Bardinet S.A.

History

The story begins in 1857.

A young liqueur maker from Limoges, Paul Bardinet, takes an interest in a sugar cane alcohol. This " tafia " as they called it in those days, was nothing but a “ gullet rinse “ for pirates.

However, hidden behind the crudeness of this alcohol, Paul Bardinet could feel the latent and incomparably rich flavours and aromas.

Having become a merchant–blender, Paul Bardinet, sets himself to the task of taming the moods of this sunshine child, of marrying the different origins and enhancing it by long ageing in oak casks. An unrivalled rum and brand are born of this impassioned labour. Négrita rum would soon travel around the world even if it did not bear that name at the time.

It was time to leave Limoges to settle closer to the rum-bearing vessels.

That was Edouard’s task, Paul Bardinet’s son, who, close to the quays of Bordeaux port built huge cellars and trained little by little his master blenders.

Rich in its mastery of raw materials of high quality, the company then started to develop a large range of new products, punches and ready made cocktails, sugar cane syrups, all of them meeting swiftly with consumers’ approval.

This successful diversification was followed by other great achievements, particularly in the field of whisky.

Since 1974 Bardinet has regrouped all its activities on the Domaine de Fleurenne in the heart of the magnificent 14-hectare property on the outskirts of Bordeaux.

Ultra modern production and bottling facilities, huge cellars for ageing rums and brandies – the largest rum cellars in Europe, a research and quality control laboratory – everything there meets the quality requirements and expectations of the market.

This huge complex comprises today :

• 120.000 hectolitres of spirit storage capacity, of which 25% is reserved for wood ageing, split into 5 cellars.
• 3 fully automatic bottling lines reaching a capacity of 12.000 bottles per hour, a flask line and a PET bottle line, for a total capacity of 60 million bottles per year.

La Martiniquaise has a dominant position in the rum market through its various subsidiaries.

• 48% of BARDINET France's turnover comes from rum and similar products.
• The group has 5 distilleries in the Caribbean: DILLON, DEPAZ and SAINTE MARIE (Saint James) in La Martinique, SIS in Guadalupe and Distillerie de MARIE GALANTE.

NEGRITA

• More than 8 million bottles sold in 118 countries.
• Undisputed leader in France: 51% of the market (share in terms of value, Nielsen hypermarkets and supermarkets 2001).
• 2nd biggest brand in grocery sales in Spain: 23% of the dark rum market (share in terms of litres, Nielsen TAM AS’03).