Van Ardi Estate Blend 2019

The 2019 Van Ardi Estate Blend dry red (40% Areni, 35% Haghtanak, 25% Milagh) provides testimony to Armenia’s historic preeminence with wine, adding further credence to the understanding that in the 21st century fine wine emanates from places far and wide. The deeply colored 2019 Van Ardi Estate Blend opens with an entrancing bouquet redolent with the scents of baked blackberry and plum dusted with cacao. In the mouth, smooth rich berry flavors sprinkled with chocolate ganache and deft touches of cedar, sandalwood and vanilla flow on a river of ripe, racy tannins to gratify the palate. Pleasantly dry, seamless, and hauntingly complex, Van Ardi’s 2019 Estate Blend comes across in body and style as an exceedingly well-crafted Bordeaux or Cabernet-based wine with a certain extra Je ne sais quoi. Whatever that other is, we want more of it because it is all very, very good. For optimal enjoyment, afford the delicious 2019 Van Ardi Estate Blend at least 15 minutes of aeration before enjoying it at cool room temperature (58°-62° F). Anticipated maturity: 2023-2029. Salud!

“I am married to the vine and the wine is born form that love” — Varuzhan Mouradian, Founder

Van Ardi, which translates as Sun of Van, is a boutique estate winery that takes its name from the nearby settlement of Van Ardi, Armenia’s ancient capital. Founded in 2008 by California CPA Varuzhan Mouradian, whose ancestors hailed from Armenia, Van Ardi embodies Varuzhan’s dream of revitalizing Armenia’s ancient wine culture. Once the center of the ancient world’s most sought after wines, Armenia’s historical vineyards suffered greatly under the Ottoman Empire and subsequent Soviet domination, whose thirst for brandy nearly obliterated Armenia’s identity and fine wine culture.

Located in the historic Aragatsotn region less than an hour Northwest of Armenia’s capital, Yerevan, Van Ardi has espoused organic principles since its inception. The estate has achieved Organic Certification, too, through Ecoglobe, the local agency that serves as the USDA National Organic Program’s Accredited Certifying Agent. Van Ardi focuses on Armenia’s high quality indigenous grape varieties, most notably Areni, Haghtanak, and Milagh that comprise Van Ardi’s flagship 2019 Estate Red Blend and this month’s feature. Moreover, Varuzhan continues to be hands-on at the winery as one of the estate’s winemakers. Van Ardi fashions several other wines in addition to the highly touted Estate Red Blend, including a bevy of white and red wines from indigenous grape varieties, an elegant rosé, and a Reserve Syrah – all worth seeking out.

Fine wines emanate from far and wide. No one country or wine region has a monopoly on quality wines, though only one country, Armenia, can rightly claim to be the birthplace of wine. Even more importantly, Armenia has consistently fashioned quality wine longer than anywhere else on Earth. In spite of centuries of domination by larger neighbors and genocidal attempts to extinguish Armenia and its people, Armenia is alive and well and so are its wines. And, nowhere is wine more important and its land more suitable for the cultivation of the vine than Armenia.

Located in the Caucasus Mountains between Asia and Europe, Armenia is the site of the Earth’s oldest winemaking facility, the Areni-1 cave complex. Recently unearthed, the 6,100-year-old caves contain definitive archaeological evidence of advanced winemaking, including the possible use of sulfur as a preservative. Moreover, archeological excavations carried out in the 1940s reveal that as early as the first millennium B.C. during the Kingdom of Van, present day Armenia was western Asia’s leading wine producing region. Longer than anywhere else on Earth, Armenia has continuously produced fine wine from indigenous grape varieties, a practice that continues, allowing Armenia to again attract the world’s attention for its venerable wines.

Armenia’s ancient red and white indigenous grape varieties once again dominate the country’s fine wine production with Areni, Haghtanak, Milagh, Khatoun Kharj, Tozot, and Voskehat all making a comeback. These grapes whose names are difficult for outsiders to pronounce remain relatively unknown outside of Armenia, yet they rightly deserve recognition beyond their native land. Taste and enjoy!