Welcome to Armenia’s Winemaking Renaissance.

The history of wine in Armenia goes back further than, well, just about anywhere. According to the biblical narrative, Noah’s ark landed on Mount Ararat, which is one of the most recognizable symbols of Armenia’s geography. The vineyards Noah planted when the waters of the great flood receded would have been in the Ararat Valley, one of the winemaking regions of the current-day Republic of Armenia.

Slightly more recently, Armenia is also home to the Areni-1 cave, where a 6,100 year-old winery facility was unearthed, and remains the oldest excavated winemaking facility in the world. The winery consists of fermentation vats, a wine press, storage jars, pottery sherds.

Through more recent times, Armenia was recognized by Greeks and Romans as a place known for viticulture and wine, and during medieval times, historical documents show that wine was used as medicine, currency, festivities and in church services.

Much of Armenia’s historic winemaking regions were ignored after many years of turbulence, conquest and war, and during the Soviet period, winemaking took a back seat to brandy production.

Since Armenia gained its independence after the Soviet Union collapsed, a new generation of winemakers and grape-growers have ushered in a new era of re-discovery and renaissance. Ancient terroirs once ignored have been replanted, ancient vines have been tended again, and nurseries of ancient varieties pop up here and there. This rediscovery of the past is made all that more fascinating by a drive to introduce new knowledge and technology; borrowing from modern winemaking knowledge, new winemaking tools have been introduced to give these ancient varieties new life, creating wines that are at once old and new, traditional and modern.

This is the story Storica is here to tell; a tale of rediscovery and renaissance, through a category of wines that is yet to be fully discovered by the wine intelligentsia and consumers.