Areni Premier
This wine was produced and bottled in the Tavush region of Armenia by the Ijevan Wine Factory, located in the northern part of the region, on the foot of Ijevan ridge and Nal’teket ridge on both banks of Aghstev river. The wine, produced from the Areni grape variety, is a semi-sweet red. I found it sickly and unappealing, but still drunk the bottle over a couple of nights in a hotel room in Tbilisi in Georgia. As has been said before, I’ll drink anything.
Labeling of the bottle is in English and Armenian, an Indo-European language with its own script, the Armenian alphabet.
The Ijevan Wine Factory started wine production in 1977, with a red dry wine made from the Saperavi grape variety. From 1978 to 1990s wine produced at the Ijevan Wine Factory was sent to different soviet countries in tanks for further treatment and bottling. From 1992 to 1996 the factory did not produce any wine. In October 1996 Ijevan Wine Factory was privatized, and in the same year the first bottled wine was produced: Saperavi, a half-dessert red wine. Varieties of grapes from which wine was produced were extended to include White Ijevan, Red Ijevan, and Haghartsin. In 2011 Ijevan Wine factory was producing more than 20 varieties of wine.
Website: http://www.ijevanwine.am/ (in Armenian, Russian and English)
Other winemakers in Armenia are the Areni Wine Factory and the Yerevan Ararat Brandy-Wine-Vodka Factory. Armenia is better known for its Pomegranite wine and for its brandies, than for grape wine.
Robert would appreciate any information on wine production in countries and autonomous regions not listed. You may contact Robert here.