The 16th annual San Francisco World Spirits Competition was held March 17-20 at Hotel Nikko in SF. Yerevan Brandy Company's ArArAt 10 year-old Akhtamar Brandy won a gold medal and ArArAt 5 Star Brandy won a silver medal, according to the YBC press-office.
The annual San Francisco World Spirits Competition (SFWSC) was launched in 2000 and is known as the world's leading events. The competition saw an increase in entries over the previous year. Up 20 percent, 1,899 submissions (compared to last year's 1,580) were analyzed by the 39 judges, who deemed 200 good enough for the medal. According to the event organizers, ARARAT is the first Armenian brand to represent the country at the SFWSC.
The winner of numerous gold and silver medals, Akhtamar brandy has been produced by Yerevan Brandy Company since 1967. It is exported to over 30 countries and embodies the ARARAT Art Collection initiative, under which the Company has been producing a limited edition of Akhtamar brandy in special packaging for the true connoisseurs of art and Armenian brandy since 2012. During different years, ARARAT Art Collection devoted its limited series of brandies to theatre, Armenian film director Sergei Paradjanov and historical and cultural heritage of Armenia. Renowned artists such as Pavel Kaplevich and Garen Bedrossian worked on the packaging of these limited series of brandies.
Akhtamar Brandy is abeautiful amber color with a touch of copper. Lively and elegant aroma. Beeswax, hazelnut and oak bark with traces of vanilla and dried plum dominate the bouquet. Rounded, hidden, sweetish taste unfolds gradually offering you a temptingly long aftertaste. Light dryness in the end is counter-balanced by shades of cinnamon.
ArArAt has preserved the traditions of the legendary brandy manufacturing since 1887 when a merchant named Nerses Tairyan built the first wine and brandy factory in Yerevan. In 1899 the company was acquired by a Russian industrial company "Shustov and Sons". At the beginning of the 20th century the company "Shustov and Sons" acquired the status of Armenian brandy supplier to the court of His Imperial Majesty Nicholas II. In 1998, Yerevan Brandy Company became part of Pernod Ricard Group, the world's leader in premium wines and spirits.