Since the fall of the USSR in the early ’90s, Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous region just over the Armenian border in Azerbaijan, has been governed as a quasi-independent state by its ethnic Armenian majority. The area has been prone to conflicts ever since, with the last major escalation happening in 2020. Thousands of people died during six weeks of fighting. Despite the presence of nearly 2,000 Russian soldiers who were stationed in the region with a peacekeeping mandate, Azerbaijani forces staged an offensive to regain control of Karabakh (known as “Artsakh” by Armenians) last September. Within days, nearly all of the area’s 100,000 Armenian inhabitants fled in fear of what they believed could’ve turned into an ethnic cleansing.
In December, Russia’s top general, Valery Gerasimov, voiced a commitment to keeping a military presence in Nagorno-Karabakh to support peace efforts and facilitate the return of its former residents. However, last week, Russia announced the withdrawal of its remaining troops from the region. With Russia’s support fading away, no system in place to aid refugees returning to their homes and rising fears of more conflict, uncertainty looms over the future of Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia as a whole.
Much hangs in the balance, including the fate of Armenia’s recently revitalized wine industry. But a group of winemakers is intent on keeping the momentum going, despite the uncertainty around them.
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“What happened with Artsakh is endlessly hurtful from an emotional perspective, but it has an impact on our wine production, too,” says Ghevond Petrosyan, winemaker at Voskevaz Wine Cellar.
Prior to Azerbaijan’s takeover, Artsakh had around 15 wineries producing approximately four million liters of wine annually, with 70% of it derived from the indigenous red variety Khndoghni, also referred to as Sireni. This ancient grape, which boasts black fruit flavors and robust structure with a great potential to age, thrives in the region’s volcanic soil, considered to be some of the best Armenian winemaking terroir.
Wines from the Nagorno-Karabakh region have long been renowned for their exceptional quality, often regarded as some of the finest in Armenia. The volume of production was also substantial. Before Azerbaijan took over the region, Artsakh made four million liters of wine annually, accounting for 31% of mainland Armenia’s total production of 13 million liters per year.
It’s not just grapes and regional winemakers who are being impacted. Artsakh was also Armenian coopers’ primary source of high-quality oak. Its loss has dried up those prized wood supplies, too.
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With stock of these oak barrels gradually depleting, winemakers will soon need to turn to alternatives, such as conventional French barriques. The shift from indigenous Armenian oak to foreign alternatives is set to alter the economic landscape: it will entail significantly higher costs for Armenian winemakers compared to what they’ve been paying for locally sourced products, and the expenditure on barrels will result in much-needed capital leaving the country.
The shift to foreign oak barrels goes beyond financial burdens. It also jeopardizes the cultural and sensory uniqueness that Artsakh wood infuses into Armenian wine. Its particularly fine grain is well-suited for the gradual aging of wine while mitigating premature oxidation. Plus, its staves lend the liquid a discernible balsamic character as well as notes of dried fruits, chocolate and vanilla. “Anyone can use French barriques, so people want our wines to be matured in Armenian oak,” says Noah of Areni CEO Arsen Mkrtchyan, who has Artsakh ancestry. “It’s about the history and the tradition behind it—it’s very important for wine drinkers.”
Following the recent losses of Artsakh, and of its prized oak wood, Armenia’s winemakers are now ramping up efforts to reclaim as much of their nation’s vinous heritage as possible.
Winemaking in karases, Armenian clay amphoras with a history spanning over six millennia, is gradually being rediscovered. Manufacturing know-how was lost for good during Soviet rule, when brandy production was prioritized over winemaking. Still, numerous karases can be found in the cellars of villagers across the country who, for the past century, have been using them to make wine at home.
Vahagn Gevorkian, the CEO and founder of Gevorkian Winery, seeks out these heirloom karases from villages and restores them to guarantee they are hermetically sealed, thereby preventing premature oxidation of the wine. “Currently, we only use karases for maturing wine made with Areni, Haghtanak, Kangun and Voskehat, but starting next year, we are going to bury them into the ground and use them for fermentation, too.”
