presents

Grand,
when everything
was petit.

• Written by Francesco Muzzopappa
• Illustrated by Lili des Bellons

TThis is the story of a declaration, of a name shouted with awe and enthusiasm in 1894 by César Ritz, the king of hoteliers, and the hotelier of the kings.

Now picture him sitting on a chair, upholstered with soft red velvet and a luxurious, glossy frame, in that very moment that followed his first unforgettable sip of a new orange-flavored cognac, produced by the imaginative intuition of Louis-Alexandre Marnier Lapostolle.

Picture his eyes, incredulous; his senses, first disoriented, then amazed.

Picture such an exclamation resounding through the halls of the renowned Savoy Hotel in London a few steps away from Leicester Square, and echoing out to the Thames, reaching Paris through the Seine, the Place Vendôme, swirling around the Eiffel Tower,

unwinding along the Champs-Élysées, wheeling next to Notre Dame, and resonating through the Jardin du Luxembourg and the alleys of the Ville Lumière, when, in the Ville Lumière, everything was petit: le petit journal, le petit café, le petit palais.

It was all too petit for an invention that already tasted like grandness; on the palate, but also in terms of ambition.

“Grand Marnier!” said César Ritz. “Grand Marnier!”

Think of the advertising, a seemingly ambitious term at that time, yet so present and alive in the mind of Louis-Alexandre Marnier Lapostolle, one of the first to grasp the importance of putting his precious creation alongside the celebrities of that time; famous actors, of course, but also sovereigns, making it a hit in the casinos, the spas, on cruise ships, theaters, and throughout that fashionable world that was so thirsty for life and yearned to be at the heart of the international jet set, observed through the lenses of their blown glasses.

And then there was the intuition of the bottles decorated by contemporary artists, without ever giving up the iconic Cordon Rouge, that red ribbon that was, by then, the symbol of the authenticity of an unmatched liqueur.

It was on everyone’s lips -Grand Marnier- appreciated by women after dinner, given away as a token with prizes bestowed at world expos, in the luster of the art nouveau countryside, for its bottle, so sinuous and original, for its intriguing and never banal flavor, and for its extreme versatility: not only a precious distillate to be tasted straight, but also a fundamental ingredient for the new Sunset Hour or Gran Cosmo, long drinks perfect for that hour when the day sinks into the night, when those unmistakable red-orange hues color the goblet and the sky.

A charm that reaches everywhere, from the fashionable cafés of the European capitals to the exclusive world of the most beautiful and cosmopolitan cities, and, obviously, passing through the unmistakable Paris streets, the setting for the steps of artists, writers and poets alike.

“Grand Marnier!” said César Ritz. “Grand Marnier!”

Slowly, over the years, everything that was petit in Paris gave way to grandeur: the Grand Palais, the sumptuous Gare de Lyon and Gare d’Orsay and, later on, the Grande Arche de la Défense, all international emblems of talent and grandness.