Valrhona

Valrhona
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryConfectionery production
Founded1922
FounderAlberic Guironnet
Headquarters
Tain-l'Hermitage
,
France
Area served
Worldwide
ProductsChocolates
Number of employees
500–999 (2020)
ParentSavencia Fromage & Dairy
Websitewww.valrhona.com

Valrhona is a French premium chocolate manufacturer based in the small town of Tain-l'Hermitage in Hermitage, a wine-growing district near Lyon.[1] It is now a subsidiary of Savencia Fromage & Dairy.[2][3] The company was founded in 1922[4] by a French pastry chef, Albéric Guironnet, from the Rhône valley and has five subsidiaries and 60 local distributors across the globe. It is one of the leading producers of gastronomic chocolate in the world.[5] The company also maintains the École du Grand Chocolat, a school for professional chefs with a focus on chocolate-based dishes and pastries.[6] In 2015 Valrhona opened the École Valrhona Brooklyn, a pastry school in Brooklyn;[7] there are also two Écoles Valrhona in France and one in Japan.[citation needed]

Valrhona focuses mainly on high-grade luxury chocolate marketed for commercial use by chefs as well as for private consumption.[5] The product line includes chocolate confectionery, plain and flavored chocolate bars and bulk chocolate in bars or pellets. Valrhona produces vintage chocolate made from beans of a single year's harvest from a specific plantation, primarily the Grand Crus[8] which is grown in South America, Oceania and the Caribbean. The company has been B Corp–certified since January 2020.[citation needed]

At Valrhona, chocolate is ground to 14/15 μm during the refining phase of chocolate making.[9]

  1. ^ Terrio, Susan Jane (2000). Crafting the Culture and History of French Chocolate. University of California Press. p. 279. ISBN 978-0-520-92394-2. Retrieved 18 March 2013.
  2. ^ "Valrhona peaufine son process à l'ancienne". L'usine Nouvelle (in French). 9 February 2006. Retrieved 18 March 2013.
  3. ^ Rosenblum, Mort (17 October 2006). Chocolate: A Bittersweet Saga of Dark and Light. Macmillan. pp. 150–. ISBN 978-0-86547-730-8. Retrieved 18 March 2013.
  4. ^ "Valrhona' s Expertise: from Cocoa Beans to Fine Chocolate Creations". Valrhona Chocolate. Valrhona. Retrieved 24 November 2015.
  5. ^ a b Collins, Glenn (2 November 2010). "Hoping Chefs Will Melt for Tcho Chocolate". November 2, 2010. New York Times. Retrieved 2 February 2013.
  6. ^ "Valrhona – Couverture Chocolates and Pralinés". SIRHA. Retrieved 24 November 2015.
  7. ^ Rao, Tejal (21 April 2015). "Luxury French Chocolate Maker Valrhona Opens a School in Brooklyn". Bloomberg L.P. Retrieved 24 November 2015.
  8. ^ National Geographic Society, "The 10 best chocolatiers in the World" by Nathaniel Lande and Andrew Lande. 28 December 2012.
  9. ^ Bau (2008), p. 29.