Innovation at the Heart of Domaine du Coquerel

Can you introduce Coquerel and your role ?

Domaine du Coquer­el is a family-owned dis­til­lery that has been pro­du­cing Calvados since 1937, as well as Pom­meau de Nor­man­die. We have also expan­ded into other spir­its with gin and have upcom­ing pro­jects in whisky and rum.
I work as a Sales Man­ager, mainly for France and Europe. Before that, I worked in the United States for the dis­trib­ut­or BCI, where Coquer­el was part of my port­fo­lio. That’s how I met Pierre Martin-Neuhaus, the estate owner, and we quickly formed a strong connection.

Calvados is still a niche category. What do you think about its potential ?

I often ask myself that ques­tion, but I believe there is real poten­tial. The main obstacle remains its lack of aware­ness. Yet, our spirit has everything going for it : a rich his­tory, sus­tain­able pro­duc­tion, and a unique taste. But con­sumers don’t have the “Calvados reflex”.
Maybe we will remain a niche… but to tap into this poten­tial, it’s cru­cial for all brands to invest in build­ing aware­ness and mod­ern­iz­ing Calvados’ image.

Are you present in export markets ?

Yes, in more than 30 coun­tries. In fact, over 70% of our rev­en­ue comes from exports, driven by our key mar­kets: USA, Asia, and Europe. In Europe, the mar­kets are quite frag­men­ted, but we have strong his­tor­ic­al ties with the Nordic coun­tries, where we are lead­ers in our category.
Recently, we have also entered Italy and the UK, which rep­res­ent great oppor­tun­it­ies for our cat­egory, as both coun­tries have strong poten­tial and a rich spir­its and brandy culture.

How can we explain that these challenges persist even in Normandy?

The biggest issue remains the out­dated per­cep­tion of the product and its lack of vis­ib­il­ity. I’m from Rouen, the largest city in Normandy, and I know very few res­taur­at­eurs who act­ively pro­mote Calvados. Yet, simply adding a “Calvados Tonic” to their menus would make a real dif­fer­ence. Mar­ket­ing is essen­tial, as other spir­its with bigger budgets dom­in­ate the space. A col­lect­ive aware­ness is needed : pro­du­cers, IDAC, wine mer­chants, and res­taur­at­eurs must work togeth­er to move beyond old per­cep­tions. We, Nor­mans, must take pride in Calvados and fully embrace it on our tables and in our establishments.

What could boost the future of Calvados ?

We need to shake things up ! At Coquer­el, we strive to innov­ate as much as pos­sible. Recently, we intro­duced new products tar­get­ing high-qual­ity niches, such as the Calvados Cigar Blend and the first-ever Calvados cuvée sold as an NFT.. These ini­ti­at­ives bring atten­tion around the brand among com­munit­ies eager for new tast­ing exper­i­ences. We con­tinu­ously work on our product ranges, pack­aging, and qual­ity to reg­u­larly offer new lim­ited edi­tions and strong col­lab­or­a­tions with other industry play­ers, to reach new con­sumers and spir­its enthusiasts.
The future can be bright, but it will depend on everyone’s abil­ity to invest in their own brand image and the arrival of new play­ers in our apple brandy cat­egory, to strengthen a shared, clear, and rel­ev­ant mes­sage for consumers.

Do you have a favorite Calvados cocktail?

The Sazer­ac with a Calvados twist is awe­some ! It’s a clas­sic cock­tail in the “old-fash­ioned” style. The fruit­i­ness of Calvados and the grain notes of Rye com­ple­ment each other perfectly.