Armenia Drink Guide
The world's oldest known winery, 6,100 years of the Areni Noir grape, the Yerevan brandy that Churchill drank at Yalta — and a wine-bar street that has become the after-dark heart of the capital.
In a cave above the Arpa river in Vayots Dzor, archaeologists in 2010 finished excavating the oldest known winery on earth — a complete late-Copper Age production facility from around 4100 BC. Clay treading vat, fermentation amphora sunk into the floor, dried Areni Noir grape skins, drinking cups still bearing wine residue. Six thousand years later, the same valley still grows the same grape, and a 90-minute drive south of Yerevan now leads to the country's most serious wine estates working in the direct historical succession of the cave.
The country's drinks story doesn't end at the cellar door. The Yerevan Brandy Company — producers of ARARAT, the cognac-style spirit that Stalin sent Winston Churchill as a personal gift after the 1945 Yalta Conference, and that Churchill thereafter drank by the bottle — runs daily museum tours and tastings beside the Hrazdan gorge. Across town, the rival Noy factory ages its own brandy in Soviet-era cellars built on the medieval Erivan Fortress. And in the villages, families still distil oghi — the clear fruit moonshine made from mulberries, apricots, figs and cornel cherries — in copper pot stills behind their houses.
Yerevan itself has become a serious drinking town. Saryan Street — a short pedestrian stretch in the central Kentron district — has filled with wine bars since In Vino opened in 2012, and every June the whole street, plus Tumanyan and Moskovyan, closes to traffic for three nights of the Yerevan Wine Days festival. Add the country's first craft brewery and a specialty coffee wave roasting Ethiopian beans on Pushkin Street, and the small capital now drinks at a level unimaginable a decade ago. Here's the guide.
This guide contains information about alcoholic beverages and is intended for adults of legal drinking age in their country.
Wine — Vayots Dzor & the Ararat Valley
Two regions, two stories. Vayots Dzor is the high-altitude indigenous-variety heartland around the village of Areni; the Ararat valley is the larger, more international scene at the foot of the mountain itself. The serious wine traveller does both in a four-day circuit from Yerevan.
Vayots Dzor — The Indigenous Heartland
The geographic and historical heart of Armenian wine, two hours south of Yerevan on the M-2 highway around the village of Areni. Vineyards sit at unusually high altitudes between 1,300 and 1,750 metres on volcanic soils, producing remarkably concentrated wines from low yields and big diurnal temperature swings. The flagship grape is Areni Noir — the same red variety documented in the 6,100-year-old Areni-1 cave, with traceable continuity to the present day. The standard four-winery circuit (Hin Areni, Trinity, Old Bridge, Zorah) fits into a single full day, but with an overnight in Yeghegnadzor the experience is much better.
Key grapes: Areni Noir · Voskehat · Khndoghni · Khatun Kharji · Qrdichakat · Garan Dmak
Hin Areni
Areni Village, Vayots Dzor
The valley's gateway tasting room — a modern bar rebuilt in 2023 on the M-2 highway, with a second outpost opened in 2024 right next to the Areni-1 cave itself. All wines come from the family's 32-hectare estate vineyard at 1,250 metres, including 5 hectares of certified organic plantings. Three tasting tiers from a classic three-wine flight to a six-wine VIP experience with cellar tour and cheese platter. The easiest first stop on any Vayots Dzor day.
⏱ Open daily · 🍷 Three tasting tiers · 📍 Areni village & Areni-1 cave outpost
Visit Hin Areni →
Trinity Canyon Vineyards
Aghavnadzor, Vayots Dzor
The country's first certified organic winery, founded in 2009 by three local enthusiasts at 1,300 metres on volcanic soils above the village of Aghavnadzor. Strict focus on indigenous varieties — Areni Noir, Voskehat, Khatun Kharji, Qrdichakat, Garan Dmak — with a portion fermented in traditional karas clay amphorae buried up to the neck in the cellar floor. Walk-in tastings in the garden Tuesday to Sunday; longer experiences end in the three-hour khnjuyq traditional Armenian feast hosted by founder Hovakim.
