# Did Uruguay ever have the rights to make Cognac? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 21, 2011, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-uruguay-ever-have-the-rights-to-make-cognac/582722 "2011-05-21T22:07:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Free\_Sample](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce73a5/32.png) [@Free\_Sample](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Free_Sample)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2011, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-uruguay-ever-have-the-rights-to-make-cognac/582722/1 "2011-05-21T22:07:23Z")
My father once told me that after WWII, France owed Uruguay a great amount of money and that Uruguay forgave the debt. To show its gratitude France granted Uruguay the right to make and brand Cognac (which legally could only be made in the region of Cognac in France) I’ve tried to track the authenticity of this but could never find anything but second hand references. Wikipedia used to mention this in its cognac article but now it’s only in the edit history. Anybody have a clue if this is factual? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2011, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-uruguay-ever-have-the-rights-to-make-cognac/582722/2 "2011-05-21T22:20:40Z")
This (ended) [eBay auction](http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&_trksid=p4340.l2557&item=380331550032&nma=true&rt=nc&si=v%252FQWRj269b4xQR9td60RWrmE3XE%253D#ht_1625wt_864) was for a 50 ml bottle of Tres Plumas Coñac from Uruguay, and says the bottle is from the 1960s. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2011, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-uruguay-ever-have-the-rights-to-make-cognac/582722/3 "2011-05-22T05:36:35Z")
Ararat brandy from Armenia (or Turkey I forget) is allowed by the French to call itself cognac. It is very good. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2011, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-uruguay-ever-have-the-rights-to-make-cognac/582722/4 "2011-05-22T06:54:29Z")
American wineries used to make “champagne,” too–that doesn’t mean actual Champagne producers or the French government approved. I’m skeptical of all these claims (the wiki cite for the Ararat claim is defunct, BTW). ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2011, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-uruguay-ever-have-the-rights-to-make-cognac/582722/5 "2011-05-22T18:25:15Z")
> **[Yerevan Brandy Company](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yerevan_Brandy_Company)** > > Yerevan Brandy Company (Armenian: Երևանի Կոնյակի Գործարան (Yerevani Konyaki Gortsaran)), commonly known with its famous brand "ArArAt", is the leading enterprise of Armenia for the production of cognac. It was founded in 1887, during the period of the Russian Empire. After the Sovietization of Armenia, the factory became a state-owned enterprise. In 1999, the government of independent Armenia sold the factory to the French Pernod Ricard company for distilled beverages. The variety of the company'... Whether these claims are true is another matter. The bottle I have which was purchased in Armenia does not say “cognac”, nor does it say “brandy”. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2011, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-uruguay-ever-have-the-rights-to-make-cognac/582722/6 "2011-05-22T19:21:46Z")
This much is true: [the Juanico/Deicas distillery](http://www.charitywineproject.com/~charit20/?p=441) (scroll to the bottom), which labels its product as Cognac, was originally state operated. I can’t find any independent verification that the French government granted them a license to use the name. I suspect it may be a clever invention to boost sales. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2011, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-uruguay-ever-have-the-rights-to-make-cognac/582722/7 "2011-05-22T21:11:48Z")
Other liquors can be strongly associated with a region significantly smaller than the area where they can in theory, legally be made. [http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=ecfr&sid=21224b7c634d83e0fa329bfd18bb85dc&rgn=div8&view=text&node=27:1.0.1.1.3.3.25.2&idno=27](http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=ecfr&sid=21224b7c634d83e0fa329bfd18bb85dc&rgn=div8&view=text&node=27:1.0.1.1.3.3.25.2&idno=27) For example, Bourbon is very heavily associated with Kentucky, though legally Bourbon can be made anywhere in the United States as long as it fulfills the ingredient and process requirements for making Bourbon. A small amount of Bourbon is made in Virginia, and probably Tennessee. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2011, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-uruguay-ever-have-the-rights-to-make-cognac/582722/8 "2011-05-22T22:25:28Z")
It appears that under section (k)(3) there it would be illegal to market any “cognac” in the United States that was not made in the Cognac/Charente region. > [@](#): > > Geographical names that are not names for distinctive types of distilled spirits, and that have not become generic, shall not be applied to distilled spirits produced in any other place than the particular place or region indicated in the name. Examples are Cognac, Armagnac, Greek brandy, Pisco brandy, Jamaica rum, Puerto Rico rum, Demerara rum. Although, unlike the terms for Irish, Scottish or Canadian whiskies in (a)(7-9), that apparently leaves open the possibility of a brandy made in Charente, but _not_ conforming to French standards for “Cognac,” being sold in the US as something it could not be sold as in Europe. (I don’t know that there are any such brandies, but the difference of approach is curious.) ---
**Author:** ![Free\_Sample](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce73a5/32.png) [@Free\_Sample](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Free_Sample)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2011, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-uruguay-ever-have-the-rights-to-make-cognac/582722/9 "2011-05-24T00:59:42Z")
At this site belonging to the state owned distillery I found photos of modern day bottles with the Cognac brand on them. [http://www.caba.com.uy/htm/juanico.htm](http://www.caba.com.uy/htm/juanico.htm) This might indicate they have a right to do so, or at the very least that France doesn’t enforce compliance here.