02 Jul 2015
Wine Sector Development Initiatives
Armenia has been well known for wine production for many centuries. During Soviet times, in 1980’s Armenia annually processed more than two hundred thousand tons of grapes. The industry was particularly specialized in wine, brandy and sparkling wine making. Nearly 25% of brandy produced in the Soviet Union was made in Armenia. In early 1990s, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the industry as a whole collapsed and production volumes declined sharply. Wine industry also shrank dramatically. During late 90s and early 2000s the sector started to grow slowly. However, the main driver of the sector was mainly brandy production. During recent years the volumes of wine production also started to recover. Recognizing the importance of the sector for the country’s economy, Government of Armenia incorporated improvement of winemaking industry within the Development Strategy for 2015-2025.
Responding to the need for wine sector development in Armenia, Center for Agribusiness and Rural Development (CARD) Foundation together with a world leading Culture production company, Chr. Hansen, Denmark, conducted a seminar on “Controlled Fermentation Processes in Winemaking” for Armenian winemakers.
Over 11 winemakers participated in the seminar and had a chance to be involved in dynamic discussion on the importance of the right fermentation process which is indispensable for high quality wine production and is very often underplayed by local winemakers. The fermentation is mostly controlled through temperature which is not reliable and stable method and often cause wine defects.
Wine expert Dejan Ristov from Chr. Hansen introduced the process of controlled alcoholic and malolactic fermentations in winemaking as the risk of stuck fermentation and the development of several wine faultscan be occurred during this stage
To improve wine production practices and quality of the final products CARD expert Arman Khojoyan and Chr. Hansen winemaker Dejan Ristov visited a number of local wineries and consulted on the right fermentation techniques which will further contribute to the further success of local winemaking.