Yerevan /Mediamax/. Herve Caroff, Yerevan Brandy Company (YBC) Director claimed in 2006 that the official grape harvest statistics in Armenia are exaggerated to conceal the illegal cognac production in the country.

The dispatch of U.S. Vice-Ambassador to Armenia Anthony Godfrey declassified by the Wikileaks reads this, Mediamax reports.

Herve Caroff said that local producers are producing look-alikes to YBC’s premium brands using imported wine spirits, substandard spirits or even grain spirits as a foundation.

According to the publication, Herve Caroff was concerned about the fact that Russia will decide to bar all brandy exported from Armenia as it barred the import of the Georgian wine at one time as a result of this fraud.  Caroff admitted, however, that the situation in Georgia was probably politically motivated and therefore such a crackdown against Armenian products was less likely.
 
“In 2005, the grape harvest in Armenia was officially 130,000 tons but the actual production was no more than 60,000 tons”, said Herve Caroff noting that the companies which have been in existence for five or six years are selling “twenty-year old” brandy, a clear sign of fraud.
 
He said that look-alike products are threatening YBC’s market share and complained about the Noy Wine and Brandy factory owned by Gagik Tsarukyan.