The company is based in the department of Charente and is nearly three centuries old – one of the oldest in France. Biography   Son of Thomas and Martha Martell Héraud, Jean Martell was born in 1694 in the parish of St Brelade, on the Island of Jersey where the family of merchants had settled in the 11th century. After working in Guernsey, he founded his trading house of spirits in 1715 at Gatebourse in Cognac, France, where he joined forces with a merchant from Bordeaux, Jean Hot. Originally they bought casks of cognac and wine for export to the Channel Islands and Europe. The company went bankrupt and then was revived.
The company is based in the department of Charente and is nearly three centuries old – one of the oldest in France. Biography Son of Thomas and Martha Martell Héraud, Jean Martell was born in 1694 in the parish of St Brelade, on the Island of Jersey where the family of merchants had settled in the 11th century. After working in Guernsey, he founded his trading house of spirits in 1715 at Gatebourse in Cognac, France, where he joined forces with a merchant from Bordeaux, Jean Hot. Originally they bought casks of cognac and wine for export to the Channel Islands and Europe. The company went bankrupt and then was revived.