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.
 | |
| Product type | Brandy |
|---|---|
| Owner | Pernod Ricard |
| Country | Armenia |
| Introduced | 1877 |
| Previous owners | Yerevan Brandy Company |
| Website | ybc |
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, romanized: 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1900, the brandy won the Grand-prix award in Paris that allowed Ararat to legally call their brandy "cognac" until it was revoked after WWII.[3][4] The term "brandy" has never really caught on in the region.[1]
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]
Retired brands include:
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.
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.