By Haik Khachatryan, founder of Open Container
Yes, Armenia makes wine, and it has for longer than almost anywhere on earth. The oldest known winery in the world, about 6,100 years old, was found in a cave near the village of Areni, in southern Armenia. Today Armenian winemakers grow their own native grapes, above all Areni Noir for reds and Voskehat for whites, in mountain vineyards about 1,000 to 1,400 meters high (roughly 3,300 to 4,600 feet). Most people in the US have never tried Armenian wine, not because it isn't good, but because almost nobody markets it here.
When someone at dinner asks me, "Armenia makes wine?", that is what I tell them. Then I pour them a glass.
I'm Haik Khachatryan. My family's land is in Areni, the same village where that ancient winery was found, and we make our wine there. This guide is the longer answer: the history, the grapes, the regions, how the wine is made, what it tastes like, what to eat with it, and how to buy it in the US.
Armenian wine at a glance
| Where | Armenia, in the mountains of the South Caucasus |
| Oldest known winery | Areni-1 cave, Vayots Dzor, about 4100 BC (about 6,100 years ago) |
| Main red grape | Areni Noir (Sev Areni, "black Areni") |
| Main white grape | Voskehat ("golden berry") |
| Other native grapes | Khndoghni (Sireni), Haghtanak, Karmrahyut, Kangun, Khatoun Kharji, Chilar, Garan Dmak |
| Main wine regions | Armavir, Ararat, Aragatsotn, Vayots Dzor |
| Vineyard area | About 15,000 to 16,000 hectares (about 37,000 to 40,000 acres) |
| Vineyard height | Mostly 1,000 to 1,400 meters, some higher |
| Traditional vessel | Karas, a large clay jar |
| Famous drink | Armenian brandy |
| Our wines | 8 wines from Vayots Dzor, shipped to 40 US states |
6,100 years in one timeline
| When | What happened |
|---|---|
| About 4100 BC | People press and ferment grapes in the Areni-1 cave, the oldest known winery |
| About 3500 BC | Someone leaves a leather shoe in the same cave; it is the oldest leather shoe ever found |
| 800s to 600s BC | The kingdom of Urartu, in the Armenian Highlands, stores wine in huge clay jars by the hundreds |
| 400s BC | Herodotus writes about boats from Armenia carrying wine down the Euphrates to Babylon |
| 401 BC | Xenophon's Greek army finds wine buried in the cellars of Armenian villages |
| 1321 | The church of the Holy Mother of God is finished in Areni |
| 1920 to 1991 | Soviet years: most grapes go into brandy and sweet, fortified wine |
| 1985 | Moscow's anti-alcohol campaign destroys vineyards in Armenia |
| 1991 to today | Independence, and a return to dry wines from native grapes |
| 2007 to 2011 | Archaeologists dig Areni-1 and announce the world's oldest known winery |
The history of Armenian wine
The oldest known winery: Areni-1
Just outside our village, in the cliffs above the Arpa River, is a limestone cave that locals call the Birds' Cave. Archaeologists call it Areni-1. In 2007, Armenian and Irish archaeologists began digging there, and a team from UCLA joined them in 2008, with support from the National Geographic Society.
What they found was a complete winery:
- a clay basin about 1 meter (3.5 feet) long, where grapes were pressed by foot;
- a clay vat about 60 centimeters (2 feet) deep, holding about 14 to 15 gallons, where the juice fermented;
- storage jars, a drinking cup and bowl, vines and grape seeds.
To prove it was wine, the scientists tested the clay for malvidin, the pigment that gives red grapes and red wine their color. They found it. Radiocarbon dating put the winery at about 4100 to 4000 BC, and in January 2011 the team announced it as the oldest known winery in the world. That is where our "6,100 years" comes from.
The same cave held another surprise. In 2008 the team found a leather shoe, cut from a single piece of cowhide and stuffed with grass, about 5,500 years old. It is the oldest leather shoe ever found. The cool, dry air in the cave kept everything, which also made it a natural wine cellar.
The grape they were pressing grew in the same valley where we grow Areni Noir today. When I walk through our rows, I think about that.
The kingdom of Urartu and its clay jars
About 3,000 years ago, the Armenian Highlands were ruled by the kingdom of Urartu, and wine was one of its great products. At Teishebaini (Karmir Blur), a fortress on the edge of today's Yerevan, archaeologists found wine storerooms lined with hundreds of karas, huge clay jars set into the floor. By one estimate that fortress alone could store about 370,000 liters of wine. Urartian wine also went to neighboring Assyria, where grapes did not grow as well.
