Ararat Brandy Factory
The history of wine-making goes back to more than 6000 years in Armenia and is an inseparable part of the historical heritage. The Armenian brandy undoubtadly owes its fine taste to the warm and dry climate and fruitful soils of the Ararat Valley, the unique ingredients and the experience practiced over decades. Since 1998, it belongs to the group Pernod Ricard. The main product of the company is Ararat brandy. The factory includes several buildings where the cognac is heated , stored, bottled and labelled. The nicely decorated museum is the proof of more than 100-year-old history of the cognac factory and the people involved in this process.
Yerevan Ararat Brandy Factory was founded in 1877 during the reign of the Russian Empire. The factory is situated on the right bank of the river Hrazdan in the centre of Yerevan, which was built on the area of the historic Yerevan Fortress. Nerses Tairyan was a well-known merchant and philanthropist. In 1877, he started the industrial production of wine and afterward, he produced Brandy in 1887, in the place, where Yerevan Fortress used to be. Hovhannes Aivazovsky, who was Tairyan’s relative, assisted him to build the factory. In 1899, Nerses Tairyan leased the factory to Nikolay Shustov, who afforded to buy it for 50,000 rubles one year later. After founding his own business in Moscow in 1863, Shustov became one of the first brandy producers in Russia. Already in the 1870s the company "Shustov and Sons" succeeded in getting 80% of the brandy wine vodka liqueur production in the Russian Empire under their control. In 1901, Nikolay Shustov sent samples of brandy to an exhibition, which was held in Paris. The judges, honourable French tasters, unanimously gave the unknown brandy Grand Prix, but after they found out that he was not of French origin and the brandy was brought from Armenia, they were so astonished that Nikolay Shustov made an exception and was given a privilege to put the word "cognac" on its labels instead of "brandy" which was very realistic. So Shustov became the first and only foreign winemaker in the history of brandy honoured with this privilege. In 1899, Shustov invited Kyril Silchenko, who had just finished Nikitin's school of wine production to work at his factory. He worked in the factory with great devotion and spent his whole life on developing the production of wine and brandy. Therefore, the Armenians called him "the great Ukrainian son of the Armenian people".
Today's Yerevan Ararat Brandy Factory facilities were built in 1938 in the place of the former Sardinian Palace of Yerevan Fortress. The building was designed by architect Rafael Israyelyan. Around $50 million was invested in restoration and construction, the purchase of a new bottling line and oak barrels. A number of recipes and technologies have been restored by crumbs. With the help of old papers, museum exhibits, family archives, factory specialists and technologists, they gathered and classified all the rich experience accumulated throughout the lifetime of the factory, and hence, restored the lost and forgotten glorious reputation of the Armenian brandy. The factory presently produces various types of Armenian brandies. A museum showing the history of the factory as well as the significant persons who worked for the development of the factory, including Tairyan, Shustov, Sedrakyan, Musinyants, and Silchenko, is situated inside the building.
The factory is best known for its Armenian brandy Noy and Kremlin Award brandy brands. The products are exported to many countries of the CIS and Europe as well as to the United States and Australia. Traditions and modernity that have been handed down for generations are harmoniously combined today, fulfilling the most demanding customer requirements. We invite you to experience an exciting journey through the delicious world of unique and fine cognac.
