Wine festival to take place in the Armenian village Areni on October 8, tourists will be waiting for a lot of surprises
28.09.2011,
23:54
Wine festival will take place in the Armenian village Areni of Vayots Dzor region (south of Armenia) on October 8. The tourists will be waiting a lot of surprises, said the head of Areni community Zhirayr Yeghyan on Wednesday.
YEREVAN. September 28. /ARKA/. Wine festival will take place in the Armenian village Areni of Vayots Dzor region (south of Armenia) on October 8. The tourists will be waiting a lot of surprises, said the head of Areni community Zhirayr Yeghyan on Wednesday.
“The festival is conducted already the third year and attracts more and more tourists year-by-year. If last year 2.5-3 thousand tourists visited the festival, this year their number is expected over 5 thousand”, said Yeghyan in the International Center “Novosti”.
This year a number of events are envisaged in Areni, including national games, presentation of dishes, marc and wine making in accordance with historical traditions. The guests will be suggested Armenian baking, lavash and gata (national Armenian dish with sweet stuffing), wine and cheese tasting.
All the envisaged events will be organized in the whole village for the convenience of the tourists with state financial support in the amount of 3 million drams (about $8.1 thousand) and participation of sponsors.
“For participation in the festival not only tourist groups from France, Spain, Russia, tour operators from Estonia, but also domestic manufacturers, of which eight wine-makers are from the village Areni and another eight- from Nagorno-Karabakh republic and regions of Armenia”, said Yeghyan.
About 80 farms will provide the visitors their houses for rest.
Chairman of the Union of legal entities “Association of communities of Armenia” Emin Yeritsyan said that for participation in the festival as experts and members of jury are invited wine-making specialists from France who will select the winners and award them prizes in nomination “The best wine”.
Competitions among the tourists on the development of the design for wine labels will be conducted. The winner will have opportunity to visit the festival again. 100 bottles of wine will be produced by these labels. Visitors of the festival will select the best home-made wine.
This year the festival participants will use the services of special buses costing 2.5 thousand drams (about $6.8) which will take them to the village Areni and return back to Yerevan in the evening.
The village Areni is in Vayots Dzor region which was established in the 3rd century before Christ. The most famous architectural building in the village is the church of St. Mother of God built in 1321 by famous architect Momik.
There are 543 farms in the village. The population is over 2 thousand. Wild grape in Areni was grown from earlier Bronze Age. Now more than 20 types of grape is grown in the village. Annually, 300 tons of wine “Areni” is produced in the village which is sold in Armenia and abroad.
It is planned that the wine festival in Armenia in 2011 will take place in the context of archeological finding of wine-making in the village Areni.
During the study of the cave “Areni-1”, international group of archeologists discovered the earliest evidence of wine-making in the south-east of Armenia which turned more than six thousand years.
The first time traces of possible wine-making were detected in the cave Areni-1 in 2008. Now the chemical analysis of traces of substances found in several ceramic shards in the cave Areni allowed to prove that its inhabitants were engaged in winemaking about 4000 years before Christ. Among the findings of archeologists are remnants of press, jars for storing wine and “waste products” – seeds of grapes, remnants of squeezed berries, stems. --0--
“The festival is conducted already the third year and attracts more and more tourists year-by-year. If last year 2.5-3 thousand tourists visited the festival, this year their number is expected over 5 thousand”, said Yeghyan in the International Center “Novosti”.
This year a number of events are envisaged in Areni, including national games, presentation of dishes, marc and wine making in accordance with historical traditions. The guests will be suggested Armenian baking, lavash and gata (national Armenian dish with sweet stuffing), wine and cheese tasting.
All the envisaged events will be organized in the whole village for the convenience of the tourists with state financial support in the amount of 3 million drams (about $8.1 thousand) and participation of sponsors.
“For participation in the festival not only tourist groups from France, Spain, Russia, tour operators from Estonia, but also domestic manufacturers, of which eight wine-makers are from the village Areni and another eight- from Nagorno-Karabakh republic and regions of Armenia”, said Yeghyan.
About 80 farms will provide the visitors their houses for rest.
Chairman of the Union of legal entities “Association of communities of Armenia” Emin Yeritsyan said that for participation in the festival as experts and members of jury are invited wine-making specialists from France who will select the winners and award them prizes in nomination “The best wine”.
Competitions among the tourists on the development of the design for wine labels will be conducted. The winner will have opportunity to visit the festival again. 100 bottles of wine will be produced by these labels. Visitors of the festival will select the best home-made wine.
This year the festival participants will use the services of special buses costing 2.5 thousand drams (about $6.8) which will take them to the village Areni and return back to Yerevan in the evening.
The village Areni is in Vayots Dzor region which was established in the 3rd century before Christ. The most famous architectural building in the village is the church of St. Mother of God built in 1321 by famous architect Momik.
There are 543 farms in the village. The population is over 2 thousand. Wild grape in Areni was grown from earlier Bronze Age. Now more than 20 types of grape is grown in the village. Annually, 300 tons of wine “Areni” is produced in the village which is sold in Armenia and abroad.
It is planned that the wine festival in Armenia in 2011 will take place in the context of archeological finding of wine-making in the village Areni.
During the study of the cave “Areni-1”, international group of archeologists discovered the earliest evidence of wine-making in the south-east of Armenia which turned more than six thousand years.
The first time traces of possible wine-making were detected in the cave Areni-1 in 2008. Now the chemical analysis of traces of substances found in several ceramic shards in the cave Areni allowed to prove that its inhabitants were engaged in winemaking about 4000 years before Christ. Among the findings of archeologists are remnants of press, jars for storing wine and “waste products” – seeds of grapes, remnants of squeezed berries, stems. --0--
