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The Armenian Wine Week campaign will run from 8 to 14 November, initiated by businessman Vahe Balulyan with the support of the Vine and Wine Foundation of Armenia. The campaign aims to involve as many industry professionals and wine enthusiasts as possible.
“Those joining the campaign buy two bottles of wine: they enjoy one themselves and give the other to a foreign friend. They post a video about it on their social media pages, tagging several friends to challenge them to take part. Our aim is to give as many people from other countries as possible the opportunity to try Armenian wine. After all, Armenian wine has a history spanning thousands of years, and any Armenian, wherever they are in the world, can make a small contribution to promoting our products,” campaign founder Vahe Balulyan said at a press conference at the Armenpress press centre. He noted that Armenian organisations in the diaspora had joined efforts to actively promote the campaign.
Zaruhi Muradyan, Executive Director of the Vine and Wine Foundation of Armenia, noted that promoting Armenian winemaking and wine requires consistent, daily work. Various events and initiatives take place throughout the year, including participation in international exhibitions, wine festivals and large-scale events in Armenia involving wine professionals. Armenian Wine Week is one such initiative.
“We undertake substantial efforts to promote Armenian wine, raise its profile and position it in the market. We mainly work with buyers and major retail chains — in other words, sellers. Many buyers are interested in selling Armenian wines, but demand for Armenian wine has yet to develop in those countries. We often have little contact with ordinary wine consumers. This campaign is a good opportunity to fill that gap,” Muradyan said.
According to the foundation’s executive director, global figures show that demand for wine has declined in recent years. Young people have different preferences: many opt for fizzy drinks rather than wine. The picture in Armenia is somewhat different. Per capita wine consumption has risen from one litre in 2016 to five litres today.
“Domestic consumption has indeed increased, but this is also thanks to increased tourism. Beyond that, we aim to increase consumption of our wines on the global market. Yes, global trends show that overall wine consumption is declining, but the same cannot be said for premium wines. Consumption in this segment of the global market is holding steady. This means we need to promote our wines in this segment,” Muradyan said.
To achieve this, domestic production of grapes in high demand needs to increase. Quality sometimes falls short of requirements, prompting many winemaking companies to invest in their own vineyards so they can manage the entire process.