The Bache-Gabrielsen cognac house
Falling in love with a beautiful French woman was the reason why Thomas Bache-Gabrielsen from Holmestrand set up home in the heart of Cognac. By working hard and making wise choices, Thomas Bache-Gabrielsen and Peter Anton Rustad from Ås became the owners of the Dupuy cognac house. After a while they set their sights on the Scandinavian market. Four generations later we are still enjoying the drinks produced by this quality conscious, traditional company.
The fairytale started over 100 years ago – in 1905. The young 2nd Lieutenant, Thomas Bache-Gabrielsen from Holmestrand, left the army when he was 20 and travelled to Cognac in order to acquire some practical working experience in a foreign country that appealed to both his heart and his brain. Peter Anton Rustad from Ås in the county of Akershus had already arrived in the region in 1893, and in 1905 he purchased A. Edmond Dupuy, a trading company that had been formed in 1852. The partner he chose to help him lay the world at his feet was Thomas Bache-Gabrielsen. In 1906 Thomas became a real Frenchman by marrying Miss Odette Villard who came from a vineyard just outside Cognac. During the first few years their cognac was marketed under the name of Rustad & Bache-Gabrielsen, in addition to the company name Dupuy. Their connections with Scandinavia were extremely good, and this was where they acquired their first stable markets. Peter Rustad, who served for a while as the Norwegian Consul in Cognac, died in a motorcycle accident in 1916, and Thomas Bache-Gabrielsen then continued the business on his own. The cognac house is currently run by Thomas Bache-Gabrielsen’s grandson, Christian, who will in time hand over the helm to his eldest son Hervé. Bache-Gabrielsen is a medium-sized family company that has been extremely successful on both the Norwegian market and elsewhere.