#stolifacts

The Facts About Stolichnaya Vodka and its Owner, SPI Group

"Russia plays an essential element in our brand…" — SPI Group CEO

On May 29, 2013, Val Mendeleev, the CEO of SPI as well as of Stolichnaya, told The Spirits Business, a leading spirits industry trade publication: “The grain is 100% Russian and we have thousands of hectares of land 400 kilometers south of Moscow…. The part Russia plays is an essential element in our brand education. It’s where the brand was born and where our grain comes from today.”

"Stoli is the best-known Russian product outside Russia." — SPI's PR firm

On July 30, 2013, Kevin Sniffen of the Susan Magrino Agency, Stolichnaya’s own public relations firm, told Forbes magazine: “We understand Stoli is probably the best-known Russian product outside Russia.”

We are Russian vodka, says Stoli CEO

On July 31, 2013, Michelangelo Signorile, a well-respected gay journalist with his own talk show on SiriusXM Radio, asked SPI-Group CEO Val Mendeleev: “Are you saying now that [Stolichnaya's] not Russian vodka?” Mendeleev replied, “No.”  The interview may be heard on the popular blog Joe.My.God.

Russian Authenticity, Confirmed

That Stolichnaya is a Russian vodka has been the company's position for years. In 2008, when a competitor, Russian Standard, questioned Stolichnaya’s Russian authenticity, Ian Jamieson, then the president of the Stolichnaya brand at Pernod Ricard, the vodka’s global distributor at that time, told Vanity Fair magazine, “Stolichnaya, as it is sold outside of Russia, is distilled in Russia. And then it is moved from Russia to Latvia, where it is put into bottles. There is nothing added, nothing taken away, no additions, no subtractions from the product that leaves Russia... Stolichnaya is the original, authentic, genuine Russian vodka brand made with genuine, authentic Russian vodka from Russia. Period. Absolutely no doubt about it.” [PDF of Vanity Fair UK magazine November 2008 article is available upon request.]

Stolichnaya: Founded, grown and distilled in Russia

The SPI Group is a Russian company, that was founded in Russia in 1991, and that bought the Stolichnaya brand from the Russian government in 1997. The wheat and rye it uses to make Stolichnaya grows on 12,000 acres of Russian land, and there are hundreds of SPI employees in Russia.

SPI owns and operates two distilleries in Russia, including the largest distillery in Russia. This is where the raw alcohol for Stolichnaya is distilled. This distillery “is a leader in Russia for production of ethyl alcohol” and “one of five largest Russian producers of alcohol.” 

Nearly all of the processing of Stolichnaya occurs in Russia. Only the final step occurs in Latvia. The Russian distillery in which it is made and the factory in which it is bottled in Latvia are owned by SPI. 

The SPI Group, the company that owns the Stolichnaya brand has never claimed that Stolichnaya is anything but a Russian vodka, and they continue to reinforce that claim in most markets around the world (excluding the United States). They benefit worldwide from the Russian branding.

Marketed and Advertised as Russian Vodka

That Stolichnaya is a Russian vodka has been the company’s position for years. On August 26, 2009, here’s what  David Roberts of Multiply, Stoli’s own ad agency, told Drum, and industry publication: “Stoli is a world renowned brand and we are delighted to be working with Russia’s authentic vodka to develop even greater trade and consumer knowledge and awareness.”

The company has altered its marketing and labeling in the U.S. and other countries where being Russian has become a liability. Stolichnaya is still marketed outside of the U.S. as a Russian vodka, with “Russian Vodka” on its label.

SPI Sells Russian Vodka in Russia

SPI owns and markets many other brands that it calls “domestic vodkas”: Gradus, Vodka Great Embassy, LB Vodka, Vodka Kaliningradskaya, and Kaznacheyskaya. They are sold in Russia, where they are produced. 

From SPI Group's Website: “Our local vodkas represent all that is best about Russia's favourite drink… Kaznacheyskaya is a quality brand created for the Russian market, designed to evoke a sense of national status… Kaznacheyskaya is all about pride in Russia.” [Screen grab available upon request.]

SPI Group is a Major Player in Russian Real Estate

SPI has significant real estate holdings in Russia. In 2004, it became a major investor in the "Moscow International Business Center," also known as Moscow-City, a $12 billion development project in Moscow in which it still owns an interest. SPI continues to build in Russia, including residential buildings, office buildings, restaurants, and breweries. Moscow-City (the Mercury City Tower) is also home to Moscow City Hall and the City Duma — the Russian regional parliament in Moscow.