Friday Read: Reviving Armenia

By Justin Keay

Published: 31 January, 2025

Justin Keay speaks to Armenian star, Zorik Gharibian, who grew up in Italy and turned his back on a successful career in fashion in order to make wine in his ancestral homeland. As the founder and winemaker of Zorah Wines, Gharibian has played a pivotal role in helping shape the country’s modern wine industry, most recently having just revived a range of once-extinct native varieties.

For the UK wine trade, the 2020s is marking itself as the decade of wine discovery. Greek wine was first off the blocks, followed by countries more generally known for conflict and instability. Lebanon, Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia are all having their time in the sun, with indigenous grape varieties, improved winemaking (often supported by consultant winemakers) and sheer curiosity driving the interest.

The latest country to join the list is Armenia, famously where wine started, after archaeological digs at caves in Vayots Dzor found evidence of winemaking dating back to 4000 BC, but more recently in the headlines for losing the war with neighbouring Azerbaijan over Nagorno Karabakh in October 2023. Some 100,000 Armenian refugees were forced to leave what Armenia calls Artsakh, a de facto part of Armenia since it won the first Karabakh war in 1994. Despite this national tragedy – which also meant Armenia lost Artsakh’s unique mountain vineyards – Armenian-Italian winemaker Zorik Gharibian of Zorah Wines, in town to show his new wines at the Liberty Wines tasting, is optimistic.

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“What’s important is that we now have peace. Wine-wise, Armenia is undergoing a renaissance. The Soviets declared that we should focus on making brandy whilst Moldova and Georgia made wine. This meant that after 1991 we started our wine industry essentially from zero, and we could do whatever we wanted,” he says.

When he came over from Milan to establish Zorah in 2000, turning his back on a successful career in fashion, he decided to focus entirely on autochthonous varieties and using amphora (karas).

“Everyone said this was crazy and that no one would buy wines made from our varieties Areni and Voskehat, but now with our industry growing fast, some 90% of Armenia’s wines are made from local varieties. They are our heritage, dating back thousands of years, but they are also really good grapes,” he says, adding that Vayots Dzor – where DNA tests have confirmed the grapes used were Areni – is visible from his winery, reminding him of his duty to maintain Armenia’s viticultural traditions.

He adds: “These are varieties that show our unique terroir. Our main vineyards are at 1400m and we have another at 1600m, and we have never known Phylloxera. Yes we use amphora, but in a discrete way so it doesn’t add or take anything from the wine.”

He goes on to say that his method of burying two thirds of the amphoras and leaving the top third exposed is ideal for temperature control.

“If you notice the amphora then I’ve done something wrong,” he says.

Zorah’s main wines, Karasi (red, 100% Areni) and Voski (white, a blend of Voskehat and another native grape Garandmak), have already acquired a cult following and rightly so. They are delicious and pure expressions of these grape varieties: it’s not hard to see how they helped kickstart Armenia’s viticultural revolution.

But Gharibian is in town to launch two new wines that further showcase Armenia’s varietal heritage, part of a new range called appropriately enough, Heritage. The red Sireni 2019 is made from 80% Sireni and 20% Ararati grape. The white Chilar 2021 is made from Voskehat and Yeraz. Both wines are produced in tiny quantities (4,000 bottles each), from almost extinct, heirloom varieties. The Sireni will be a particularly limited issue – grapes for the wine came from Nagorno Karabakh, so 2022 will be the last vintage.

“The war was over really quite quickly (fighting started late September and Azeri forces raised the Azerbaijani flag over the capital Stepanakert on 15 October) but it’s a loss you have to come to terms with. Winemaking in Armenia is something you do for the passion of it, there are no guarantees here,” says Gharibian.

However, it seems pretty certain that the new wines will be well received. They are quite different from the standard wines, even more generous and expressive, with a distinct sense of place and very elegant. The Sireni is incredibly smooth, with flavours of dark cassis and tobacco; the Chilar is delightful, showing apricot and peach on a broad, long palate.

The wines reinforce how different Armenia is from neighbouring Georgia in wine-making terms, which has arguably over expanded, with the number of wineries there reaching almost 2,400, against just 80 in 2006. And not only is the terroir very different – 70% of Armenia is above 1,000m – so too are the indigenous grapes and the mentality, with many wineries funded by Armenia’s huge diaspora, many times bigger than the country’s 3 million population. Like Gharibian, they are completely unconstrained by the past and committed to producing quality wines that reflect the country they have chosen to return to.

“I’ve spent 24 years on this adventure. Being the first can always be a challenge but I’ve been very lucky, with my team who have supported me all the way, including my great consultant Alberto Antonini, and with Liberty Wines. Now that the wine industry here has progressed, it’s time for us to work together, speak with one voice and get our story better known,” Gharibian concludes.

Top photo, left to right: Zorik Gharibian, founder and winemaker of Zorah, with his son, vineyard manager, Oshin Gharibian (Image credit ‘Zorah winery’)

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