In Armenia, What’s Old is New Again

After a few thousand years of winemaking, Armenia is making its debut as a producer of quality wines for the modern drinker.

A small, land-locked country of not-quite three million—its diaspora is three times the number of its residents—you don’t hear much about Armenia. It was in the news briefly this fall during a border conflict with Azerbaijan, whose military bases overlook vineyards in Vayots Dzor, a prime production region. But in the wake of the larger conflict in Gaza occurring soon after, the Armenian-Azerbaijan situation has slipped from public view.

And that’s to the advantage of a wine industry undergoing a renaissance that just this year started exploring broader, international markets for commercialization. The concept of Armenian wine might be new to many, but the country’s wine production goes back at least 6,000 years. Evidence of systematic winemaking such as wine presses, jars and karases (clay vessels similar to amphorae) was found in the Areni-1 cave, a site from the Early Bronze Age in Vayots Dzor, and a stone’s throw from leading wineries today.

Like its Georgian neighbor to the north—another ancient wine culture—Armenia’s wine industry suffered under Soviet rule that prioritized bulk and brandy production over quality wines of place. It’s been only in the post-Soviet years that winemakers were able to reclaim their heritage and infuse the old vineyards with new technology and renewed stewardship.

“During the Soviet era, much of the connection with traditional winemaking was lost except in home winemaking,” says Ara Sarkissian, head of wine at Storica Wines, a Massachusetts-based importer dedicated to Armenian fine wine. “After the fall of the Soviet Union, Armenia saw an influx of immigration; Armenians moved [back] to their homeland, bringing with them technology, knowledge and funding.

“This allowed for a reset of sorts in winemaking and people were open to bringing in new ideas, approaches and technology from Europe and elsewhere to rejuvenate commercial wine production.”

Storica was established in 2018 and today represents seven brands by five producers, who, in turn represent a new generation and mindset for the country’s winemaking. Though they’re far flung across a rugged landscape, they are closely bound by a common commitment to quality and defining the new Armenian terroir.

Armenia 101. In part, Armenia mirrors conditions in some of the world’s most prized regions—high-elevation vineyards—up to nearly 6,000 feet above sea level—on well-draining limestone and volcanic soils. But any geographic similarities to Europe end there: the heart of Armenia’s wine country is defined by valleys and, in large part, a dramatic mountainscape—ripples of brown hues in the highlands turning to purple and snow caps in the distance. In some places, it’s the only horizon the eye can see. Indeed, mountains make up about 70% of the land. Some vineyards are so remote, all there is to see are earth and sky.

“It’s not really a hospitable region—very dramatic and a little extreme and edgy,” said Vahe Keushgerian, who along with his daughter Aimee, produces traditional-method sparkling wine from 130-year-old ungrafted vines at Keush, established in 2010 in Vayots Dzor. From his vineyards 5,741 feet above sea level, the boundaries of all four neighboring countries—Georgia, Turkey, Iran and Azerbaijan—are in view.

His assessment is echoed by Arsen Mkrtchyan, director at Noa, a winery founded in 2017 on 35 hectares (~86 acres) of land formerly part of an “old-style vineyard more oriented to volume than quality.”

“When we bought the land, we didn’t expect it to be so stony and so much work, but now we can’t stop,” he said.

At this point, Armenia’s six wine-producing regions largely seem to be defined by their altitudes, and a visual reminder of this is Mount Ararat, a 16,854-foot dormant volcano, which, though in eastern Turkey, dominates the view for miles. The regional crown jewel is Vayots Dzor, with elevations up to 5,900 feet above sea level. Armavir, located in the Ararat plain (2,953 – 3,609 feet asl), is the largest and mostly focused on white wines. Ararat with (2,625-3,281 feet) follows in size. Aragatsotn is a northwestern outpost for quality-led boutique family wineries with the same elevations as Armavir. Keush’s French-trained winemaker Arman Manoukian says Armenia is about 20 years away from having an appellation system, so for now, valleys and elevations are the main markers.

