Armenia – tasting notes, part 1

The Armenia Wine Company's barrel cellar

The tale of Armenia continues with a report on the wines. For an overview of the country and its regions and grape varieties, see Armenia – the next chapter and Armenia – the lay of the land.

The 120 tasting notes below and in tomorrow’s article come from visiting or meeting with 23 producers from right across the five wine-producing regions of Armenia. They represent a fascinating diversity of wine styles, grape varieties, places and people.

Alluria

Samvel Machanyan in his orchard
Samvel Machanyan in his orchard, showing me all the varieties of fruit trees that he's planted

Samvel Machanyan, burly, handsome, radiating restless, intense energy, worked in finance for 17 years before taking over the Alluria family winery in...