Black Edition Archives

Boduen Extra Old Armenian Brandy — Boduen Armenian Brandy. Click here for tasting notes.

Boduen Extra Old Black Edition Armenian Brandy

This brandy is a product of the Armenian wine-and-brandy factory Shaumyan-Vin, in the Ararat Valley. The distillery was established in 1927 and reconstituted in 2002.

Shahumyan-Vin uses five grape varieties for its brandies: Kangun, Rkatsiteli, Azateni, Megrabuyr, and Mskhali. These are grown in the Ararat Valley, and harvesting begins around mid-October. The grapes are hand-picked, sorted/inspected, gently pressed, and fermented in 50 to 200 hectoliter vessels. Continue reading “Boduen Brandy”

A Note About Vintages

Although you will see vintage dates throughout Winervana, I don’t put too much importance on them. Major producers these days strive for a consistent style, and largely succeed. (Especially in California, aided by the usually even climate there.) For instance, when shopping for a particular wine, if you have a choice between a current release and one that’s a few years old, there will certainly be differences in price and the character of the wine. But upon release, those two examples of the same wine are likely to be quite similar, especially for New World producers, who often enjoy more reliably consistent weather than Old World producers do. (Of course, global climate change may disrupt things for everybody.)

Wine Enthusiast has an interesting post about this here.