Armenians kept making and using karas for thousands of years after that. You can still find old karas half buried in village cellars, and some Armenian winemakers have started using them again.
Greek writers on Armenian wine
Armenian wine shows up in some of the oldest written history we have. The Greek historian Herodotus, writing in the 400s BC, described round boats built in Armenia, made of willow and skins, that floated down the Euphrates River to Babylon carrying wine. When they arrived, the boatmen sold the cargo, broke up the boats and walked home.
In 401 BC, the Greek soldier and writer Xenophon marched through Armenia in winter with the army known as the Ten Thousand. In his book Anabasis he describes Armenian villages with houses dug into the ground, stores of wheat and barley, and a village chief who showed the Greeks the cellar where the wine was buried.
Noah and the vineyard
Armenians also grow up with an older story. In the Book of Genesis, Noah's ark comes to rest "upon the mountains of Ararat", and after the flood Noah plants a vineyard. Mount Ararat stands over the Armenian plain, and you can see it from Yerevan on a clear day. For many Armenians, that story is part of why wine feels like it belongs to us.
The Middle Ages in Areni
Areni has been a wine village for a very long time. Its church of the Holy Mother of God, finished in 1321, was designed and carved by Momik, one of medieval Armenia's great architects and stone carvers. It still stands above the village and the vineyards.
The Soviet years
For most of the 20th century Armenia was part of the Soviet Union, and the wine industry was run by the state. Most of the grapes went into brandy and into sweet, fortified wines made for buyers in Russia. Production was about volume and sugar, not quality. By the 1980s, about a quarter of all the brandy made in the Soviet Union came from Armenia.
In those years, we lost touch with our old tradition of clean, dry, high-quality wines with no sugar added. Then, in 1985, Moscow launched a campaign against alcohol, and vineyards were torn out across the wine-growing republics, Armenia among them.
My own family's story runs right through that time. In the late 1960s my grandmother Rosa took a job at a cognac factory in Ijevan, in northern Armenia, and worked her way up to become its director and owner. It was a big operation, and much of what it made went to Russia.
The return to real wine
Since Armenia became independent in 1991, winemakers have gone back to dry table wines from Armenia's own native grapes. The country now has about 15,000 to 16,000 hectares of vineyards and a growing number of small wineries, and wine critics outside Armenia have started to take notice. Every October our village holds the Areni Wine Festival, and people come from all over the country.
That return is our story too. When I went back to our family's land in Areni, we revitalized the vineyards, cleaned everything up and went back to making high-quality wine, the way it was made before the Soviet years.
The grapes of Armenia
Armenia has many native grape varieties, and many of them are found nowhere else. These are the ones you are most likely to see on a label.
Areni Noir: Armenia's red
Areni Noir is named after our village. In Armenian it is Sev Areni: sev means black, just as noir does in French, for its dark, almost black berries. It is a native grape, not a cross or a hybrid, and it has not been bred into something else. It has thick skins, ripens late and handles the hot days, cool nights and cold winters of the mountains. We usually pick it at the end of October, once the grapes are fully ripe.
It makes a dry red that is smooth and fruit-forward, with cherries, plums, wild berries and a little earth. More in our post What Is Areni Noir?
Voskehat: Armenia's white
Voskehat means "golden berry": voske is gold, and hat is a berry or a piece. The old name was "a piece of gold", because the ripe grapes turn a deep golden yellow in the sun. It is Armenia's signature white grape, grown mainly in Aragatsotn, Armavir and Vayots Dzor. We pick ours by hand in mid-September, when the mountain air starts to turn cold. It makes a fresh, dry white with apricot, pear and a touch of key lime. More in What Is Voskehat?
Other Armenian grapes
- Khndoghni (Sireni): a dark red grape from Artsakh and the south of Armenia, used on its own and in blends.
- Haghtanak: a red grape whose name means "victory", grown mainly in Aragatsotn and Armavir.
- Karmrahyut: a red grape with red juice as well as red skin, bred in Armenia in the Soviet years.
- Kangun: a white grape bred in Armenia in the Soviet years, widely grown in Armavir and Aragatsotn. It is in our white blend.
