AMERICA’S “gangsta” rappers have adopted it and now the Russians are getting in on the act. Cognac, once associated with balloon glasses and bow ties, is being reborn as the tipple of choice for Siberians.

Forget about vodka. At least six cognac producers in southwestern France have been taken over in the past two years by Russians eager to exploit a growing thirst at home, particularly among Siberians, for the golden nectar that is said to help keep out the cold.

The French went off their brandy years ago, taking to whisky instead, but newly affluent Russians associate cognac with the good life and cannot get enough of it, judging by rocketing exports to Russia.

“Cognac is much more prestigious than vodka,” said Marina Selivanova, president of Croizet, a producer that had been owned by a French family for two centuries until 2007, when it was acquired by a Russian group.

“What is also important about cognac is the absence of a headache in the morning.”

Usually wrapped in a fur coat, the 34-year-old Selivanova is an oddity in the vineyards, and not just because she is a Muscovite. She is the only woman, Russian or not, to manage a cognac brand in the tradition-bound region.

Locals like to grumble about the “Russian invasion” but Selivanova says that “everyone has been very welcoming” and that she adores living in France. “I have exceptional social skills,” she adds.

Cognac, which as a brand was once associated with white males over 50, has already grown accustomed to more exotic bedfellows and life in the fast lane.

A few years ago the region was in crisis because of an economic downturn in Asia, until then the top market for the luxury brandy. Then the American market began to soar in a trend fuelled by rap stars such as Sean “P Diddy” Combs and Snoop Dogg.

Their discovery of cognac – “yak” as they affectionately call it – started a fashion among young black Americans who, in a practice considered heresy in France, mix it with fruit juices to make cocktails such as French Connection and Incredible Hulk. The rappers even wrote songs about Hennessy Cognac, referring to it as “Henny” or “Henn-dog”.

These days, however, the Russian “kings of bling” are attracting attention: it is not unusual to see private jumbo jets on the landing strip at Bordeaux as yet another potential Russian investor visits the vineyards.

Selivanova said a group of Siberian businessmen had recently dropped in to discuss distribution. They told her that Cognac was rapidly catching on among young Russians.

“Some people drink it with Coca-Cola,” she said. “But I don’t like this. I think it is too heavy. I much prefer it with tonic water.”

French purists might snigger, but Russia could prove cognac’s salvation in times of global economic uncertainty. In the past two years exports of spirits to Russia have risen by 40% and those of cognac to 4.78m bottles last year from only 630,000 in 1999.

Some locals have expressed concerns about what the Russians are up to. Their premises have, on occasion, been raided by customs agents. The fear is that the Russians may try – quelle horreur– to pass off ordinary brandy as cognac.

“At the beginning people were very suspicious,” says Tim Banks, Croizet’s British marketing director. “Everyone was pointing at the Russians as being the bad boys.

“After a while, though, they realised that the quality is still fine.”

Explore World News

• World Agenda

• Iraq News

• US & Americas News

• Europe News

• Middle East News

• Afghanistan News

• Asia News

• Africa News

• Ireland News

Times Recommends

• 'New York has lost its edge'
• Copenhagen will fail – and quite right too
• More than 17,000 new underwater species found