Ararat (brandy)

Last updated
Ararat
Ararat brandy from yerevan.jpg
Product type Brandy
Owner Pernod Ricard
Country Armenia
Introduced1877
Previous owners Yerevan Brandy Company
Website ybc.am

Ararat (stylized as ArArAt) is a brand of Armenian brandy produced 10 years before the Yerevan Brandy Company was established (1877). [1] [2] It is made from white grapes and spring water, according to a traditional method. The brand's "ordinary brandies" are aged between 3 and 6 years. Its "aged brandies" are between 10 and 30 years old.

Contents

Ararat brandy is primarily sold in countries of the former USSR, chief among them Russia, Georgia, Ukraine and Belarus. In the Russian-speaking countries of the former Soviet Union, the Armenian brandy is marketed as cognac (Russian:армянский коньяк, tr. armjanskij konjak). In 1900, the brandy won the Grand-prix award in Paris that allowed Ararat to legally call their brandy "cognac" until it was revoked after WWII. [3] [4] The term "brandy" has never really caught on in the region. [1]

In politics

A bottle of Ararat brandy Brandy Ararat.jpg
A bottle of Ararat brandy

An undocumented story claims that during the Yalta Conference, Winston Churchill was so impressed with the Armenian brandy Dvin given to him by Joseph Stalin [5] that he asked for several cases of it to be sent to him each year. [6] [7] [8] Reportedly 400 bottles of Dvin were shipped to Churchill annually. [4] [9] This brandy was named in honour of the ancient capital Dvin, and was first produced in 1943. [9]

During a 2013 meeting at his personal villa in Sochi, Russian president Vladimir Putin gave British Prime Minister David Cameron a bottle of Armenian brandy as a gift, recalling Stalin's offering to Churchill in 1945. [10]

Brands

Retired brands include:

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brandy</span> Spirit produced by distilling wine

Brandy is a liquor produced by distilling wine. Brandy generally contains 35–60% alcohol by volume and is typically consumed as an after-dinner digestif. Some brandies are aged in wooden casks. Others are coloured with caramel colouring to imitate the effect of ageing, and some are produced using a combination of ageing and colouring. Varieties of wine brandy can be found across the winemaking world. Among the most renowned are Cognac and Armagnac from south-western France.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Ararat</span> Highest mountain in Turkey

Mount Ararat, also known as Mount Ağrı ; or Masis, is a snow-capped and dormant compound volcano in eastern Turkey. It consists of two major volcanic cones: Greater Ararat and Little Ararat. Greater Ararat is the highest peak in Turkey with an elevation of 5,137 m (16,854 ft); Little Ararat's elevation is 3,896 m (12,782 ft). The Ararat massif is about 35 km (22 mi) wide at ground base. The first recorded efforts to reach Ararat's summit were made in the Middle Ages, and Friedrich Parrot, Khachatur Abovian, and four others made the first recorded ascent in 1829.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ararat Province</span> Province of Armenia

Ararat is a province (marz) of Armenia. Its capital and largest city is the town of Artashat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Armavir Province</span> Province of Armenia

Armavir, is a province (marz) in the western part of Armenia. Located in the Ararat plain dominated by Mount Ararat from the south and Mount Aragats from the north, the province's capital is the town of Armavir while the largest city is Vagharshapat (Etchmiadzin). The province shares a 72 km (45 mi)-long border with Turkey to the south and west.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Artashat, Armenia</span> Place in Ararat, Armenia

Artashat is a town and administrative centre of the Artashat Municipality and the Ararat Province of Armenia. It is located on the Araks River in the Ararat plain, 30 km southeast of Yerevan. Artashat was founded in 1945 by the Soviet government of Armenia and named after the nearby ancient city of Artashat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yerevan Brandy Company</span> Armenian brandy company

Yerevan Brandy Company, commonly known with its famous brand "ArArAt", is the leading enterprise of Armenia for the production of cognac. It was founded in 1887, during the period of the Russian Empire. After the Sovietization of Armenia, the factory became a state-owned enterprise. In 1999, the government of independent Armenia sold the factory to the French Pernod Ricard company for distilled beverages. The variety of the company's cognac products are labeled and publicized as ArArAt.

Armenian cuisine includes the foods and cooking techniques of the Armenian people and traditional Armenian foods and drinks. The cuisine reflects the history and geography where Armenians have lived and where Armenian empires existed. The cuisine also reflects the traditional crops and animals grown and raised in Armenian-populated or controlled areas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gagik Tsarukyan</span> Armenian businessman, politician, and former athlete

Gagik Tsarukyan is an Armenian businessman, politician, and former athlete. Tsarukyan is the founder and leader of the Prosperous Armenia political party. He also owns various large-scale businesses and is believed to be one of the richest men in Armenia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gevork Vartanian</span> Soviet intelligence officer (1924–2012)

Gevork Andreevich Vartanian was a Soviet intelligence officer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yerevan Ararat Brandy Factory</span>

Yerevan Ararat Brandy Factory, officially known as the Yerevan Ararat Brandy-Wine-Vodka Factory, commonly known with its famous brand Noy, is a leading Armenian brandy production company in Yerevan, Armenia, currently owned by Gagik Tsarukyan's Multi Group Concern. It was founded in 1877 during the rule of the Russian Empire. The factory is located on the left bank of the Hrazdan River at the centre of Yerevan, occupying the area of the historic Erivan Fortress.

