Christine Cooney, cofounder and CEO of Heavenly Spirits Imports, specializing within the gross sales and showcasing of French spirits in the US, was made a knight of the Ordre du Mérite Agricole.
French native, Christine proudly acquired the inexperienced medal (generally known as Le Poireau/the leek) for its vibrant coloration. The celebrated accolade, bestowed by the Minister of Agriculture in Paris since 1883 honors distinctive contributions to agriculture, forestry, and gastronomy. Mustafa Soykurt, Consul Common of France in Boston, had the respect of presenting this esteemed award throughout a ceremony on the metropolis’s French Library.
The occasion passed off amid a backdrop of celebration, as Christine and her husband and enterprise accomplice, Daniel, hosted a full portfolio tasting to mark the fifteenth anniversary of their firm.
In a heartfelt acceptance speech delivered in each French and English, Christine mirrored on her journey with spirits, which started on the age of seven below the steerage of her paternal grandfather, Amedee Foubert. Foubert, a farmer, and wine service provider within the Charente-Maritime division of southwest France, initiated her palate with brandy distilled from plums from his orchard. Regardless of her preliminary distaste her grandfather launched her to a different providing—an amber liquid he known as Armagnac. To her shock, she discovered it immensely interesting.
This early expertise fostered a long-lasting connection to spirits for Christine. She and her husband undertook the restoration of her household’s 120-acre farm in France following the passing of her grandfather and father. Since 2008, she has distinguished herself as a number one importer of award-winning French spirits in the US. There are 38 states the place the corporate is at present promoting its rigorously curated catalog of Armagnac, Calvados, Cognac, absinthe, gin, rum, vodka, whisky, vermouth, and varied liqueurs and apéritifs.
“Generally, it may be troublesome to carve out just a little spot on the shelf for our spirits in a market that’s already flooded by the larger, industrial manufacturers,” Christine Cooney informed France-Amérique. “However we join with American customers who’re really within the genuine tales behind our manufacturers. France began distilling 700 years in the past and has an unsurpassed, international status for producing top-notch spirits. The ‘made in France’ label sells, and discerning customers right here know that.”
Heavenly Spirits has been the number-one importer of Armagnac (in quantity) in the US for the previous 14 years. And in 2017 Christine and Daniel Cooney have been each inducted into the Compagnie des Mousquetaires d’Armagnac on the referral of some of their Armagnac producers, for his or her promotion of French artwork de vivre and gastronomy,
Bringing my French tradition and keenness for all issues associated to meals, wines, spirits, and gastronomy to the US has been a life-defining expertise,” says Christine. “I assume it’s what makes me a real French-American!”
