While Azerbaijan doesn’t have strictly defined viniculture regions like France’s AOC (appellation d’origine controlée) system, most major wine producers fall geographically along three main ‘routes’ that fan out from Baku.
North along the Caspian Shoreline; west through ‘Shirvan’ along a beautifully varied road that follows the foothills of the Greater Caucasus; west on a more southerly route through the centre of the country via historic Ganja.
Inexpensive car hire makes it relatively affordable to visit a selection of the country’s wineries. However, since you’ll doubtless want to taste plenty of the wines en route, you might prefer to join a tour.
Millennia ago, long before the Caucasus region was divided up into nation states, people living here were cultivating grapes. And pretty soon they hit on the sterling idea of crushing them to make wine.
An ever-increasing body of archaeological and micro-botanical research suggests that wine was made in considerable quantity over 6000 years ago at sites along the Arpachay River, a valley in Nakhchivan’s Sharur region. Several sites suggest an even older knowledge of wine by the Shulaveri-Shomutepe Culture near Aghstafa in what today is western Azerbaijan. Evidently, the South Caucasus region is of the oldest centres of wine making anywhere on the planet. But for the first major step in Azerbaijan’s modern wine development, we fast forward to the early 19th century and the town of Goygol, then called Helenendorf. It was founded by destitute settlers from Germany, excited to head towards the land of Noah following an invitation from Tsar Alexander. The first group of 1400 settlers left from southern Germany in 1816 and over the next few decades, despite an epic series of difficulties, they planted new vineyards. By the...
One of Azerbaijan’s most appealing destinations for wine tourists
Read moreOne of Azerbaijan’s most popular ranges of premium quality wine
Read moreOne of Azerbaijan’s foremost new-breed wineries
Read moreOne of Azerbaijan’s most popular ranges of premium quality wine
Read moreAn organic wine producer by EU certification
Read moreEnchanting experience of pomegranate wine
Read moreA contemporary winery built on centuries-old traditions
Read moreIf ever you were looking for a one-stop-shop for discovering Azerbaijan’s re-emerging wine culture, then the first ever Azerbaijani Grape and Wine Festival was it. it took place on 30-31 August at the Shirvan Wines winery in the village of Meysari, Shamakhi, with the support of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and the organisational help of several other government entities, and we made sure not to give the opening day a miss.
Aygun Atayeva, Chief Sales Manager, Savalan Winery, has been working in the local wine industry for almost two decades. Here, she shares her views on how it’s developed:
To celebrate its work and contribution in promoting viticulture, winemaking and wine tourism, the Azerbaijan Tourism Board (ATB) was granted a “Special Award Iter Vitis” dedicated to Paolo Buenvenito, founder of the Iter Vitis Route, on October 22, 2020.
The Iter Vitis Route in Europe, a network of wine tourism destinations across 19 countries, is a cultural route of the Council of Europe and European Institute of Cultural Routes. It gives tourists the chance to experience the joy of discovering wineries and vineyards across destinations like France, Croatia, Israel, Spain, Portugal, and Georgia. The aim of this route is to narrate the history of a region and the traditions of its inhabitants through the local wine culture.
Today, when you walk along the streets of Ganja, Goygol and Shamkir, you can still feel the strength of the region’s former German community, and find traces of their culture in the architecture, city planning and local viticulture. It’s hard to believe now but 200 years ago German settlements were established in western Azerbaijan.
In July 26-28, 2018, the “Yaradan” project participants visited Ismayilli region...