⏱ Tue–Sun walk-in 11:00–19:00 · 🍲 Trini Lunch & khnjuyq feast options · 📍 Aghavnadzor village
Visit Trinity Canyon Vineyards →
Old Bridge Winery
Yeghegnadzor, Vayots Dzor
The country's most-loved family-run boutique winery, founded in 1998 by the Khalatyan family and now exporting to the US, UK, Switzerland, Sweden and France with multiple gold and silver medals at Mundus Vini and Concours Mondial de Bruxelles. Specialty is the two-year oak-aged Areni Noir reserves — full-bodied, structured, ageable. An excellent on-site modern restaurant (trout, slow-cooked beef, lavash, local cheeses) and a cosy B&B above make this the best wine-country overnight in Vayots Dzor.
⏱ Daily by booking · 🍷 Tasting + restaurant + B&B · 📍 Yeghegnadzor town
Visit Old Bridge Winery →
Zorah Wines
Rind Village, Vayots Dzor
The country's most internationally decorated winery, founded in 2000 by Italo-Armenian fashion-industry veteran Zorik Gharibian in the remote village of Rind, with vineyards reaching 1,600 metres — among the highest in the northern hemisphere. Strict focus on Areni Noir and Voskehat from pre-phylloxera ungrafted vines, the majority of winemaking still done in traditional clay karas rather than oak. The flagship Karasi Areni Noir has been listed in the world's top 100 wines by major international publications and pours in Michelin-starred restaurants from London to New York. Visits by direct prior arrangement only.
⏱ By appointment only · 🍷 Flagship Karasi Areni Noir tasting · 📍 Rind, beside the Areni-1 cave
Visit Zorah Wines →Armavir & Aragatsotn — Under Mount Ararat
The country's newer commercial wine region — planted at lower elevations of 800–1,000 metres on the volcanic plain that runs from the Turkish border at the foot of Mount Ararat eastward to Yerevan. The style is more international: new plantings of Syrah, Malbec, Cabernet Franc and Tempranillo alongside indigenous Areni and Voskehat. Both estates below sit a 40-minute drive from Yerevan and can be combined as a single day trip with lunch in nearby Echmiadzin.
Key grapes: Areni Noir · Voskehat · Haghtanak · Syrah · Malbec · Tempranillo
Karas Wines
Arevadasht, Armavir
The largest serious modern producer in the country and the brand that effectively launched Armenian wine on the global export market — founded in 2008 by the Argentina-Armenian Eurnekian family with French-born oenologist Michel Rolland (formerly of Château Pétrus) as long-time consultant. Around 400 hectares of estate vineyards on volcanic soils at the foot of Mount Ararat, growing the full range of Old World international grapes alongside indigenous Areni Noir and Voskehat. The Karas Identity Experience combines a guided tour of the production facility, a vineyard drive with panoramic Ararat views, and a tasting of seven wines with cheese and dried-fruit platters.
⏱ Tue & Fri by appointment · 🍷 Seven-wine guided tasting · 📍 40 min from Yerevan
Visit Karas Wines →
Voskevaz Winery
Voskevaz, Aragatsotn
The country's oldest continuously operating winery, established in 1932 on the foothills of Mount Aragats in the village of Voskevaz (literally “golden bunch”). The most visually striking estate in Armenia — a sprawling castle-like building complex housing a working winery, multiple tasting rooms, a banquet hall, and a small museum of antique winemaking equipment. Some of the clay karas still in working production date from the end of the 19th century. Exclusive focus on indigenous varieties — Areni Noir, Haghtanak, Voskehat — from old vines, some over 120 years old.
⏱ Mon–Sun 09:00–18:00 · 🍷 Four-wine cellar tour with cheese & lavash · 📍 Voskevaz village, Aragatsotn
Visit Voskevaz Winery →🍷 Practical Wine Tips
- Every serious estate is reservations-only — walk-ins are generally not accepted. Email at least a week ahead for standard tastings, two weeks for the longer feast-style experiences (Trinity's khnjuyq, the Karas Master Experience).
