YEREVAN, OCTOBER 30, ARMENPRESS. The Sommelier India wine magazine published an article on Armenian winemaking touching upon its centuries-old traditions and current trends, Armenpress reports citing the Sommelier India official website.

Author of the article Kanika Dhawan first of all touches upon the history of Armenian winemaking, stating that winegrowing in Armenia dates back to Biblical times. “Noah, after disembarking from the Ark which saved him and all the other creatures from the great Flood, was tasked with restocking a denuded earth”, the author writes. “The Ark came to rest at the top of Mount Ararat”.

Noah is said to have planted a vineyard at the foot of the mountain, harvested grapes and fermented them.

The author writes that data on Armenian winemaking have been maintained in different sources, even Greek historian, Herodotus, wrote about wine being transported from Armenia.

In 2011, a team of researchers from UCLA and the Armenian Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, led by Armenian-American archaeologist Gregor Areshian, unearthed evidence inside the caves of Areni village in the rocky Vayots Dzor provice. The research team found a wine press, remnants of vines, seeds and vats with residue, dating back to the Copper Age, which was roughly 6,100 years ago.

Kanika Dhawan says at the moment majority of Armenian wine is being produced in the Ararat Valley and Armavir province, as well as in Aragatsotn, Tavush, Syunik and Vayotz Dzor provinces. “Today, more than 45 Armenian companies are making over 100 types of wine with indigenous and foreign varietals. Indeed, Armenia could be described as a viticulturist’s dream”, Kanika Dhawan says.