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Areni (Արենի) is a village in Armenia known for its wine production and Chalcolithic Age excavations. It’s about 110 kilometers from Yerevan.
Introduction to Areni
Areni was originally known as Arpa, with the name change occurring in 1946. It’s situated on both banks of the Arpa River and 6 kilometers away from Noravank, a historic monastery. The village is popular with tourists not only for wine and the Areni-1 cave complex, but also for butterfly watching, birdwatching, and a beautiful natural setting.
Areni-1 Cave Complex
In 2007, a team of Armenian and Irish archaeologists began excavations in the Areni-1 cave complex. Since then, there have been some remarkable discoveries from the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age dating between 5000 and 4000 BC. Admission is Դ1,000 (as of September 2024).
Trench 3
After climbing up to the entrance, you’ll find Trench 3. It’s located outside the cave at the main entrance to the first gallery. Two layers of medieval structures dating to the late 13th and 14th centuries have been found there. The top layer contains the remains of bread ovens while another layer below is dated to the Islamic Caliphate period from the late 7th to the first half of the 9th century. Underneath those layers are three consecutive layers from the Chalcolithic Age.
In 2008, Armenian PhD student and archeologist Diana Zardaryan unearthed the world’s earliest known shoe in Trench 3. The Areni-1 Shoe dates to around 3500 BC. It measures 24.5 centimeters long and 7.6 to 10 centimeters wide and was made from a single piece of leather and fit to the owner’s right foot. It was found stuffed with loose grass to either maintain its shape or prepare it for storage. The shoe is now on display in the History Museum of Armenia in Yerevan.
Trench 2
Just inside the cave is Trench 2, which is 1.85 meters deep. Artifacts dating from the Bronze Age through the Middle Ages were discovered on the top layers. Below are Chalcolithic Age pots containing cremations as well as human remains.
Trench 1
Finally, Trench 1 is in the first gallery of the cave. It contains winemaking jugs dated between 4000 and 3800 BC, making it the oldest winery in the world. The Areni-1 winery was discovered in 2007 during excavations led by archaeologists Boris Gasparyan of Armenia and Ron Pinhasi of Ireland. It consists of fermentation vats, a wine press, storage jars, and pottery shards. It’s believed to be at least 1,000 years older than the next oldest winery unearthed in the West Bank in 1963.
Furthermore, in 2009, three burial pots containing human skulls were discovered in the trench. One of the skulls had well-preserved brain tissue, making it the oldest known human brain discovered to date. The burials also confirm a connection between winemaking and sacrificial ceremonies.
Hin Areni Winery
As previously mentioned, Areni is well known for wine production. If you’d like to get to known Armenian wine in the cradle of wine production, Hin Areni Winery is a great place to visit. It was founded in 2013 by the Karapetyan family, and all wines are made from the Areni Noir and Voskehat grape varietals. The vineyard is situated at an elevation of between 1,215 and 1,250 meters and is spread out over 32 hectares.
Restaurant
We started upstairs with a delicious lunch in the restaurant. First came a couple salads along with assorted Armenian cheeses and bread. The main course was a mixed grill along with potatoes and mushrooms.
Tasting Room
After lunch, we headed down to the tasting room where we sampled six wines – a red, a rosé, and a white – from both the classic and reserve collections. The reserves definitely stood out from the classics, and the white was my favorite. I ended up taking home a bottle. Please note the reserve tasting costs extra and the wines are a bit on the expensive side for the quality.
Winery
From there, we visited the winery, which was designed by Mario Japaz, a winery design expert from Argentina. It has the capacity to process over 250 tons of grapes and uses state-of-the-art equipment from Italy and France. Our guide started the tour with a look at the equipment used to process the grapes as well as the fermentation tanks.
Next, we visited the barrel room to see where the reserve collection was being aged. There were also thousands of bottles waiting to be labeled and shipped out to various countries. After this, we returned to the main room and saw the bottling machine. Overall, the tour wasn’t anything extraordinary.
