Latest posts by Martin Moodie (see all)
- Discovering a Spirit of Legacy with Hennessy in Hong Kong - September 14, 2026
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Almost 40 years into my travel retail career and I never cease to feel privileged at the people, products and passion I encounter in this wonderfully universal business.
Seldom have I felt that sense of good fortune more than last Tuesday evening when I was invited by Moët Hennessy Travel Retail to ‘Spirit of Legacy: Shared Across Generations’, the beautifully apposite theme for a marvellous event at the acclaimed MOTT 32 restaurant in Central, Hong Kong.
For the ‘spirit’ in question conveyed dual meaning – the occasion was a joyous celebration of Hennessy Cognac and of the legacy that has carried this great Maison through its extraordinary 261-year history.
In both senses, that spirit evokes the family name adorned on the world’s most-popular Cognac. That illustrious name was personified on the night by the attendance of Maurice Hennessy and his daughter Marie, in what amounted to a touchingly human and elegant ‘passing of the baton’ from one generation to another. Both of them living stewards of the Hennessy family legacy.
The duo are on an extended tour of Asia (Macau, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore) with Marie cast in the role of Hennessy Global Brand Ambassador alongside her father who has borne that honour and responsibility with much distinction over many years.
“Legacy is alive when it continues to be shared,” explained Maurice. “Each generation of our family has inherited something precious from those before us, but also has a responsibility to bring its own perspective and experiences to the Maison. To be here in Asia with Marie, meeting people who have their own longstanding connection with Hennessy, is a wonderful expression of that continuity.”
Marie added: “Growing up in Cognac, Hennessy was always part of the world around me, but my own relationship with that heritage has evolved over time. It is very special to share that story alongside my father and to contribute my own perspective as part of a legacy that continues to evolve.”
I was honoured to sit next to Maurice during an evening hosted with warmth and class by Moët Hennessy Travel Retail and graced by China Duty Free Group and several of the retailer’s invited VIPs.
Now 76, Maurice is a to-the-manor-born storyteller; his many anecdotes – like the man himself – have aged as well as the great Cognacs with which we enjoyed a sumptuous six-course meal. More of those in a moment.
Born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, just outside Paris, Maurice is an eighth-generation member of the family (and therefore Marie a ninth) founded by Irishman Richard Hennessy back in 1765.
And being the man of the earth that he is – besides still overseeing the family’s 100-hectare vineyard in Grande Champagne, as a young man he went to farming school to pursue his dreams of becoming a cattle rancher – Maurice is the most relaxed and most unpretentious of souls. His deep knowledge of Cognac is conveyed with affection and easily understandable parlance, registering with everyone from novice to aficionado, as he (and Marie) described the great Cognacs we enjoyed during our sumptuous six-course meal.
And what Cognacs they were. X.O, X.X.O and Paradise to accompany the opening courses and a final glorious flourish with the rare and sublime Richard Hennessy (HK$55,770/US$7,100 at Duty Zero by cdf, Hong Kong International Airport) presented as a consummate partner to a sumptuous dessert (Sesame Chocolate Tart, Lime & Sea Salt, Pine Nut; and Steamed Red Date Pudding).
In between his evocative explanations of the liquids, Maurice told me about growing up in the town of Cognac and the normality of it all rather than any sense of pomp arising from being a member of what amounts to the ultimate Cognac aristocracy.
His father, a nuclear scientist, never pushed him into the business but an internship with a Hennessy distributor served like a magnetic field, drawing him home.
Maurice swears he never drank Cognac until he was in his 20s, though as a teenager his father would add some drops of the golden liquid onto a lump of sugar for him to taste. No doubt that is how Marie also came to first savour the great brandy of France and the world.
Among the many things we talked about (rugby, naturally; travel – our mutual love of the Greek islands, his favourite Mykonos, mine Symi), duty free was of course high on the agenda.
And although the Maison has long since been subsumed into the mighty Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy empire, Maurice Hennessy still feels immense pride as he sees the family name displayed with panache at the great airports of the world such as Hong Kong International with Duty Zero by cdf, pictured below.
The Spirit of Legacy still shines as brightly at those airports and with retailers such as CDFG as it does in the role that Marie Hennessy accepts, with much humility, as a bequeathment from her father. The bloodline continues, the great Cognac lives on. Shared across generations. ✈
Footnote: As a final reflection of the evening, guests received their own Legacy Portrait, a personal keepsake celebrating their place in a shared moment of Hennessy’s living legacy. For the record, I emphasise that any resemblance between me and Vladimir Putin is purely coincidental.
