When young Thomas Hine left the little village of Beaminster in Dorset, England in 1791 for the faraway Cognac region of southwestern France, he had no idea that he, an Englishman, was destined to spend his life developing one of the most distinguished Cognac firms in the world, the firm which today continues to bear his family name and to ship its Cognacs to more than 150 countries.

He set off for Cognac not to make the famous brandy, but to learn French. Two years later, however, fate intervened just as he was due to return to his family in Dorset. France and England were at war and the borders were closed.

So the young Englishman, he was then a mere nineteen year old settled in the pretty village of Jarnac, a few miles upstream along the Charente River from the town of Cognac. There he joined a local firm of Delamain which had been producing Cognac since 1763.

As a British subject who retained his nationality, Hine experienced difficult times during the Napoleonic wars. Being English, in 1793, he was jailed for some time in the Château de Jarnac with a certain Mr Hennessy, but thanks to the intervention of Monsieur Delamain he was granted his freedom.

In 1797 Thomas married Françoise Elisabeth Delamain which opened the doors to the old and respected Cognac firm of Delamain, which had previously belonged to the Ranson family. Thomas Hine was so highly regarded that he was later elected a member of the local council, probably the first Briton ever to hold such a position. He became a partner in due course, and later in 1817 the firm took his name to become Thomas HINE & Co.

Since Thomas Hine's death in 1822, his direct descendants have continued his work. Today, the sixth generation of the Hine family, Bernard Hine, continues the tradition of ageing and blending only the finest natural Cognac brandies. The firm remains headquartered in the beautiful, old riverside premises in Jarnac where Thomas Hine originally ran the firm.