Prague Post, Czech Rep
Aug 2 2014
Wineries in Armenia slowly modernizing
by John & Helena Baker
Oldest winery ever discovered sits in the footsteps of Noah
Mount Ararat — where according to the Bible, Noah’s Ark came ashore —
majestically overlooks Armenia’s capital, Yerevan. This peak is an
essential element in the nation’s sense of identity, especially since
a great majority of Armenians have long lived in a diaspora spread
across the globe.
Today, however, Mount Ararat is not even in Armenia. It stands a
little over 30 km across the border with Turkey, a country with which
Armenia has no diplomatic relations, in the main due to the genocide
of 1915.
Armenia is a small and ancient nation (population 3.2 million
inhabitants, with another 8 million living abroad), located at the
southern end of the Transcaucasian region that bridges Europe and
Asia, bordered by Russia, Georgia, Iran, Turkey, Azerbaijan and the
Caspian Sea. The region has for ever been a meeting point for a mix of
cultures, which is reflected in Armenia’s long and often troubled
history. Interestingly, it was the first country to adopt
Christianity as its official religion.
As is the case with Georgia (usually reckoned to be the seat of
viticulture), Armenia’s mountains and plains bear evidence of
mankind’s first winemaking endeavors. Vines are indigenous and
excavations have revealed that vines of the genus Vitis vinifera
silvestris (ancestor to the today’s wine grapes) have been growing
here for over a million years.
The 6,100-year-old winery that was discovered in 2007 in a cave in the
village of Areni in the southwestern Vayots Dzor province is the
world’s oldest, dated at least a thousand years before the one
unearthed in the Jordanian West Bank in 1963.
This winery has a press, fermentation vats, storage jars, while
pottery shards, grape seeds and pressed grape remains were also
present on the scene, and a leather shoe was found in the same cave
the following year.
Areni is also the name of the noble grape variety, whose wines
received their first written mention in the 5th century. The Areni is
perhaps the most interesting of all the myriad local grapes, giving at
best some fresh, delicate almost Burgundian reds in the Yeghegnadzor
region southeast of Yerevan.
Despite lying between the Black Sea (an inland sea) and the Caspian
Sea (variously classed as the world’s largest lake or also a sea), the
climate in most Armenian vineyard areas is very dry and decidedly
continental, with vast deserts to the south and extensive plains to
the north. Vines grow mostly between 500 meters and 1500 meters where
diurnal temperature swings can be extreme.
Winters are also harsh enough to warrant protection as the threat of
frosts both in spring and autumn is very real. Despite these and many
other difficulties the arrival of decent irrigation methods has made
viticulture a more practical undertaking in today’s Armenia, allowing
it to rise in commercial importance.
There are 13,000 hectares under vine though the majority of these
supply raw material for the far more illustrious Armenian brandy. Much
investment nowadays comes from Armenians abroad and wineries are
modernizing slowly from the old Soviet-style wine factories that
traditionally still supply the huge but largely unsophisticated
Russian market.
Winery of the month: Vinaøstvà ©abata
VladimÃr ©abata, not long out of the Lednice wine school, set about
making his first wine in his back garden in Bøeclav. Later his family
moved to a property in Rakvice that had a minute 10 ares of vineyard
attached. Here he made wine with friends and in 1997 he went as far
as bottling his first solo batch. This only awakened the desire to go
professional. Subsequently he found and purchased a small property in
the not-too-distant hilltop village of Zajeèà where he based his small
production. In 2004 he was joined by his eldest son, Václav.
With boom times sweeping Moravia, ©abata decided on a new expanded
project, building a modern winery on a virgin site outside the
village. By 2009 this allowed for an annual production 30,000
bottles. With youngest son Jan now on board, ©abata and his old
colleague and investor Ivan Bene¹, founded the company VinaøstvÃ
©abata s.r.o. in 2011.
Vinaøstvà ©abata has dedicated itself not just to making better wine
but to the growing trend of eno-tourism, running tastings for groups,
with lodging also available at the newly-completed 12-room Penzion and
Restaurant U vinaøstvà within the complex.
©abata has always stuck close to nature with all grapes sourced
locally, and the company speciality is the red and rosé made from
“samotok”, the free-run (unpressed) wine made fresh and ready for sale
every year on Nov. 11, as with traditional Saint Martin’s new wine.
Another house speciality is the Sur-Lie cuvée, a special blend which
spends a minimum of nine months on its lees.
Wines come from 15 grape varieties and cost between 105 to 155 Kè.
See also: Vinarstvisabata.cz
Wines of the Month:
White: Ryzlink vla¹ský 2013
Producer: Vinaøstvà VladimÃr ©abata, ZajeèÃ, Moravia
This is a Welschriesling made from grapes that grew on the PøÃtluky
slopes near ZajeèÃ. The wine has a pale straw appearance with
distinct goldeny tinges on the rim. The nose is elegant, floral, very
fresh with a good dab of butterscotch well to the fore. The bone-dry
palate is very pleasing, green apples delicately flushed out with a
predominant mineral character. Refreshing and light – just 11%
alcohol. (125 Kè)
Red: Areni Nairian 2008
Producer: Areni, Armenia
This wine has a beautiful deep red aspect, it is dry, made in the
famous Armenian wine village of Areni in the Vayots Dzor region. On
the nose one can sense tobacco, juniper and forest berries, mingled
with mountain herbs. The wine is well-knit in the mouth, with a full
texture and highlights of delicate raspberry accompanied by pleasing
vegetal and spicy tones. This is a modern-style Areni: clean,
transparent and smooth, with good acidity. Matured at least two years
in oak barrels from the Caucasus itself. (259 Kè)
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