/adammorganstern/2016/04/28/hennessy-8-a-40000-cognac-celebrates-two-families-working-together-for-eight-generations/ |access-date=2022-03-23 |website=Forbes |language=en}}</ref>

Hennessy became the world's leading exporter of brandy in the 1840s, a status it has never lost.<ref name=":0" /> By 1860, it represented one out of every four bottles of cognac sold internationally.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hennessy, high-end cognac - Wines & Spirits |url=https://www.lvmh.com/houses/wines-spirits/hennessy/ |access-date=2022-03-24 |website=LVMH |date=June 2021 |language=en}}</ref> Hennessy also instituted several of the conventions now used across the cognac industry. It was one of the first marques to sell bottles rather than casks of cognac, a process that helped it survive the [[Great French Wine Blight]] in the mid-nineteenth century.<ref name=":0" /> It was also the first cognac house to use star ratings, and the gradings [[Very Superior Old Pale|V.S.O.P]]. and [[XO cognac|XO]], which are today used by most other cognac producers.

The V.S.O.P. designation was first applied in 1817, when the Prince Regent (later [[King George IV]]) of Britain asked Hennessy to create a "very superior old pale" cognac, a description that had previously been applied to sherries.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Rothbaum |first=Noah |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=holNEAAAQBAJ&dq=vsop+king+george+iv&pg=PT1922 |title=The Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails |date=2021-10-14 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-067040-5 |language=en}}</ref> Maurice Hennessy, the grandson of Richard Hennessy, then introduced a star-based classification of cognac qualities in 1865 (a system simultaneously adopted by Hennessy's competitor [[Martell (cognac)|Martell]]), which remained the industry standard of cognac age designation until the 1960s.<ref name=":0" /> Maurice Hennessy also created the [[Cognac (drink)#Grades|XO]] ("extra old") designation in 1870, for cognacs which had undergone prolonged [[cask maturation]].<ref name=":0" />

A branch of the Hennessy family moved from France to England in the early 1900s. It established itself in the Army and in English politics, eventually earning the title of Baron Windlesham. Although family ties are alive, the English branch is no longer involved in the cognac business.

In 1944 [[Kilian Hennessy]], a fifth-generation direct descendant of Richard Hennessy, began assisting his cousin Maurice Hennessy in running the business.<ref name="irishtimes.com">{{Cite news |title=Cognac magnate responsible for transforming family business |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/cognac-magnate-responsible-for-transforming-family-business-1.661796 |access-date=2022-03-23 |newspaper=The Irish Times |language=en}}</ref> Kilian Hennessy had intended to be a banker, but instead went on to position Hennessy as an international brand, travelling to Ireland, the United States and Asia to promote the brand.<ref name="irishtimes.com"/> He first visited China in 1946, and the nation has since become the world's second-largest cognac market.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2022-01-17 |title=Cognac sales jump 31% as drinkers go upmarket |language=en |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/cognac-sales-jump-31-drinkers-go-upmarket-2022-01-17/ |access-date=2022-03-23}}</ref> In 1947, Hennessy's business relationship with [[Martell (cognac)|Martell]] also came to a close, after the death of Maurice Firino-Martell.<ref name="Faith">{{Cite book |last=Faith |first=Nicholas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2Z0WB5dExx0C&q=hennessy+cocktails |title=Cognac |date=2004-04-15 |publisher=Octopus |isbn=978-1-84533-614-1 |language=en}}</ref>

Hennessy has also become a key part of major luxury [[Conglomerate (company)|conglomerates]]. In 1971 Kilian Hennessy spearheaded the company's merger with [[Moët et Chandon]], to create [[Moët Hennessy]] which eventually went public and thrived financially.<ref name="afp">{{cite news |date=3 October 2010 |title=Cognac magnate Kilian Hennessy dies at 103 |work=[[Agence France Presse]] |url=http://www.expatica.com/fr/news/french-news/cognac-magnate-kilian-hennessy-dies-at-103-official_100604.html |access-date=10 October 2010 |archive-date=10 March 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130310040618/http://www.expatica.com/fr/news/french-news/cognac-magnate-kilian-hennessy-dies-at-103-official_100604.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> Moët Hennessy then announced a merger with [[Louis Vuitton]], which already owned champagne brands, in 1987,<ref>{{Cite news |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=1988-09-16 |title=COMPANY NEWS; Group Claims LVMH Edge |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/09/16/business/company-news-group-claims-lvmh-edge.html |access-date=2022-03-23 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> creating the world's largest [[luxury brand]] [[Conglomerate (company)|conglomerate]], [[LVMH|Louis Vuitton • Moët-Hennessy]] or [[LVMH]].

In 1988, a management crisis led to the group's takeover by [[Bernard Arnault]], owner of the [[haute couture]] house [[Christian Dior S.A.|Christian Dior]], with the support of the [[Guinness]] brewery group.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Kirkpatrick |first=David D. |title=The Luxury Wars - Nymag |url=https://nymag.com/nymetro/shopping/fashion/features/865/ |access-date=2022-03-23 |website=New York Magazine |date=26 April 1999 |language=en-us}}</ref> The so-called "LVMH affair" was so controversial in France that French President [[François Mitterrand]] referenced it in a televised address.<ref name=":1" />

Kilian Hennessy remained on the company's [[advisory board]] until his death in 2010 at the age of 103.<ref name="afp" /> An eighth generation representative of the Hennessy dynasty, Maurice-Richard Hennessy, acts as one of the brand's global ambassadors. He had originally trained as a farmer before entering the family business.<ref>{{Cite web |title=5 Questions With Maurice Hennessy On The Hennessy Paradis Imperial |url=https://guide.michelin.com/en/article/people/5-questions-with-maurice-hennessy |access-date=2022-03-23 |website=MICHELIN Guide |language=en-US}}</ref>

From 2018 onward, Hennessy experienced production shortages caused in part by increased demand, bottle shortages, and frosts.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2017-10-19 |title=LVMH opens new cognac bottling plant to cope with US demand |url=https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/fashion-beauty/article/2116047/us-and-chinese-demand-cognac-prompts-lvmh-open-us118 |access-date=2022-03-23 |website=South China Morning Post |language=en}}</ref>