Wine enthusiasts from ANAU came to the small assembly hall to meet with the Director of the Vine and Wine Foundation of Armenia (VWFA), Zaruhi Muradyan and follow her presentation titled “Armenian wine as Armenia’s visiting card”. Ms. Muradyan began with the history of the Armenian wine since the Bible times.
The biblical legend says that the mankind discovered the taste of wine when Noah descended from Mount Ararat and planted the first vine. The fact that Armenia has a 6,200-year old of history of industrial winemaking was proven by the ancient cave winery discovered by Armenian and Irish researchers in the vicinity of Areni village in 2011; the oldest known winery in the world dates back to 4100 B.C.
While during the soviet era brandy production was more developed Armenia, currently winemaking is recognized as one of the priority industries. Moreover, we are now facing an active renaissance of this industry. The Vine and Wine Foundation of Armenia, established in 2016, has been instrumental in ensuring the right strategies in these developments, implementing a number of targeted projects, including presentation of Armenian wines in the largest international wine platforms such as DECANTER, Mundus Vini, Muscats du Monde, Le Mondial du Rose, Concours Mondial de Bruxelles and others.
ՆMs. Muradyan went on sharing information on the first ever international wine conference in Armenia organized by VWFA in 2017 and titled “Global Trends and Best Practices in the Wine World: Implications and Recommendations for Armenia”. The president of OIV (International Organization of Vine and Wine), presidents of the world’s leading wine universities, international wine journalists, and many other stakeholders from 20 countries attended the Conference. The Conference was one of the landmark events that triggered further positive developments in promotion of the best Armenian wines as a new brand for our country.
ՏThe trend among young Armenians to drink wine is taking momentum, Ms. Muradyan said. This is another factor, in addition to the favorable state policies and history and traditions that contributes to the rehabilitation of the wine drinking habits and overall development of the wine culture. “This changing mentality is in turn promoting the wine tourism in Armenia and gradually becoming one more visiting card for our country,” Zaruhi said.
ANAU is also undertaking major role in the development of wine industry, in particular – with its newly opened Wine Teaching and Research Center in Voskahat village.