- Khatoun Kharji: a rare native white grape from the mountains of Vayots Dzor. It is in our white blend too.
- Chilar and Garan Dmak: older native whites, often used in blends and sweet wines.
The wine regions of Armenia
Armenia is a small country, about the size of Maryland, and almost all of it is high. Most vineyards sit between about 1,000 and 1,400 meters, and some climb higher. The soils are often volcanic and rocky. Summers are hot and dry, and the winters are cold enough that in many places growers still bury the base of their vines under soil in the fall to protect them, then dig them out in spring.
- Armavir: west of Yerevan, the largest wine region by area.
- Ararat: the sunny plain below Mount Ararat, with a long history of grapes for wine and brandy.
- Aragatsotn: on the slopes of Mount Aragats, a home of Voskehat.
- Vayots Dzor: a mountain region in the south, home of the Areni-1 cave and of Areni Noir. Our wines come from here.
There are smaller wine areas in the north and the far south as well.
Vayots Dzor, up close
Vayots Dzor is one of the smaller wine regions by area, but it is where Armenian wine began. The Arpa River runs through it, past Areni, on its way to the Araks. It is dry country: the town of Yeghegnadzor gets only about 400 millimeters (16 inches) of rain a year, so the vines grow slowly. Days are hot and nights are cool, and that swing keeps fresh acidity in the fruit.
The name is often translated as "valley of woes". Historians doubt that story and think the name may come from an ancient tribe, but every Armenian knows the folk version.
Something else makes this valley unusual. Phylloxera, the tiny pest that destroyed most of Europe's vineyards in the 1800s, never reached Vayots Dzor, kept out by its height, its cold winters and its distance from everything. So most vines here, ours included, still grow on their own roots, ungrafted. In most of the wine world that is very rare.
Where our wine comes from
Our wines are grown on my grandmother Rosa's land in Areni and made by our family, working side by side with our neighbors. Our white blend also uses some grapes from Aghavnadzor, another village in Vayots Dzor, and it is made in Areni like the rest. The one exception is our 2010 Dessert Wine, an older wine from another grower that we chose for our label.
The vineyard work is done by hand. Every season we bring in people from the village to prune, clip, pick and sort the grapes. Many of them have done this their whole lives, and they know the vines better than anyone. There is no machinery in our rows. At harvest we start early in the morning, while it is still cool, and pick into small crates so the grapes don't get crushed. Every bunch is sorted by hand, right there in the rows, and the crates go straight to the winery, cool and whole.
How we make our wine
We use stainless steel and oak. We do not use karas.
- Stainless steel keeps the fruit clean and bright. Our red label, the 2019 Areni Noir, is pure stainless steel, about 6 months, with no barrel, so you taste the grape itself. Our rosé and our white blend are stainless steel too.
- Oak adds depth, a rounder texture and soft notes of vanilla. Our reserve reds spend about 18 months in French and Armenian oak, and our HAYK Reserve then rests 3 more years in the cellar before release. Our Reserve Voskehat spends 6 months in steel, then 8 months in Artsakh oak, from the oak forests of the Armenian highlands, so even the barrel is Armenian.
- Sweet wines: our Late Harvest ferments and ages in oak barrels for two to three years. In our Dessert Wine, the fermentation is stopped with 10-year-old brandy, which keeps the natural sweetness of the grapes, and then the wine ages in barrels.
HAYK, and the name behind it
Our finest wine is HAYK, 100% Areni Noir. Hayk is the legendary founder of the Armenian nation. In the old story, he refused to bow to Bel, a tyrant of Babylon, led his people north into the mountains of Armenia, and brought Bel down with a single arrow. Armenians still call their country Hayastan, and the constellation the rest of the world calls Orion is named Hayk in Armenian. That archer is on our label. It is also my name.
What Armenian wine tastes like
Armenian wines can stand next to the wines you already love. Our Areni Noir is closest to an Italian Sangiovese, like a Super Tuscan: fruit-forward, with some earth. It can be soft like a Merlot, and in our oak-aged reserves you get some of the depth people look for in a Cabernet Sauvignon. It can taste slightly sweet from the ripe fruit, but it is a dry wine with no sugar added.
Our Voskehat is fresh and crisp like a Sauvignon Blanc, but softer and rounder, with apricot and pear instead of that sharp, green edge.
| If you like... | Try... |
|---|---|
| Sangiovese, Super Tuscans, Merlot | 2019 Areni Noir |
| Cabernet Sauvignon, bigger oak-aged reds | 2018 Reserve Areni Noir or HAYK Reserve |
| Sauvignon Blanc | 2019 Reserve Voskehat or our white blend |
| Dry Provence-style rosé | 2020 Areni Rosé |
| Sauternes and other late-harvest whites | 2019 Late Harvest |
| Port | 2010 Areni Noir Dessert Wine |
How we serve it
- Reds: slightly cool, a little under room temperature, about 63°F. If the bottle has been in a warm room, 15 minutes in the refrigerator gets it there.
- Whites: lightly chilled, about 55°F, not ice cold. Let the glass warm a little and the fruit opens up.
- Keeping it: in our experience our Areni Noirs can age for 30 years or more, and our Reserve Voskehat is best within 10 to 15 years, with the best bottles keeping for up to 20. Store bottles on their side in a cool, dark place, away from sun and heat.
How to taste it like we do
At our tastings we teach five simple steps: see the color against something white, smell after a swirl, sip and let it sit on your tongue, swish it around, then swallow and notice how long the finish lasts.
What to eat with it
You can drink these wines on their own, or with almost anything. These are the pairings we use at home and at our tastings:
| Wine | Try it with |
|---|---|
| 2019 Areni Noir (red label) | Pizza, pasta, cheeses, Armenian kebab, rack of lamb, stuffed peppers |
| 2018 Reserve Areni Noir | A good filet, aged cheeses, meat dishes that aren't too heavy |
| HAYK Reserve 2018 Areni Noir | A good filet, lamb, aged cheeses |
| 2020 Areni Rosé | Seafood, lobster bisque, grilled salmon, fresh salads such as one with candied pecans and dried cherries, goat cheese salad |
| 2019 Reserve Voskehat | Lobster or crab, mesquite chicken, rich sauces, stuffed grape leaves (tolma) |
| 2020 white blend | Seafood, oysters, brie, salads, risotto |
| 2019 Late Harvest | Panna cotta, pound cake, soft cheeses, spicy food |
| 2010 Dessert Wine | Chocolate desserts, blue cheese, dried fruits and nuts |
Stuffed grape leaves, called tolma in Armenia, are a natural match for a white. They are made with young grape leaves picked in spring, so the leaf and the wine can come from the same vineyard.
Is Armenian wine good?
Yes, Armenian wine is very good. In the Soviet years the world mostly saw Armenia's sweet, fortified wines and brandy, so the country's name for dry wine is only now catching up. Today Armenian winemakers are back to clean, dry wines from native grapes grown high in the mountains, often on vines that grow on their own roots.
If you ask me which is the best wine of Armenia, I'd say Areni Noir, from the Areni region. It is the grape of our village and of the oldest known winery, and nothing else tastes quite like it.
About 60 years of wine in our family
Our family has been in food and hospitality our whole lives. Since 2010 we have run wine bars on the Grand Strand in South Carolina, and in 2016 we started Open Container. At our bars I was selling other people's wines, and our guests bought a lot of them. One day I thought: we have this. We have our own land in Areni, our own family history and our own grape. Why not bring that back and make our own wine?
So I went back to Armenia. One thing led to another: we revitalized the vineyards, cleaned everything up and came back to high-quality winemaking. When you open one of our bottles, you are opening about 60 years of our family's work, from my grandmother Rosa's factory to our vineyard in Areni today.
The pomegranate bottle
In Armenia the pomegranate is more than a fruit. It stands for life and good fortune, it goes on the table at weddings, and folk tradition says a ripe one holds 365 seeds, one for every day of the year. Around 2000 to 2001, my family made the first prototype of the pomegranate-shaped bottle you now see on Armenian fruit wines. We never patented it in Armenia, and today you see that shape everywhere.
How to buy Armenian wine in the US
You can buy our eight Armenian wines online, all from Vayots Dzor:
- 2019 Areni Noir, our red label: dry, medium-bodied, stainless steel. $45.
- 2018 Reserve Areni Noir: about 18 months in oak. $70.
- HAYK Reserve 2018 Areni Noir: our finest expression, 100% Areni Noir. $80.
- 2020 Areni Rosé: dry, stainless steel. $45.
- 2019 Reserve Voskehat: steel, then Artsakh oak. $52.
