Sparkling Wine of Armenia: From Classics to PetNat

Sparkling wine in today’s Armenia undoubtedly started to be produced as part of a trend that used to be called the ‘Armenian wine boom’ and was launched around the year 2005. Its essence lies in the sharp development of the industry: earlier, during the Soviet period, Armenia was defined as a republic producing brandy of varied qualities, as well as a small amount of mediocre dry wine, partly, to satisfy its own needs. However, at the beginning of the century the situation had changed: what could be called a wine boom, a local fashion for wine, arose. It affected both production – i.e. vineyards and wineries – and the spheres of consumption: wine bars started to appear like mushrooms after a rain, whilst wine lists of HoReCa establishments expanded.

It was due to several coincidence factors. Firstly, economical: wine (of high quality) is a successful export product for a country that lacked a low-cost logistic connection with the outside world. In addition, it was part of another high-margin export product – tourism. Secondly, it was patriotic: Armenian winemaking was based on autochthonous varieties, some of which were barely saved from extinction. The search, preservation, and development of autochthons become part of a modern Armenian identity. Thirdly, the repatriation factor also played a role: Armenian entrepreneurs who were already in the grape and wine business in countries like California, France, Italy, and the Middle East had returned to their own country. Those people founded the brightest wine projects in the country – the most successful and most original. It seems that working in their historical homeland, they felt a little ‘on stage’ and therefore striven not only to do well, but also to surprise those around them. And finally, last but not least: Armenia, which disputes the title of the ancestral home of winemaking, is truly an excellent place for this activity.

As for sparkling wine and winemaking genres (PetNats, etc.) that started to be produced in Armenia simply due to the logic of winemaking and the wine market. They had a demand, they had grapes, and they had people who were inclined to experiment. For instance, this is how one of the Armenian winemakers (Gevorkian Winery) talks about how he made his first PetNats: “In 2020, I made rosé from the flagship autochthonous variety Areni. I wanted to preserve the very elegant, subtle aromatics that emerged during the fermentation process which would then fill the entire winery. Then the idea came to bottle the wine during the fermentation process – when 2/3 of the sugar had fermented. It turned out very well and the following year I made white PetNats from Muscat grapes – that was an Armenian cross of Italian muscat and Hamburg muscat, created in 1982. A year later, I decided to make red PetNat from the same Areni. Here, I used carbonic maceration. The grapes fermented for ten days in a vat without access to oxygen, gained approximately 3% alcohol, then, after pressing, another 5-7 days in the vat followed by 10 days in the bottle. PetNat went on sale on the 45th day.” The answer to the question of how he acquired knowledge about PetNats, the winemaker referred to an article he had once read in a publication run by the Simple company, which led him eagerly to learn more about it. Perhaps those were the first PetNats in Armenia – in any case, the public had to be explained what it was and how it was consumed. But in general, the young audience (and in Armenia, wine is attracted to young audiences) perceived the new product very positively. PetNats were produced in small batches (the sugar content may change during the bottling process, and therefore must be bottled quickly) and supplied almost entirely to the HoReCa segment. First of all, to supply youth wine bars. They were consumed as an aperitif and generally as a light, summer refreshing drink, and that also applied to red PetNat – the tannins in them were barely noticeable.

As for classic sparkling wine, here also Armenian winemakers produce mainly original products. For example, sparkling based on the so-called orange wine (white autochthonous voskehat, natural, without sulfites), in which the dosage is not made with mass-produced liqueur, but with the pulp of fresh grapes (also an indigenous variety of Chilar)! With aging on the lees for about three years, disgorgement – everything as it should be.

However, one should not think that Armenian winemakers live in some kind of isolated world. Thus, the invited French Champagne winemaker Jerome Baret played a significant role in the development of sparkling wine production in the country. By inviting him, Armenian entrepreneurs (Keush Winery) believed that he would produce wine from his usual varieties: Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Viognier, and so on. However, Baret, having become acquainted with the terroir near the village of Khachik in the Vayots Dzor region, located at an altitude of 1800m above sea level (perhaps the highest terroir in Europe), stated that it was optimal here to produce sparkling wine from indigenous varieties: white voskehat and khatuna and red arena. By utilising those, fairly high-quality vintage sparkling wines of the classic type were obtained with three years of aging on lees of various categories: Blanc de Blanc, Blanc de Noir, Rosé, etc. The wines were exported to various countries, including the USA, and attained top marks from the specialized press. Acratophoric sparkling wine with European varieties was also produced in Armenia – particularly by the Terras de Armenia company (KARAS brand). Whilst Armenia Wine, with the help of French specialists, produced acratophoric sparkling wine from the indigenous Kangun grapes.

Illustration credit – Lisa Burlutskaya