Lost Wineries in Conflict: How an Entire Wine Region Ceased to Exist

It was September 19, 2023 when Hratch Kaprielian, an Armenian-American businessman, ordered his workers to destroy all 135,000 liters of wine in his Takri winery located in a politically disputed region called Nagorno Karabakh or Artsakh. This was a part of a series of calamities befallen the local ethnic Armenian population of Artsakh as a result of the Azeri military’s full seizure of the region.

“ My family had eleven vineyards in Kalecik district in Turkey. During the Armenian genocide in 1915 they were forced to leave their homes and flee. The vineyards got destroyed. I didn’t want the same to happen now, over a hundred years later by Azeries ,” says Kaprielian.

A landlocked Nagorno Karabakh was part of historical Armenia for the last three millennia. Arbitrarily annexed to the Azerbaijani SSR in 1920s by the Soviet leadership, it became a point of political and military contention between the local ethnic Armenians and the Azeris with the disintegration of the Soviet Union. The first military operation resulted in a Russian brokered ceasefire in 1994. September of 2020 saw the resurgence of military operations (dubbed the 44-Day War in the media) in the region by Azerbaijani military which culminated in the second tripartite ceasefire of November 9, 2020. 2023 saw a 9-month long Azerbaijani blockade of the only land route (Lachin corridor) connecting Artsakh with Armenia effectively resulting in mass starvation of the remaining inhabitants. In subsequent military operations, the Azerbaijani forces seized the region, causing the 120,000 ethnic Armenians to flee their ancestral homes leaving behind their places of worship, property, and livelihoods. Amongst them were over twenty winemaking operations that repatriates and Artsakh Armenians established during the last twenty years following thousands of years old traditions and their forefather’s footsteps. Here are stories of four of those wineries.

Takri Wine

Hratch Kaprielian was one of the businessmen from the United States who decided to invest in Artsakh after Armenia gained independence in 1991 following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Along with Vartan Sirmakes, another Armenian from Geneva, Hratch decided to plant 40 hectares of vineyards in Banazor village with a native grape Sireni and imported Georgian grape Rkaciteli which was largely cultivated for brandy production during the Soviet era. Takri, which means roots in the Artsakh dialect, became one of the well-known names to represent the newly developing local wine industry. “We had a beautiful place! It was done with love,” says Kaprielian. He also planted pomegranate orchards, established a honey farm and a marble cutting factory in different regions of Artsakh. He lost seven workers who died during the war in 2020.

“ It’s a very strange feeling to see your family’s history repeating itself. I heard everything from my father. First the Turks took our vineyards, now the Azeries did the same ,” adds Alexandra Kaprielian, Hratch’s daughter who was involved in the sales operations of Takri Wines. 2000 bottles of 2018 vintage Hratch is keeping for himself. He is thinking of producing wine with the same name but in Europe. “ I don’t want the name to die. It had a good reputation .”

Kataro, Domain Avetisyan

In the early 2000s Grigori Avetisyan decided to plant 15 hectares of vineyards in Togh village in the Hadrut region with Sireni, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon as a homage to his winemaker great-grandfather. Kataro wine, (named after the medieval monastery with the same name overlooking the vineyards) grew from 5000 bottles in 2010 into 120.000 bottles.

October 18, 2020 was the last time when he saw the vineyards. His team was able to save about 10.000 bottles of Sireni Reserve 2017 wine and transport them to Armenia. “ We just bottled that wine. It wasn’t even in the market yet. But we couldn’t leave it to the enemy ,” remembers Grigori. They rented two trucks and drove the wine away from the fast approaching Azeri army. Three days later the village was under Azerbaijan control.

In 2021 Kataro established a wine factory in the region of Kotayk in the Republic of Armenia using the same architectural design as the one left in Artsakh. They were able to seek Sireni grapes from the Amaras region in Artsakh since there was still communication between Armenia. Kataro still sells some wine left from 2021 In the meantime they make Areni.

Apris Wine

In Armenian Apris has a few meanings; well done and an encouragement to live well. It was also Armenian-American businessman Garen Bagdasarian’s, father’s name-Apres. And it was only natural for him to pick Apris as the name of his wine operation in the Martuni region that he established In 2016. Garen was born in Baku and was forced to flee when the Baku Pogroms started in January of 1990 targeting the ethnic Armenians in the capital of the Azerbaijani SSR. He moved to Russia and later to Rhode Island as a refugee. Years later, He chose Shekher village on the intersection of his parents native villages in Artsakh—refurbishing an existing winery along with the vineyards full of Sireni and Rkacetely grapes. First vintage was harvested in 2018 making 26,000 bottles with the help and guidance of a German winemaker. Apris was sold in Texas, California and New Jersey. “ My focus was always on the foreign market because I knew that staying only in the Armenian market won’t be successful. With that I also established a category in some U.S. stores for Armenian wines ,'' says Bagdasarian.

Apris was one of the first wineries that were captured by the Azerbaijani army in the beginning of the war in 2020. Garen’s business partner Bagdasar Ghuyan’s 19 years old son Hayk was killed on the third day of the war. Later, Garen saw a video screening on the social media of Azeri soldiers entering the cellars of Apris and rejoicing over the 69,000 bottles of wine 2019 and 120,000 from 2020 wines that he couldn’t transport to safety.

The last 2500 bottles of Apris were made in 2021 featuring Sireni from Amaras region. Garen is working on the label of this very special release.

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Aran Wines

Talar and Alex Sarafian from New Jersey planted 15 acres of vineyards in the Askeran region of Artsakh in a village called Ughtasar in 2005. “ We saw it as an opportunity to not only help develop Artsakh but also to pursue what we love, which was to have our own vineyard ,” says Talar Sarafian. Aran was producing wine mostly made of the indigenous variety Sireni. Their vineyards were signed away as part of the ceasefire agreement in September of 2020. However, since Aran’s production was always in Armenia, the Sarafians continued to make wine for the local and international market sourcing grapes from the neighboring villages in Artsakh. For 2023, given the situation with Artsakh Aran produced a special limited Areni Reserve wine due to no longer having access to the Sireni grape. Aran is hoping to harvest Sireni from the vineyards in Armenia that recently started to grow the grape. The results are still left to be seen in four to five years. Maran Winery is one of the few wine operations experimenting with Sireni. For years, they were using Sireni in their Malahi blend and still have a little stock left until the much desirable harvest in their vineyard in Vayots Dzor region.

The loss of Artsakh forced the winemakers to face yet another shortage-oakwood for the barrels. The barrel production started to develop in 2007-2008 in Artsakh. The local terroir allowed the oak to develop specific flavors later used while aging wine in the barrels. “ The Artsakh oak gives that rich but fine taste to the wine: it’s somewhere in between the soft French oak and powerful American one ,” explains Avag Harutyunyan, the founder of Maran Winery. He uses over forty barrels made of Artsakh oak to age his dessert wines. Now the winemakers are seeking the wood mostly from Russia since Armenian oak usage is prohibited by the Law on Tariffs for Compensation of Damage Caused to Animal and Vegetable World as a Result of Environmental Violations .

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