- Sequence Vayots Dzor north-to-south on the day: Hin Areni gateway tasting first, Trinity in Aghavnadzor next, Old Bridge in Yeghegnadzor for lunch, Zorah in Rind in the late afternoon.
- Hire a driver, do not drive yourself — Armenia's drink-driving laws are zero-tolerance. Most Yerevan hotels arrange a car-and-driver for the day with the driver waiting at each estate.
- Spring (April–June) and autumn (September–October) are the best months — pleasant tasting-room weather and either bud-break or active harvest in the vineyards.
- Order the food when it's offered — the hot fresh lavash, mountain cheeses, hand-cured basturma and walnut spreads are integral to understanding the wines.
- The annual Areni Wine Festival is held on the first Saturday of October in Areni village — small, local, and the best single day to visit Vayots Dzor if you can time it.
Wine Bars — Saryan Street & the Wine Days Festival
Yerevan's central Saryan Street has filled with wine bars since In Vino opened its doors at the end of 2012 — small, casual, often with the producer dropping in. Every June the whole street closes for three nights of the country's biggest wine festival.
In Vino
6 Saryan Street, Kentron
The bar that effectively created the modern Yerevan wine scene — opened December 2012 by Vahe Baloulian (one of the three founders of Trinity Canyon Vineyards). A small wooden room and a few sidewalk tables stacked floor to ceiling with bottles, more than 1,000 labels across the wall — the deepest selection of Armenian wine in the country alongside serious imports from France, Italy, Spain and Germany. The natural meeting point: pour a glass at the bar, build your own cheese and charcuterie plate from the deli counter, and sit at the long communal table outside. Bookings strongly advised on weekends.
⏱ Daily 11:00–midnight · 🍷 1,000+ labels by the bottle · 🍔 Cheese & charcuterie deli counter
Visit In Vino →
Tapastan
6 Saryan Street, Kentron
A few steps from In Vino on the same Saryan stretch — the same Baloulian team's fourth Yerevan venture, opened to give wine drinkers a serious small-plates menu to settle in with. The kitchen marries the sharing spirit of Spanish tapas with deep Armenian flavours: tolma in small portions, arishta noodles, lamb shoulder with pomegranate, and an Anti-Tapas section of full-sized Armenian classics for those who want to make a proper dinner of it. The wine list leans local, with an unusually thoughtful selection of Areni Noir by the glass. The summer terrace is one of the best in central Yerevan.
⏱ Daily 11:00–midnight · 🍝 Armenian + Spanish tapas · 🍷 Wide local pour-list by the glass
Visit Tapastan →
The Club — Trinity Wine Cellar
40 Tumanyan Street, Kentron
The Yerevan home of Trinity Canyon Vineyards — a stone-and-concrete basement that has run since 2004 as the city's most respected New Armenian cuisine restaurant, with a wine cellar pouring the full Trinity range alongside other serious local producers. The kitchen reworks Armenian highland classics for a fine-dining setting (smoked trout from Lake Sevan, slow-cooked lamb shank with cracked wheat, regional cheese flights) and the dim, art-lined space is the best fine-dining wine evening in the capital. The natural choice if you can't make it to the Vayots Dzor winery itself.
⏱ Daily 13:00–23:30 · 🍝 New Armenian cuisine · 🍷 Full Trinity vertical on the list
Visit The Club →
Yerevan Wine Days
Saryan, Tumanyan & Moskovyan Streets
The country's flagship wine festival — launched in 2017, run every first Friday/Saturday/Sunday of June, and now one of the largest open-air drinks events anywhere in the Caucasus. Three central pedestrian streets close to traffic from 16:00 to 22:30 over three evenings; more than 100 winemakers set up booths and pour upwards of 1,000 different bottles. Free entry to the festival area; the optional Wine Enjoyment Package buys you the tasting glass, tasting tokens and entry to the raffle for over 200 prizes. 2025 drew around 180,000 visitors (40% international). If you can plan your Yerevan trip around the first weekend of June, do.
