Arminfo
2007-02-23 18:05:00

Armenian brandy’s honor to be upheld by law

By 2013, not every drink in a colorful bottle will be called Armenian
brandy. A strict approach to the quality of wine and brandy will be
stipulated by the draft law on grapes and grape-based alcohol drinks,
which will be shortly submitted for consideration of the Armenian
Parliament.

Avag Harutyunyan, the President of the Armenian Association of
Winemakers, told an ArmInfo correspondent that if the Parliament
adopts the bill, the whole process of wine and brandy production will
be strictly controlled in compliance with European standards in some
3-4 years. The law doesn’t concern producers of home-made wine meant
for themselves. Besides, the items of the law won’t be imposed on
those who don’t want to have a certificate of conformity, but in this
case, their product will have no legal grounds to be called brandy or
wine with specific name. In fact, the law aims to defend the interests
of large producers of grape-based alcohol, and to protect the
copyright on alcohol brands.

In his turn, Garnik Petrosyan, the Head of the Department of Plants
Growing and Protection, Agriculture Ministry of Armenia, emphasized
that the 2-3 USD brandies discrediting the honor of the Armenian drink
may disappear from markets. He noted that these drinks may be named
anyhow but "Armenian brandy", and added that the crisis of Armenian
viniculture is left behind and now the key task is to advance the
brands of the Armenian brandy both in Russian and European
markets. According to him, the growing demand for this product
encourages viniculturists to enlarge the areas for vineyards by 1-1.5
ha per year, and the competition encourages the producers to increase
the planting of such new grape varieties as Rkatsiteli and Kangun.

To note, as per the data of the Armenian Association of Winemakers,
Armenia exported 8 mln 173 thsd liters of brandy in 2006, 87% of them
– to Russia, and 367 thsd liters of wine, particularly, the "Areni"
brand, 70% of them – to Russia.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress