Wining Armenia

 

I’ve often advocated expanding Armenia’s tourism, specifically eco- and adventure-tourism. But now, I’ve come upon what can be linked to that or stand on its own—oeno-, or vini-tourism. That’s a wine-drinking trip, in simple English.

You have probably noticed lately a lot of news items about wine and Armenia being interconnected. The most recent was the piece that is part of Joe Dagdigian’s “Unseen Armenia” series about the wine festival in Dogh/Togh, Hadrout Province, Artsakh. A few months ago, there was the introduction of the Yacoubian-Hobbs label, which has already won an award. Before that, there was the crowdfunded startup World’s First Wines, which ships wine produced in Armenian to its clientele every month. Of course, the most exciting news was when we learned of the oldest winemaking operation (some 6100 years ago) discovered in Armenia’s Areni-1 cave!

“I’ve often advocated expanding Armenia’s tourism, specifically eco- and adventure-tourism. But now, I’ve come upon what can be linked to that or stand on its own—oeno-, or vini-tourism. That’s a wine-drinking trip, in simple English.”

All this was just the latest that topped off the deep roots of winemaking in Armenia. It is not yet confirmed, but grapes may have first been domesticated in Armenia. Wikipedia gives 1877 as the founding date of the oldest winery in Armenia that is still operating. Who knows what we lost in the field of winemaking as a result of the Genocide.

Interestingly, some uprooted Armenians post-WWI settled in Ethiopia and established winemaking operations there. Plus, we have the huge clay winemaking urns we call garas/karas, which have recently made a small splash in international travel circles. All these have roots in our ancient winemaking traditions.

As it is, the first mention of “beer” is also sited in Armenia, and comes from Xenophon’s description of his march from Greek lands eastward. Now, perhaps some digging in archives and manuscripts, if not already done, will yield new historical insights, notable sites to visit and maybe some long-forgotten techniques.

All of this can be packaged in multiple ways into wonderful weeklong (or longer) trips featuring Armenia’s scenery, food, hospitality, and local wines. Dozens and dozens of vintners are listed in Wikipedia alone. High-level European praise has flowed for the quality of Armenian wines. They are being exported and have, along with Armenian brandy, been fairly well known for quite some time. It is reported that one of Winston Churchill’s favorite brandies was Ararat, after he was introduced to it by Stalin at the Yalta conference in 1945.

Imagine hiking or bicycling (OK, OK, you can also drive…) from winemaker to winemaker on ancient, or newly built, trails. On the way, with properly planned trails, visitors would pass by all manner of ancient architecture, some in ruins, some still maintained, and others just gleams in archaeologists eyes waiting for the necessary funding and proper conditions to unearth long-covered secrets. After traveling through lush forests, gorgeous gorges, and panoramic mountain views, tired guests could cozily engage in tasting local wines, perhaps with some local cheese, greens, freshly baked bread, and just-picked ripe tomatoes. All this could be in a villager’s home or other bed-and-breakfast establishment (Tufenkian and others already have some established).

Who doesn’t know wine lovers? Who doesn’t know travelers? Who doesn’t know hikers? Who doesn’t know bicyclists? Who doesn’t know people who want to explore new places and their flavors? Any and all of these classes of people would provide a tremendous long-term economic boost to the Republics of Armenia and Artsakh. We could all become advocates of this largely sustainable industry for Armenia, and along the way support our numerous Diaspora travel agents.

Let’s get busy tasting Armenian wines, deciding which we’d most like to sample at the source, then rounding up our non-Armenian friends for an oeno-touristic extravaganza!

Garen Yegparian

Garen Yegparian

Asbarez Columnist
Garen Yegparian is a fat, bald guy who has too much to say and do for his own good. So, you know he loves mouthing off weekly about anything he damn well pleases to write about that he can remotely tie in to things Armenian. He's got a checkered past: principal of an Armenian school, project manager on a housing development, ANC-WR Executive Director, AYF Field worker (again on the left coast), Operations Director for a telecom startup, and a City of LA employee most recently (in three different departments so far). Plus, he's got delusions of breaking into electoral politics, meanwhile participating in other aspects of it and making sure to stay in trouble. His is a weekly column that appears originally in Asbarez, but has been republished to the Armenian Weekly for many years.
Garen Yegparian

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