Valrhona is a French chocolate manufacturer based in the small town of Tain L'Hermitage in Hermitage, a wine-growing district near Lyon. The company was founded in 1922[1] by a French pastry chef, Monsieur Guironnet, from the Rhône valley and has five subsidiaries and 60 local distributors across the globe. It is today one of the leading producers of chocolate in the world[citation needed]. The company also maintains the École du Grand Chocolat, a school for professional chefs with a focus on chocolate-based dishes and pastries.
Valrhona focuses mainly on high-grade luxury chocolate marketed for professional as well as for private consumption. Though considered one of the foremost chocolate makers in the world, Valrhona is in roughly the same price range as Godiva and Neuhaus.[2] 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 which is grown in South America, the Oceania and the Caribbean. Currently three brands of vintage chocolates – Ampamakia, Gran Couva and Palmira – are in production with plantations on Madagascar, Trinidad and in Venezuela respectively.
