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Different types of wine are the stars of the tables that farmers set in front of their houses. Areni women, whose cheeks are as red as the wine which they make, invite to taste not only wine but also home-made lavash (traditional Armenian flat bread), cheese, gata (a pastry of Eastern origin made of flour, butter and sugar), new wine, etc...

“Taste, warm yourself, so that you know where you have come. But do not drink too much, because wine is a ‘dangerous’ beverage,” Areni resident Syuzi Margaryan says to people who approach her table.

There is revelry in the center of the village. Traditional dhol (Armenian drum) and zourna (Armenian national wood-wind musical instrument, type of flute) are heard playing. Bunches of red grapes are being squeezed under Arentsi young women’s foot beats in huge wooden barrels. People are walking with glasses full of wine in their hands. Peasants, locals and tourists congratulate each other on the festival and drink the traditional ‘Nice to meet each other’ toast.

Areni has hosted 5,000 guests, 500 among them are foreigners.

“No one in the world had ever dealt with wine-making when about 6,000 years ago the first wine-press was founded in Areni, the remnants of which were discovered in one of the caves near Areni. So let’s turn the great achievement, which has a history of more than 6,000 years, into a national fest,” says Sergo Bagratyan, Governor of the Vayots Dzor province.

Arentsi old women, sitting next to each other in the square of the village are the stars of the festival. Zourna’s tempting sounds are mixed with warm aroma of wine. Old women make a circle to dance kochari (Armenian folk dance). Their foot beats are not inferior to youngsters’ foot beats. Armenian ‘Karin’ folk song and dance ensemble makes the wine festival flourish.

“We have not drunk, because in fact wine makes a dance heavier. We are simply harmonized with our own roots with the help of the dance. If we are harmonious then the spirit is much richer,” says head of the ensemble Gagik Ginosyan.

According to the Bible, vine-growing originated at the foot of Mount Ararat, when our forefather Noah planted the first vines in this very place. Specialists say that the existence of more than 500 species of grapes in Armenia proves it.

Head of Areni village Jirayr Yeghyan says that Areni has a population of about 2,000 people who mainly deal with vine-growing and fruit-growing. This year Areni residents gathered 300 tons grape from 150 hectares vineyards. Wine factories of the province have purchased the harvest.

Wine containers on Arentsi Ofelya Sargsyan’s table are empty. The day is halved, but she has already managed to sell 50 liters of wine, 1,000 drams ($2.6) per liter. She says that they do not sell the grape of their vineyard to the factory.

“We make wine ourselves, under home conditions. We get 600 liters of wine from one ton of grape, and we live selling that wine. I work at Areni’s market, and I sell wine there the whole year,” she says.

Ofelya is proud of her village, she says that everything – shoe, wine-press, clothes have originated from Areni. She drinks wine every day and advises to drink semi-sweet wine which is healthier than other wine, and she adds in the end, “A glass of wine is a tablet of aspirin.”

Guests are also drunk with wine in the afternoon. Avag Harutyunyan, Head of Armenian Wine Makers Union, says that the festive atmosphere is heady. According to him, Armenia is a unique region for grape; Armenia has 16,000-17,000 hectares of vineyard.

“Miracles are made of the synthesis of different rare species of grape here. Wine has been the inseparable part of an Armenian’s identity, culture and lifestyle for ages. However, within the recent 200 years this perception has been changed, when Armenia ended up under the Russian influence. Wine was pushed backwards and vodka was pushed forward. Of course there were economic grounds for that, but now we try to return to the wine,” Harutyunyan says.

According to him, there are discontents in the world wine market. A consumer tries to understand where wine originates from. All searches bring them to the Armenian highlands.

Guests leave the village in good mood and drunk with wine. Sedrak Mamulyan, Chairman of the ‘Development and Preservation of Armenian Culinary Traditions’ NGO, advises to sip wine slowly in order not to get drunk fast, but he also states that getting drunk depends on a person’s mood and drinking it too much.

“To hang a kiddy in tonir (a big jar dug in the earth in which fire is made, used for baking mainly Armenian lavash) is obligatory during the Wine Festival. Kiddy is the only animal which damages grape; the idea of ‘scapegoat’ comes from here. It is necessary to drink red wine with meat, white – with game (bird) and fish,” Mamulyan advises.

Guests leave Areni not only drunk but also with containers full of wine, as well as lavash and cheese. A glass of wine which they will drink in winter will remind them about the warm sun in Areni.