📅 First Fri–Sun of June · 🔔 100+ winemakers, 1,000+ labels · 🍷 Free entry, tasting via Enjoyment Package
Visit Yerevan Wine Days →🍷 Saryan Street Tips
- The serious drinking evening on Saryan starts late — wine bars fill from 21:00 onwards and the best terrace seats go to those who've booked. Most kitchens stay open until 23:30 or later.
- The street is genuinely walkable — In Vino, Tapastan, Wine Room and Eight18n are all within 200 metres of each other, with the cocktail-bar end at the Tumanyan crossroads.
- Don't order Trinity, Old Bridge or Karas in restaurants if you can buy them at cellar door — bar mark-ups are steep. Buy them at In Vino's deli or directly from the winery.
- If you're in town the first weekend of June, the Yerevan Wine Days festival is the cheapest way to taste 100+ Armenian wines in one place. Book accommodation months in advance — the city sells out.
- Local etiquette: do not refuse a poured glass without explanation, and always make eye contact on the toast (kenats!).
Spirits — Armenian Brandy & Oghi
Two traditions, both ancient. Armenian brandy — the cognac-style grape spirit that Stalin sent Churchill at Yalta — runs from two great rival houses in the centre of Yerevan. Out in the villages, families still distil oghi: clear fruit moonshine in copper pot stills behind the house.
Brandy — ARARAT & Noy
Armenia's brandy tradition begins in 1887 with merchant Nerses Tairyants opening the first commercial distillery on the site of the medieval Erivan Fortress; in 1900 Russian-Armenian industrialist Nikolay Shustov began exporting it across the Russian Empire under the Shustov label; in 1948 the Soviet authorities split the operation into two state factories — the Yerevan Brandy Company (still producing the ARARAT brand) and the Yerevan Ararat Brandy-Wine-Vodka Factory (since 2002 producing the Noy brand). Both still operate in Yerevan, both run daily museum tours and tastings, and visiting both on the same day is the classic Yerevan brandy circuit.
Key grapes for brandy: Mskhali · Voskehat · Rkatsiteli · Kangun · Garan Dmak
ARARAT — Yerevan Brandy Company
2 Admiral Isakov Avenue, Yerevan
The world-famous brandy that Stalin sent Winston Churchill at Yalta in 1945 — and that Churchill, by his own account, drank a bottle a day of for the rest of his life, demanding case shipments through the British embassy in Moscow. The Yerevan Brandy Company (now owned by Pernod Ricard) runs four daily museum tours through the working aging cellars beside the Hrazdan gorge, ending in tastings ranging from the standard three-star and seven-year Ani to the legendary ten-year Akhtamar, fifteen-year Vaspurakan and twenty-year Nairi. The most modern brandy visitor experience in the country.
⏱ Mon–Sun 10:00–19:00 · 🥃 Four tasting packages · 📍 Beside the Hrazdan gorge, central Yerevan
Visit the ARARAT Museum →
Noy — Yerevan Brandy-Wine-Vodka Factory
9 Argishti Street, Yerevan
The older of the two great brandy houses, founded in 1877 by Nerses Tairyants on the grounds of the medieval Erivan Fortress — today rebranded after Noah, whose Ark, according to the Book of Genesis, came to rest on the slopes of Mount Ararat. The tour is more old-fashioned than ARARAT's — a small newly-renovated museum, then a long walk through the cool stone cellars where the first tasting (fortified collector's wines from as far back as 1913 and 1924) takes place underground, then a final tasting of two ages of Noy brandy in the formal upstairs hall. The atmospheric counterpoint to ARARAT — do both on the same day if you can.
⏱ Mon–Fri 09:00–18:00, Sat 11:00–16:00 · 🥃 Three tour tiers · 📍 Old Erivan Fortress site
Visit the Noy Museum →Oghi — The Village Fruit Spirit
If brandy is the polished Yerevan version of Armenian spirits, oghi (colloquially aragh) is the rural original — a clear, unflavoured fruit distillate at around 50–60% ABV, produced behind almost every village house in the country in a copper pot still, and served as the welcome drink to any guest. The flavour depends entirely on the base fruit: tuti oghi from mulberries is the most famous (commercially exported under the Artsakh brand from the Republic of Artsakh), tsirani oghi from apricots is the sweetest, honi oghi from cornel cherries the most bracing. Salor (plum), tandz (pear), khundzor (apple), mosh (blackberry) and tzi (fig) versions all exist. The proper way to drink it is at room temperature in small shot glasses alongside hard cheese, fresh herbs and lavash — never chilled, never as a mixer.
