From Cognac to GRAND MARNIER_®

1827. The history of the GRAND MARNIER_® brand began with the founding, by Jean-Baptiste Lapostolle, of a distillery in Neauphle-le-Château near Paris, which was quickly to acquire a solid reputation for the quality of its eaux-de-vie. Success was to follow later, however, when Eugène Lapostolle, son of Jean-Baptiste, took over from his father at the head of the company.

1870. During a visit to the Cognac region, Eugène Lapostolle discovered a land rich in traditions and know-how with which he felt an immediate affinity. On his return to Neauphle-le-Château, he brought back with him a large stock of Cognac eaux-de-vie that had aged over a long period. Was his intention simply to market them? Who knows! But, one thing was sure, the foundation stone had been laid.

1876. Louis-Alexandre Marnier marries the daughter of Eugène Lapostolle: the Marnier Lapostolle family is born. The real genius proved to be an inventive and dynamic figure: Louis-Alexandre Marnier Lapostolle, Eugène’s son-in-law, who was then head of the Neauphle-le-Château laboratory.
Fascinated by the organoleptic richness of Cognac, Louis-Alexandre Marnier-Lapostolle decided to use it to create a new liqueur of peerless complexity. He decided to blend the cognac with a fruit which, at the time, was still rare and exotic: the orange.
He created an original liqueur which he called GRAND MARNIER_® on César Ritz’s advice.