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Alongside karases, Gevorkian and other winemakers are reviving the kakhani, a grape-drying method reminiscent of Italy’s appassimento, the key process used to give Amarone its signature depth and complexity. This technique entails suspending harvested grape bunches along strings in well-ventilated rooms. According to Petrosyan, the practice dates back at least three millennia and traditionally involves red varieties—such as Areni and Haghtanak—to produce full-bodied wines with varying sweetness levels. But Petrosyan is pushing the boundaries by experimenting with white varieties, too. “We know that Voskehat is excellent,” he says. “So, we decided to apply the kakhani method to those grapes as well.”
Petrosyan and Gevorkian are far from alone in their desire to blend their homeland’s millennia-old winemaking history with this sort of innovative mindset. To address the economic and spiritual void left by the loss of Artsakh, some wineries are seeking creative solutions to continue honoring their cultural winemaking heritage.
Exploring oak from alternative Armenian regions, for example, holds promise in allowing the country’s wines to maintain a distinctive sense of place once fulfilled by Artsakh barrels. “Some of my colleagues have used barrels made with wood from the north-eastern Tavush region, but we also have some oak forests in Syunik [in the south],” says Mkrtchyan. “Oak from there is very tight-grained because of the very dry weather, so it’s quite good for winemaking. I’ve used those barrels for the first time in 2022 and I like them. I might buy some more.”
Others are planning to bring a piece of Artsakh to new wine-growing regions. Artsakh winemaker Andranik Manvelyan—who reconstructed his wine business in mainland Armenia after fleeing the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War in 2020—views his plans to establish vineyards of Artsakh’s key indigenous grape, Khndoghni, as a way to reconnect with his origins and preserve the memory of his lost motherland. “We left immediately when they entered our village,” he recalls. “A man who stayed behind was beheaded; we didn’t have any option to stay.”
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In his rush to flee, Manvelyan left behind his winery, oak barrels, approximately 200,000 bottles of his wine and his Khndoghni vineyards. After relocating, he managed to import some Khndoghni, yet as Artsakh oak supplies came to a halt last September, so did the import of grapes.
Now he relies on varieties from mainland Armenia. “It is terrible,” he says. He’s currently working on establishing a new Khndoghni vineyard and the sentiment around it is bittersweet. “It won’t be the same as before, but at least we won’t forget about it,” he adds. “It’ll be a way to retain our culture and heritage.”
Though some Artsakh refugees have started the process of rebuilding, the currently tense geopolitical situation poses plenty of challenges to Armenia’s vibrant and dynamic wine industry. Apprehensions about potential further conflict with Azerbaijan, coupled with ongoing threats from Turkey and Azerbaijan’s ambitions to establish a land corridor through southern Armenia, bring instability to the south of the country.
The area includes Vayots Dzor, said to be home to the oldest winery in the world, dating back more than 6,000 years. This well-regarded region, encompassing approximately 3,000 acres of vineyards, is home to the prized Sev Areni (Black Areni) grape. Growing on high-elevation volcanic vineyards, some reaching heights of up to 5,900 feet, the Areni grape showcases its nuanced character to its fullest potential. The area’s finest wines exhibit a delicate color, velvety texture, elegant spice and complex bouquet with good natural acidity that makes it an excellent choice for sparkling wine production, too.
This specter of further invasion—and the uncertainty over whether Artsakh refugees will ever be able to return to their vineyards and wineries—is throwing a wrench into many Armenian winemakers’ plans for the future. But they remain steadfast in their mission. Mkrtchyan, for one, is planning to build a new winery next to his vineyards in the Vayots Dzor village of Rind, but given the lack of clarity as to what’s coming next in the conflict, has opted for a temporary winery near Yerevan. “Just imagine: how can you make an investment of over $2 million in this landscape?” he says. “We will still do it—even with the risk of losing it—we just can’t live with this fear.”
Published: April 23, 2024
