Region & History

Armenian brandy begins in 1887 with a merchant: Nerses Tairov founded the country's first brandy factory in Yerevan. Wine had already existed there for a long time. In the Areni-1 cave in the south, archaeologists found a winemaking facility roughly 6,000 years old, and on Armenian homesteads, a homemade Oghi is still offered as a welcome drink to this day.

In 1899 Tairov sold the business to the Russian trading house Shustov and Sons. The spirit went to Russia and was called Cognac there. Reports say that in 1902 French judges even granted an Armenian house the right to use the name after it won a competition against French originals. Legend also has it that Winston Churchill repeatedly ordered supplies from Armenia after the Yalta Conference in 1945.

Until independence in 1991, the country had only one producer, after which the heritage was divided. In 1998, the Yerevan Brandy Company with the Ararat brand joined Pernod Ricard. Alongside it, the house of Noy operates in Yerevan, also considered an heir to the same tradition.

So what is the spirit really called, and what distinguishes Armenian brandy from Cognac? Cognac is a protected designation of origin in the EU from the Charente region. In the CEPA partnership agreement, signed in 2017 and in force since March 2021, Armenia committed to giving up the name: new batches may no longer be called "Cognac" from 2032, and use will end entirely by 2043. The EU is paying Armenia three million euros in aid for the transition.

As a term for today's product, "Armenian Cognac" is therefore no longer accurate — the correct term is Armenian brandy. Anyone wanting to compare it with the French rules will find them in the article on Cognac and Armagnac.