Martell is a leading manufacturer of Cognac, founded by Jean Martell in 1715. It was sold in 1988 by the Firino-Martell family to Seagram and again in 2002 to the Pernod Ricard Group, which also owns the Cognac brands Biscuit and Renault.
The cellar master was, up to the 1980s, from the family Chapeau (in the way the cellar masters of Hennessy are from the family Fillioux).
Martell attaches importance to produce pure, soft, neutral Cognacs; thus it does not distill lees in the wine. Preferred are casks made from Tronçais oak, which is darker, with narrow pores, less tannin and more lignin, than Limousin-oak, resulting in less "wooden" aromas in the Cognac.
Much of Martell Cognac is produced from wine from the Borderies region, in contrast to other companies, which mainly sell fine Champagne Cognac. Borderies Cognac has a more nutty taste.