One last bunch, one more harvest! Spending time lurking around in the vineyards of Maran Winery as Armenia’s 2026 grape harvest season comes to an end!
GENERAL INFO
π EVENT: Maran Winery β The Last Grape Harvest 2026
π¦π² LOCATION: Vayots Dzor, Armenia
π
DATE: Saturday, 31 October 2026
π OCCASION: Celebration of the final grape harvest of the year
π· WINERY: Maran Winery
π‘ HERITAGE: Family winemaking tradition dating back to 1828
π GRAPE VARIETIES: Including Armeniaβs indigenous Areni grape
πΎ WINE COLLECTIONS: Noravank, Bagratuni, Malahi and HALDE
πΊ WINEMAKING: Traditional Armenian karas clay vessels alongside modern techniques
π REGION: Vayots Dzor β one of Armeniaβs principal wine-producing regions
LOCATION
HARVEST TIME IN ARMENIAβ¦
Autumn is slowly fading away to winter and this was the last harvest for Maran Winery, and I wanted to experience it and not wait until next year
So I signed up for the last Grape Harvest celebration! a chance to enjoy the atmosphere of the Armenian wine season, discover a little more about one of Armeniaβs historic wine families and celebrate the end of another successful Armenian harvest
I met Nancy at Maran Wineryβs store in yerevan and started our drive to the vineyard in her comfy car and my new friends who joined us!
The drive in Armenia is always interesting
We reached the border area of Yerashk and see the huge Armenian flag
Yeraskh (Τ΅ΦΥ‘Υ½Υ) is a small village in Armenia’s Ararat Province, approximately 70 km south of Yerevan, close to the border with Azerbaijan’s Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic
Yeraskh is right next to the border of Nakhijevan and you could feel the difference as soon as you drive in because you see so many army posts lined up along the border
This small Armenian village has a turbulent history, it was once an important railway connection during Soviet times and has experienced political uncertainty
We stopped at the shops on the main street
In 2021, there were deadly clashes between Armenians and Azeri’s and there was some instability in 2023 as well
And got the famous pastries from this local shop and its sooo cheap and tasty!
And every day village life continues amongst the gun shots and the craziness of corporate hate
We went along our way again and saw some beautiful scenery along the way towards Areni
We drove past Areni 1 caves with its beautiful red colourings and interesting history where they found the 1st shoe and the oldest winery!
We started to drive off the main road and towards the vine yards area of Areni
Through small run down but alive villages
MARAN VINEYARDS ~ A WINERY WITH ALMOST 200 YEARS OF HISTORY
After around 2-5-3hrs of driving to, we come up to the Maran Vineyards and drive in to find the rest of the group and where they were picking the grapes
Maran winery has a really nice family story that dates back to 1828-30 when Sargis and his wife Maran returned feom Persia and settled in Artabuynk Village in Vayots Dzor
Their son Harutyun expanded the family vineyard around 1860 and named it Marani Aygi (Maranβs Garden) in honour of his mother
The family also created a wine press, and layed the foundations for a family winery
Sadly, the original vineyard was nationalised during the Soviet period and then eventually abandoned, but in 2020 the family was able to get back what was rightfully theirs and reestablished it!
They bought the vineyard and winery back to life creating wines using traditional methods and mixing with the modern techniques
The vineyards are slowly changing colour from greens to yellows and to deep beautiful reds
The last of the grapes are hanging off the vines aching to be picked and to be enjoyed!
The grape harvest is one of the most important times of the year in Armenia and especially in Vayots Dzor
But, for wine makers the work doesnt stop once the grapes are picked!
The grapes are picked then processed and fermented and eventually transitioned to their beautiful form of wineeeee for us to drink and enjoy!
Maran uses a combination of traditional and modern winemaking techniques, including the use of Armenian karas (clay fermentation vessels), oak barrels and more contemporary wine-production methods
Just one of the buckets of grapes we picked
We enjoyed plucking off the grapes from the vines, we all picked quite a lot and also everyone had a sneaky taste of the juicy grapes!
The grapes were a beautiful deep purple and tasted lovely, so juicy sweet and fresh!
This was my first time grape picking so I have no idea if I was doing the right thing or not lol I just knew I was having fun!
At the end of the hard days work, we were rewarded with some sparkly apricot wine which matched perfectly with the vine leaves!
We had fun picking the grapes and enjoying the scenery and the weather
We headed back to the group and got all our grapes together to load into the car
The group ended up collecting a lot of grapes which were transported the vineyards russian lada car barely holding the boxes in place with rope on top of the car as well as in the boot!
The car loaded with all the grapes, we took 2 buckets with us in our car… we were the last to leave! Loved the energy of this area and the vineyard landscape and just getting back to the land
We followed the Lada back to the winery, took another 40mins or so to get there, out in the villages, its so different from Yerevan, it feels like its behind around 15 years, old Russians cars everywhere, men standing around on the street smoking and talking, its nice, its life taking it slow and not rushing like what we are used to in the west
MARAN WINERY AND ARMENIAN WINE
Maran produces several wine collections, including Noravank, Bagratuni and Malahi
My favourite of theirs is HALDE which is an underwater wine-ageing project where their red wine is submerged in Lake Kari on Mount Aragats!
Ive been to their event where they send in divers to find the crate and then get them to haul it up out of the water and we celebrate by drinking some there and thenβ¦ it sells for quite a lot per bottle but its really tastyβ¦
So, I had this spot in my maps to see! Smbataberd Fortress! It sits right on top of the winery and you can see it, its not too far away, its linked to the Orbelian dynasty and was a medieval stronghold in the Vayots Dzor region
An hour and a bit hike can get you to the fortress from the winery!
They were getting our dinner ready while we went around and had a tour of the new winery and saw them making the wine from the grapes we just harvested
We went and had a look at the modern winery nestled into the side of the mountain and made all in cement
Heaps of wine being made and stored in the factory, very modern and sterile, but does its job
These beautiful view of the Armenian Mountains is genuinely so pretty and catches the eye and the hearts of the beholder! I can see how grape picking can be a very meditative experience!
After a really busy but interesting day of harvesting, it was a little sad to know this was the last one for the year until next year! Being Australian, we just have a whole year of doing everything, we dont close down or lock down for the winter, so for me this is all something new and makes me appreciate everything about doing anything here due to the weather, because you need to wait a whole year to be able to experience something like this again!
31OCT26