Look for: Tuti (mulberry) · Tsirani (apricot) · Honi (cornel cherry) · Salori (plum) · Tandzi (pear)
Know Your Armenian Brandy
Armenian brandy is technically a cognac-style grape eau-de-vie — though the EU forced Armenia to drop the “cognac” word from labels in 2010. The ages are graded by the youngest component in the blend, exactly like cognac. Here's what the bottles actually mean.
Note on labelling: since 2010 Armenian producers can no longer write “Armenian cognac” on bottles sold in the EU — the rules now reserve that word for Cognac, France. The bottles you'll find at the airport simply say “Armenian brandy” or “Armenian aged brandy”. The drink itself is identical to what your grandfather called Armenian cognac.
Craft Beer — The New Generation
Armenia's craft scene is small but real — rooted in the country's historic Kotayk and Kilikia lager tradition, then accelerated since 2016 by a single Yerevan brewpub that put apricot ale, Armenian Imperial Stout and a serious IPA programme on the country's drinkers' map for the first time.
Yerevan — The Brewpub Scene
The mainstream beer scene is dominated by two big national lagers: Kotayk (brewed since 1974 in nearby Abovyan) and Kilikia (the Yerevan Beer Factory's flagship, exported to over 20 countries). For something with more character, head to the brewpub scene that began with Dargett in 2016 and has slowly added Dors Craft Beer & Kitchen, Beer Academy and 379 Torch & Brew. Most are within walking distance of each other in central Yerevan.
Styles to look for: Apricot Ale · Armenian Imperial Stout · Vertigo IPA · Wheat Ale · Pilsner
Dargett Craft Brewery
72 Aram Street, Kentron
The country's first craft brewery, founded in 2016 by brothers Aren and Hovhannes Durgarian (the name means “bitter river” in old Babylonian). The downtown brewpub serves up to 21 of their own beers on tap, brewed in tanks visible through glass beneath the bar — everything from Vertigo IPA and Catcher in the Wheat to the brandy-barrel-aged Armenia Invicta Imperial Stout. The Apricot Ale (using one of the country's most famous fruits) is the signature pour. Big two-floor space with a serious kitchen, outdoor terrace, and live music nights. Try the tasting flight to cover the most ground.
⏱ Daily 11:00–24:00 · 🍺 21 taps brewed on-site · 🍱 Full kitchen + outdoor terrace
Visit Dargett →
Kotayk Brewery
Abovyan, Kotayk Province
The country's biggest lager producer — founded in 1974 in the town of Abovyan, 20 kilometres north-east of Yerevan, on a 6.5-hectare site originally chosen for the quality of the Katnaghbyur spring water that still goes into every bottle. The Castel Group of France held a major stake from 1997 to 2011, bringing in modern Czech brewing equipment that's still in use today. The headline brands — Kotayk Gold (4.7%), Kotayk Lager (4.2%) and the stronger Erebuni (4.7% / 6.4%) — are the default beer order in any Yerevan café or restaurant. Production runs at around 500,000 hectolitres a year, exported across the region.
⏱ Production facility (not a visitor brewpub) · 🍺 Six lagers in the range · 📍 Abovyan, 30 min from Yerevan
Visit Kotayk →Coffee — Surch & the Specialty Wave
Coffee in Armenia is called surch, brewed in a copper long-handled jazzve pot, and served in small cups with the grounds still settling at the bottom — ready to be read by anyone in the room. The chain Jazzve (now in five central locations) carries the traditional surch ritual, while Yerevan's newer specialty-coffee scene roasts world-class single-origin beans on Pushkin and Teryan streets.
