Art, Tradition and Trend of Armenia

The farm with a long history, is now in the stage of updating and finding its own wine style. The project has several promising ideas for combining traditional winemaking and modern enology. The construction of the tourist complex is nearing completion.

The economy develops on the basis of the «Jerez Union», founded in 1932. Once its members included extensive vineyards, the main areas of which were occupied by the indigenous variety Voskehat (Khardzhi). But for decades, terraces on mountain slopes have not been used. The modern project Voskevaz Winery is still working with farmer grapes from Aragatsotn, Ararat valley and in Vayots Dzor. The accent in work with white varieties is done on Voskehat, in red – on Areni, Kakhet and selection variety Haghtanak. The farming ethologist controls the suppliers of grapes at all stages, compensations for the «green fee» are practiced. In the future, it is planned to plant its vineyard at an altitude of about 1600 meters above sea level, on the slopes of the extinct volcano Aragats.

Since 2004, on the old winery, located in the village of Voskevaz, there is a stage-by-stage reconstruction. Now grapes are processed on modern pneumatic presses, for vinification use stainless steel tanks with temperature control. A special part of the wine concept of the project is the karases. The farm has about 30 amphoras, the oldest of which is dated 1899. Work is underway to return these traditional containers to the winemaking cycle. In 2016 it is planned to finish large-scale construction of new winery premises and launch a tourist complex.

The project is managed by its owner David Oganesyan. In the development of the tourist direction and style of the project, his brother, the famous artist Gagik Oganesyan, who lives permanently in the United States, helps him. The main winemaker of the project is a young specialist from Russia Alexey Sapsay. A graduate of the Moscow Food University, Sapsai then studied for several years and worked in the countries of the Old World, including 1.5 years in the Spanish Priory under the leadership of Jose Luis Perez.

From Yerevan to Voskevaz, only half an hour by car. It’s worth spending time on the road to explore the tourist complex of the winery. His visual idea belongs to the artist Gagik Oganesyan. On the territory of the economy there is a real town with its town hall, tavern, market. All the design of the complex: frescoes, paintings, bas-reliefs – created by hand by Gagik Oganesyan. After a while, a tourist project with several tasting rooms, an old wine cellar and authentic hundred-year-old carats can become very popular among tourists.

Among the wines of the farm, the most interesting are the samples made with the use of karases from Areni Black and Voskehat. Fermentation with a small amount of grape skin in karases, a combination of aging in amphorae with Armenian oak gives interesting results.

¨Pale color, melon and light oak on the nose. Crisp, tart fruit on the palate. Nice balance of fruit, acidity & oak, but somewhat muted overall. For more, see the EVN tasting results.

Krush! Evaluation: Recommended