The country is home to more than 350 indigenous varieties, about 80 of which have been DNA tested, Vahe estimated, with about 30 in commercial cultivation for still (dry) and sparkling wines are made. (Sweet wine production is limited and mostly consumed locally and is not part of the export strategy.) About 70% of Armenian wines are consumed in-country.

Thanks to those extreme elevations and diurnal temperature shifts, in general, the wines are crisp and have a linear fruit expression, ready for the modern consumer. Master of Wine Lisa Granik, author of Wines of Georgia and a market adviser to Armenia, calls them “well-balanced, approachable and appealing alternatives to the ubiquitous varieties in the current market.”

Storica focuses on five grape varieties that have the greatest potential to resonate with consumers in the American market. “We have decided to primarily import wines made with Areni, which is easy to pronounce, but is also approachable, being medium-bodied and low in tannin,” Sarkissian said. Some are crunchy-red-fruited wines that often can pass for Pinot Noir. The whites made of Voskehat can mimic a creamy-textured Chardonnay from the Burgundy villages.

The work starts in the vineyard. Starting with a clean slate means not only breaking ground, but also making viticultural decisions that will define the respective wineries: where to source grapes, how to farm them and how to manage resources, such as water, that are in scarce supply. The decisions are individual, but all the programming starts with a common desire to preserve and elevate what is truly Armenian.

Aimee Keushgerian, who grew up in Tuscany and repatriated from the United States, established Zulal (“pure” in Armenian) in 2017, making dry wines micro-vinified from grapes that were on the verge of extinction. She sources from small growers in Vayots Dzor and Artashat. Noa is working with a consulting oenologist on the winery’s sustainability program, focused on water conservation and other organic best practices. The winery is in its first year of pursuing the three-year organic certification.

Over at Voskevaz, winemaker Ghevond Petrosyan says “we’re trying to reactivate traditions in a modern style, but respect native varieties, natural root stocks and methods like fermenting the grapes in karas.” Indeed, ownership at Voskevaz has a foot in both the past and future: The former Soviet winery was founded in 1932, “reborn” through an acquisition by the Hovhannisyan family in 1997 and “born again” in 2013 with a significant restoration that includes a castle-like folly set up for enotourism.

And at Van Ardi, a winery at 3,356 feet in Aragatsotn, Varuzhan Mouradian, repatriated from Los Angeles to start what is widely considered Armenia’s first boutique winery. His mission, he said, is “to put Armenia on a fine-wine map and to reeducate Armenians about [their] wine heritage.” Certified organic, Van Ardi employs methods often found in biodynamic vineyards, such as farming by a lunar calendar and playing music for the vines and constructing a bell tower that gives off vibrations on the “do” note. “We consider the vines communicate with each other and have feelings,” he says. “We are always experimenting and adapting: It’s a process.”

Finding a market. All this bodes well for a nascent wine market in which consumers value stewardship and authenticity, though Sarkissian says it’s not without its challenges.

“They are twofold: One is that the grape varieties are unknown, the other is that Armenia is not known as a wine producer due to the break during Soviet times,” he said. “Armenia is behind Greece and Georgia by about 15 years in terms of the ability of U.S. consumers to have a basic understanding of [its] wine personality.”

However, it is his job, along with the new generation of winemakers, to suss out a narrative that will attract consumers who, increasingly, are interested in off-the-beaten path wines.

“While currently the market potential rests among consumers willing to venture beyond, say, Chardonnay and Bordeaux varieties, the value and quality of Armenian wines should allow them a toehold in the growing demand for ancient varieties from ancient wine growing areas,” says Granik.

But if Greece and Georgia, both with similar challenges can surmount them, so can Armenia with its backstory still in development.

“Areni has been shown to be the grape variety that was vinified in the Areni-1 cave, making it the oldest continually used grape variety that we know of. This certainly helps the story,” Sarkissian says.