- 2020 white blend of Khatoun Kharji, Aligoté and Kangoun. $38.
- 2019 Late Harvest: a sweet white. $45.
- 2010 Areni Noir Dessert Wine: sweet, with 10-year-old brandy. $50.
Shipping: we ship to 40 states by FedEx Ground, once a week, on Tuesday. Orders placed by Sunday at midnight Eastern ship that Tuesday. An adult 21 or older must sign for every delivery. See the shipping policy for the full state list and prices.
Wine Club: pick 3 or 6 bottles, shipped every season, with 10% off. Join the Wine Club.
Gifts: Armenian wine gifts.
Questions about Armenian wine
Does Armenia make wine?
Yes. Armenia is one of the oldest winemaking regions in the world. The oldest known winery, about 6,100 years old, was found in the Areni-1 cave in Vayots Dzor, and Armenians still make wine from native grapes in the same valley today.
Does Armenia have good wine?
Yes. After the Soviet years, when most grapes went into brandy and sweet, fortified wines, Armenian winemakers went back to dry wines from native grapes such as Areni Noir and Voskehat, grown in high mountain vineyards.
What is the best wine in Armenia?
Tastes differ, but Areni Noir is Armenia's signature red and the grape most people start with. For a white, try Voskehat. My own pick is Areni Noir from the Areni region.
What is a famous drink in Armenia?
Armenian brandy. Armenians still often call it "konyak", but the protected name today is Armenian brandy. Winston Churchill is said to have loved Armenian brandy; he praised it at the Yalta Conference in 1945. Armenia is also known for its wine, of course, and for fruit wines such as pomegranate.
How old is Armenian wine?
At least 6,100 years. The Areni-1 winery dates to about 4100 BC.
What grapes are used in Armenian wine?
Mostly native grapes. Areni Noir is the main red and Voskehat the main white; others include Khndoghni, Haghtanak, Karmrahyut, Kangun, Khatoun Kharji, Chilar and Garan Dmak.
Is Armenian wine sweet?
Most Armenian wine today is dry. Sweet styles exist too: our Late Harvest and our 2010 Dessert Wine are sweet, and the rest of our wines are dry.
What does Armenian red wine taste like?
Areni Noir is fruit-forward and dry, with cherries, plums and some earth, closest in style to an Italian Sangiovese.
What is a karas?
A large clay jar Armenians have used for thousands of years to ferment and store wine. We make our wines in stainless steel and oak, not karas.
Where can I buy Armenian wine in the US?
Online, here at Open Container. We ship our eight wines from Vayots Dzor to 40 states, every Tuesday.
You must be 21 or older to buy wine. Please enjoy responsibly.
Sources
- Areni-1 winery (dates, finds, malvidin test, the 2007 Armenian and Irish dig, UCLA from 2008, National Geographic support): Barnard, H. et al., Journal of Archaeological Science, January 2011; Phys.org; Wine Spectator; Areni-1 winery, Wikipedia.
- Areni-1 shoe and site dates: UNESCO tentative list, Areni-1; Phys.org.
- Urartu and Teishebaini wine stores: Economy of Urartu, Wikipedia; Smithsonian Magazine on karas.
- Herodotus, Histories 1.194: Perseus text. Xenophon, Anabasis 4.5: Perseus text.
- Noah: Genesis 8:4 and 9:20.
- Areni church, 1321, by Momik: Areni Church, Wikipedia.
- Soviet-era brandy, the return to table wine, vineyard area: Armenian wine, Wikipedia; Académie du Vin Library.
- 1985 anti-alcohol campaign and vineyards in Armenia: Seventeen Moments in Soviet History, Michigan State University.
- Grapes and regions: Jancis Robinson, Armenia for wine lovers; Wine with Seth on Khndoghni; Armenia Travel.
- Vayots Dzor (Arpa River, rainfall, the name): Vayots Dzor Province, Wikipedia. Phylloxera and vines on their own roots: World of Fine Wine on Vayots Dzor.
- Burying vines in winter: RFE/RL, 2003.
- Hayk legend and Orion: Hayk, Wikipedia.
- Areni Wine Festival: Armenia Travel.
- Pomegranate in Armenian culture: USC Folklore Archives.
- Armenian brandy and the name "cognac": Eurasianet. Churchill at Yalta: Richard Langworth.
