Ararat (brandy)
Ararat, is a brand of Armenian brandy that has been produced by the Yerevan Brandy Company since 1887. It is made from Armenian 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.
Authors of a 2003 book wrote that it is "Undoubtedly the top of the tops of East European brandies." Ararat brandy is primarily sold in countries of the former Soviet Union, 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. In 1900, the brandy won the Grand-prix award in Paris. The term "brandy" has never really caught on in the region.In politics
An undocumented anecdote claims that during the Yalta Conference, Winston Churchill was so impressed with the Armenian brandy Dvin given to him by Joseph Stalin that he asked for several cases of it to be sent to him each year. Reportedly 400 bottles of Dvin were shipped to Churchill annually. This brandy was named in honour of the ancient capital Dvin, and was first produced in 1943.
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.