Lumen Coffee
Teryan Street & Mashtots Avenue, Yerevan
The country's first serious specialty roastery — founded in 2020 by Arthur Lumen and Shant Ghazar with a Giesen W5A roaster funded by a crowdfunding campaign that pre-sold 33,000 espressos before the doors opened. The original tucked-away first-floor location on Teryan Street is still the espresso bar of choice for Yerevan's coffee community; their second location at 45 Mesrop Mashtots Avenue occupies a beautifully preserved 1936 building that was once a tobacco shop and bookstore. Hand-roasted single-origin beans, full alternative-brew programme (V60, AeroPress, cold brew), plant-milk options, vinyl-music evenings. The brand has since expanded to a permanent storefront in Highland Park, Los Angeles.
⏱ Daily 08:30–22:30 · ☕ Single-origin pour-overs, espresso, cold brew · 📍 3A Teryan · 45 Mashtots
Visit Lumen Coffee →
AfroLab Roastery
40 Pushkin Street, Kentron
Yerevan's first specialty coffee roastery, run by the Collective Group in the middle of central Pushkin Street. The tropical-themed interior — palm motifs, vivid greens, an outdoor terrace shaded under city plane trees — sets the place apart from any other café in the country, and the music programme (vinyl listening nights, occasional DJs) gives it the closest thing the city has to a coffee-as-culture space. Wide alternative-brew menu (V60, Chemex, cold brew, flat whites), oat/almond/soy/coconut milk options, takeaway window for the rush, full kitchen serving brunch and pizza. Open early to extremely late.
⏱ Daily 08:00–02:00 · ☕ First specialty roastery in the country · 📍 Pushkin St, central Yerevan
Visit AfroLab Roastery →☕ Armenian Coffee — What to Know
- Order surch in any traditional café and you'll get a small espresso-sized cup of unfiltered coffee with grounds at the bottom — do not stir, do not drink the last sip, and turn the cup upside down on the saucer if you want someone to read your fortune from the dried pattern.
- Sourj can be ordered aṛanc shakar (without sugar), kis shakar (lightly sweetened) or shakarov (sweet) — specify when you order, as default is usually lightly sweetened.
- Cardamom is the classic flavouring — ask for sevazor surch if you want a pinch added during brewing.
- Vernissage open-air market on weekends sells beautiful handmade copper jazzve pots in every size — the small two-cup version (around 100ml) is the classic souvenir.
- For specialty coffee, Pushkin Street (AfroLab) and Teryan/Mashtots (Lumen) are the two main hubs — Green Bean, Impresso and Segafredo round out the central scene.
- Cafés in central Yerevan stay open extremely late, often until 02:00 — the Armenian habit of a slow midnight coffee with friends is alive and well.
💡 Good to Know
- 🍷 The Yerevan Wine Days festival — first weekend of June, every year, three nights on Saryan/Tumanyan/Moskovyan streets — is the easiest way to taste 100+ Armenian wines in one place. Book your hotel months ahead.
- 🍺 Kenats! (keh-nats) is the standard Armenian toast — make eye contact, do not put the glass down until everyone has clinked, and never toast with water (it's considered bad luck).
- 🥃 Both ARARAT and Noy brandy tours can be booked online — ARARAT via the museum form, Noy by email to info@noy1877.am. Do both on the same day; they're a 15-minute walk apart in central Yerevan.
- 🍇 Two indigenous grapes carry the entire serious Armenian wine industry: red Areni Noir (intensely fruit-forward, ageable) and white Voskehat (mineral, stone-fruit). Try both at every estate.
- 🍲 Armenian wine and food work together — do not skip the cheese plates, lavash and walnut spreads at estate tastings. They're integral, not optional.
- 🍺 Duty-free at Zvartnots Airport stocks the full ARARAT and Noy ranges plus Karas, Trinity and Hin Areni bottles — useful if you've run out of suitcase space.
- ☕ Surch is the everyday social drink — never refused, always slowly drunk. Yerevan cafés expect you to sit and stay; ordering takeaway is treated as faintly strange.