Armenia Seeks EU Permission to Label Brandy as Cognac

Armenia has asked the EU for permission to label its brandy as cognac, Deputy Economy Minister Garegin Melkonyan said on Tuesday. The talks are being held as part of negotiations on the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area between the EU and Armenia. France formalized its priority rights for the name “cognac” in a special decree on Jan. 1, 1909. In accordance with the legislation on the controlled designation of origin, strong drinks distilled from grape wines in other regions of France or in other countries must be marketed under other names. In short, they cannot be labeled as “cognac,” the Novosti Armenia news agency has reported on Tuesday. However, some wine distillates made from local raw materials under a technology that differs from the original French technology are nevertheless referred to as “cognac” in several countries. The labels of such spirits include the name of the country or the region where they were produced, such as “California cognac” or “Greek cognac.” “The word ‘cognac’ has been registered in the EU as a designation of origin,” Melkonyan told journalists ahead of the fifth round of the talks in Yerevan. “However, we have told our European partners that our population views cognac as a type of commodity, and that cognac has a long history in Armenia.”

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