KVINT

{{Infobox company

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| logo = KVINT logo.png

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| industry = Beverages

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| founded = {{Start date and age|1897}}

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| defunct =

| hq_location_city = Tiraspol

| hq_location_country = Transnistria (Moldova)

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| products = Alcoholic beverages: Spirits and wine

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| website = {{URL|kvint.md}}

}}

KVINT (acronym for Kon’iaki, vina i napitki Tiraspol’ia ("cognacs, wines, and beverages of Tiraspol"{{cite magazine|title=I Went to a Country that Doesn't Exist to Drink Its Famous Brandy|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/i-went-to-a-country-that-doesnt-exist-to-drink-its-famous-brandy/|author=Rude, Emelyn|date=January 21, 2016|magazine=Vice|access-date=January 26, 2018}})) is a winery and distillery based in Tiraspol, the capital and industrial center of Transnistria. Kvint products are certified 'Made in Moldova'. Founded in 1897, the company produced only vodka until 1938, when it began producing brandies.{{cite web|title=KVINT - About us|url=http://www.kvint.md/en/about-us/|publisher=KVINT|access-date=January 26, 2018}} 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 Transnistrian ruble banknote.

KVINT is one of Transnistria's largest exporters, to Italy and China as well as Russia and Ukraine; its brandy has gone to the Vatican and into space.{{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}}

The main part of Transnistria lies east of the Dniester River. The grapes grown here are Cognac variety. KVINT's award-winning Prince Wittgenstein brandy incorporates "Bianca, Aligoté, Pervenets of Magarach [Pervenet Magaracea], Riesling, Riton, Suruchensky White, Ugni Blanc, [and] Colombard" grapes.{{cite web|title=Divin Prince Wittgenstein|url=http://www.kvint.md/en/divin/prince-wittgenstein/|publisher=KVINT|access-date=January 26, 2018|archive-date=January 27, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180127084040/http://www.kvint.md/en/divin/prince-wittgenstein/|url-status=dead}} The company also grows traditionally European red grapes, such as "Malbec, Ancelotti, Saperavi, Viognier, [and] Syrah (Shiraz)."{{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}}

The company was privatized in 2006 and is owned by the conglomerate Sheriff Ltd.{{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}} Bottles are labeled "Made in Moldova" because Transnistria, landlocked inside Moldova, is not recognized as a sovereign country and bottles must be printed with the name of a country of origin.{{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}}{{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}} Its annual production is approximately ten million litres of alcoholic drinks. In 2014 its annual revenues were about $50 million, about 5% of Transnistria's GDP.

KVINT obtained 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.{{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}}