Armenia has a thriving wine industry, but faces an uphill battle to establish itself on the world stage.

Jacopo Mazzeo writes about it in “The other Caucasus contender” article published in British edition of Harpers Wine and Spirit. According to the author, despite rich winemaking heritage, Armenia is still relatively unknown to the British wine industry, especially when compared to neighboring Georgia.

As one of the reasons, Mazzeo notes that during Soviet rule, wine production was assigned to Georgia, leaving brandy making responsibilities to Armenia.

“By the time the country had gained independence in the 1990s, it had lost much of its historical winemaking expertise. In recent years however, Armenia’s wine sector experienced a remarkable resurgence thanks to the collective efforts, substantial investments and patriotic enthusiasm of its abundant diaspora and migrant community,” Mazzeo writes.

He notes that while restarting from scratch might have posed some obstacles, it also injected the sector with a forward-looking attitude.

Harpers cites the Noa winery’s winemaker Pavel Vartanyan: “The management here pushes me to experiment. If you are a painter, people should never take the paintbrush away from you because, unless you keep experimenting, you’ll never get better.”

Jacopo Mazzeo does not mention separate Armenian wines, but notes that wineries like Zorah and Tushpa are making significant contributions to salvaging this heritage, meanwhile, producers such as Voskevaz and Gevorkian are exploring a historical grape-drying technique reminiscent of Italy’s Amarone.