Areni, it is perhaps an unsung ancient variety of grape that entails the true history of winemaking, as it traps every aspect of unique human history. It’s funny that it came into relevance only after one varietal Areni wine was nominated by ‘Bloomberg’ among the ‘Top 10 wines of 2012’ and that too after beating like 4000 wines from all around the globe. Areni finds its way to ‘Armenia’, which is its native place along with another wine-producing nation of ‘Georgia’, which is also regarded as the origin of viticulture. 

This grape variety derives its name from the village ‘Areni’ in the southwestern part of Armenia. The story goes that in the year 2011, a discovery was made in a cave i.e. Areni-1, located above the same village while excavation and people discovered perhaps the oldest known winery there. The analysis of stems and grape seeds there concluded that the winery was at least 6100 years old and by observing how well developed the winery was it was determined that winemaking  began much earlier in the region. 

Traditional winemaking in Armenia was based on ‘karasi’ or clay amphorae, which are used in the fermentation and ageing of the wine.