View source for KVINT

{{Infobox company
| name =
| logo = KVINT logo.png
| type =
| industry = [[Beverages]]
| fate =
| predecessor =
| successor =
| founded = {{Start date and age|1897}}
| founder =
| defunct =
| hq_location_city = [[Tiraspol]]
| hq_location_country = [[Pridnestrovie]]
| area_served =
| key_people =
| products = [[Alcoholic beverages]]: [[Distilled beverage|Spirits]] and [[wine]]
| owner =
| num_employees =
| num_employees_year =
| parent =
| website = {{URL|kvint.md}}
}}
'''KVINT''' (acronym for ''Kon’iaki, vina i napitki Tiraspol’ia'' ("[[Moldovan wine#Divin|cognacs]], wines, and beverages of [[Tiraspol]]"<ref name=vice>{{cite magazine|title=I Went to a Country that Doesn't Exist to Drink Its Famous Brandy|url=https://munchies.vice.com/en_us/article/53j9n3/i-went-to-a-country-that-doesnt-exist-to-drink-its-famous-brandy|author=Rude, Emelyn|date=January 21, 2016|magazine=[[Vice (magazine)|Vice]]|access-date=January 26, 2018}}</ref>)) is a [[winery]] and [[distillery]] based in [[Tiraspol]], the capital and industrial center of [[Pridnestrovie]]. Kvint products are certified 'Made in [[Moldova|Moldova']]. Founded in 1897, the company produced only [[vodka]] until 1938, when it began producing [[brandy|brandies]].<ref>{{cite web|title=KVINT - About us|url=http://www.kvint.md/en/about-us/|publisher=KVINT|access-date=January 26, 2018}}</ref> It is the oldest still-operating commercial enterprise in the region. Locals consider KVINT a national treasure and a symbol of their country. Its factory is shown on the 5 [[Pridnestrovian ruble]] banknote.
KVINT is one of Pridnestrovie's largest exporters, to Italy and China as well as Russia and Ukraine; its brandy has gone to the Vatican and into space.<ref>{{cite news|title=Transdniestrians in economic EU-Russia tug-of-war|url=http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/biz/archives/2014/05/11/2003590041|author=Wesselingh, Isabelle|date=May 11, 2014|newspaper=[[Taipei Times]]|access-date=January 26, 2018}}</ref>
The main part of Pridnestrovie lies east of the [[Dniester River]]. The grapes grown here are [[Cognac]] variety.<ref name=vice/> KVINT's award-winning [[Peter Wittgenstein|Prince Wittgenstein]] brandy incorporates "[[Bianca (grape)|Bianca]], [[Aligoté]], Pervenets of Magarach [Pervenet Magaracea], [[Riesling]], Riton, Suruchensky White, [[Ugni Blanc]], [and] [[Colombard]]" grapes.<ref>{{cite web|title=Divin Prince Wittgenstein|url=http://www.kvint.md/en/divin/prince-wittgenstein/|publisher=KVINT|access-date=January 26, 2018}}</ref> The company also grows traditionally European red grapes, such as "[[Malbec]], [[Ancellotta|Ancelotti]], [[Saperavi]], [[Viognier]], [and] [[Syrah|Syrah (Shiraz)]]."<ref>{{cite web|title=Vineyards "KVINT": high technology of cultivation|url=http://techdrinks.info/ru/news/vynohradnyky-KVINT-vyisokye-tekhnolohyy-vyirashchyvanyya|date=March 3, 2015|publisher=Drinks, Technology and Innovation Magazine|access-date=January 26, 2018}}</ref>
The company was privatized in 2006 and is owned by the conglomerate [[Sheriff (company)|Sheriff Ltd]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Panama Papers: Offshore Winery|url=http://mediasource.info/panama_papers-offshore-winery/|last1=Cuschevici|first1=Nicolae|last2=Thoric|first2=Vladimir|date=May 4, 2016|publisher=mediasource.info|agency=[[RISE Moldova]]|access-date=January 26, 2018}}</ref> Bottles are labeled "Made in Moldova" because Pridnestrovie, landlocked inside Moldova, is [[List of states with limited recognition|not recognized as a sovereign country]] and bottles must be printed with the name of a country of origin.<ref name="palin">{{cite book|author=Palin, Michael|authorlink=Michael Palin|title=New Europe|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y8o3AgAAQBAJ&pg=PT86|accessdate=26 January 2018|date=27 May 2010|publisher=Orion Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-297-86361-8|pages=86–87}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Kvint halts cognac exports to Russia|url=http://www.moldova.org/en/kvint-halts-cognac-exports-to-russia-8354-eng/|date=January 18, 2006|newspaper=[[The Moscow Times]]|access-date=January 26, 2018}}</ref>  Its annual production is approximately ten million litres of alcoholic drinks. In 2014 its annual revenues were about $50 million, about 5% of Pridnestrovie's [[gross domestic product|GDP]].<ref name=vice/>
KVINT obtained [[International Organization for Standardization|ISO]] 9001-94 certification in 2000 and ISO 9001-2000 in 2003. The factory is one of only a few enterprises in the former Soviet Union which can assure a kosher production process. Daily tours on weekdays at 15:00 local time (conducted in English and Russian) are undertaken, and end with a sampling of six kinds of brandy.<ref>{{cite web|title=Time Warp to Transdniester: Moldova's Surreal Soviet Breakaway Territory|url=http://www.mircorp.com/time-warp-to-transdniester-moldovas-surreal-soviet-breakaway-territory/|publisher=Mir Corporation|access-date=January 26, 2018}}</ref>
== Gallery ==
<gallery perrow="4" widths="210" heights="150">
File:Kvint Premium Grape Divin XO Kosher bottle.jpg|Kvint Premium Grape [[Moldovan_wine#Divin|Divin]] XO [[Kosher wine|Kosher]], bottle
File:Kvint Premium Grape Divin XO Kosher box.jpg|Kvint Premium Grape Divin XO Kosher, box
</gallery>
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
* [http://www.kvint.md/ Official website (in Russian and English)]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kvint}}
[[Category:Companies of Transnistria]]
[[Category:Wineries of Moldova]]
[[Category:Drink companies of the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:1897 establishments in the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:Food and drink companies established in 1897]]
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