Avshar Wine Factory, is one of the leading producers of alcoholic drinks in Armenia, located in the village of Avshar of Ararat Province. It was founded in 1968 to process the grapes of the fertile villages of Ararat plain, one of Armenia's leading agricultural areas. Armenian traditions and folklore suggest that wine production in the region dates back to Noah planting grapes upon his descent from Mount Ararat in the Book of Genesis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Armenian wine</span> Wine making in Armenia

Armenian wine is wine made in Armenia and the Armenian-populated Republic of Artsakh, in the region of South Caucasus. Armenia is one of the oldest wine producing regions of the world. In particular, the oldest known winery, Areni-1 winery, was found in Armenia's Areni region, which is still known for its wine production and endemic grapes.

The Kuntsevo Dacha was Joseph Stalin's personal residence near the former town of Kuntsevo, where he lived for the last two decades of his life and died on 5 March 1953, although he also spent much time inside the Kremlin, where he possessed living quarters next to his offices. The dacha is located in a forest not far from the modern-day Victory Park.

Armenia has a massive production of bottled mineral and spring water, with a large number of water bottling companies.

Yerevan Champagne Wines Factory, shortly known as "Armchampagne", is the leading enterprise of Armenia for the production of champagne. The factory was opened in 1939 in Yerevan during the Soviet period. At the beginning, it was formed as a factory for sweet and dry wines. In 1954, the factory's production was extended to include sparkling wines. After the collapse of the Soviet rule, the factory of sparkling wines was privatized in 1995 to become an open joint-stock company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ijevan Wine-Brandy Factory</span>

Ijevan Wine-Brandy Factory, is a leading enterprise of Armenia for the production of wine, fruit wine and cognac. The factory was opened in 1951 in Ijevan during the Soviet period.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MAP Wine and Brandy Factory</span> Alcoholic Drinks Factory in Armenia

MAP Wine and Brandy Factory, is one of the leading producers of alcoholic drinks in Armenia, located in the village of Lenughi of Armavir Province. It was founded in 1942 as the Hoktemberian Wine and Brandy Factory by the government of the Armenian SSR, to process the grapes of the fertile Ararat plain. The company is largely known by its main wine and cognac brand Aramé, named after king Arame of Urartu.

Vedi Alco, is one of the leading producers of alcoholic drinks in Armenia, located in the village of Ginevet of Ararat Province. It was founded in 1956 as the Vedi Wine Factory by the government of the Armenian SSR, named after the Vedi raion of Soviet Armenia. The grapes processed by Vedi Alco are mainly from the Ararat plain as well as the Areni and Getap region of Vayots Dzor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Proshyan Brandy Factory</span>

Proshyan Brandy Factory, is one of the oldest producers of alcoholic drinks in Armenia, located in Yerevan, on the Ashtarak Highway leading to the village of Proshyan. The factory is mainly famous for its brandy brand 'Mané.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Noy (brandy)</span>

Noy, is an Armenian brandy (cognac-style) that has been produced by the Yerevan Ararat Brandy Factory since 1877. It was first known as "Armenian cognac" until 1899, when it was branded as "Shustov". With the establishment of Soviet Armenia in 1920, the production of Armenian brandy was nationalized and the brandy was popularized as "Shustov" until 1940, when the drink was labeled as "Ararat", after the re-organization of Armenian brandy production. After the independence of Armenia, the factory was privatized in 2002 and the produced brandy was re-labeled as NOY. It is made from Armenian grapes of Armavir and Vayots Dzor regions, and spring water, based on traditional methods.

References

  1. 1 2 Vladimir Gendlin (2003). "Armenia. The cognac republic". Коммерсантъ. Archived from the original on 2007-09-30. Retrieved 2007-07-28.
  2. Prynn, Jonathan (23 March 2012). "First chance to buy brandy that Stalin served Churchill". London Evening Standard . Retrieved 6 March 2015. Sir Winston Churchill's favourite Armenian brandy... The brandy, which was also a favourite of Agatha Christie and Frank Sinatra, has been made in the Ararat Valley since 1877.
  3. Micallef, Joseph V. "Exploring The World Of Armenian Brandy". Forbes. Retrieved 2022-09-05.
  4. 1 2 Cigar Clan Magazine, In the Steps of Churchill, Volume I 2004 Archived December 26, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  5. Dockter, Warren (2015). "How to drink like Winston Churchill" . Daily Telegraph. ISSN   0307-1235 . Retrieved 2017-10-19.
  6. Renton, Alex (7 July 2011). "Armenian brandy's Churchill boast". BBC News.
  7. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/790774.stm Armenian brandy demands respect
  8. BBC: Spirited return for Armenian brandy, 8 June 2004
  9. 1 2 Prynn, Jonathan (23 March 2012). "First chance to buy brandy that Stalin served Churchill". London Evening Standard . Retrieved 6 March 2015. Sir Winston Churchill's favourite Armenian brandy... The brandy, which was also a favourite of Agatha Christie and Frank Sinatra, has been made in the Ararat Valley since 1877.
  10. Parfitt, Tom (10 May 2013). "David Cameron says 'real progress' made with Vladimir Putin over Syria" . The Telegraph.