Ep 508: Armenian Wine - Ancient Grapes, Modern Innovation, True Excellence with Aimee Keushguerian of Zulal & Keush

Wine for Normal People

Alcohol, Lifestyle, Arts, Education, Food, Wine, Dining, Grapes

4.6 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 6 February 2024

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In this show we explore the world of Armenian wine, which has roots in the ancient world and may be the oldest winemaking region in Europe.

To tell us about these wines, the terroir, and the regions, I welcome Keush Managing Director & Zulal Founder, Aimee Keushguerian. Aimee educates us on Armenian wine and tells us about the projects she and her family are undertaking to shape the modern Armenian wine industry, which is definitely getting noticed for its high quality and interesting grape varieties.

Aimee Keushguerian, founder of Zulal, Managing Director of Keush

Armenia is located in the Caucasus region bordering Georgia, Iran, Turkey, and Azerbaijan. Vineyards are in the mountains with very high elevations -- some of the highest in Europe.

Source: https://www.britannica.com/place/Armenia#/media/1/35178/208378

As a guide, here are some of the grapes we mention:

Areni is the spicy, medium bodied, lovely main red grape. Vayots Dzor is the main quality region for Areni.
Tozot from Vayots Dzor is like a Grenache and has great potential
Voskehat is Armenia’s most promising white grape. Producers can make sparkling, still, and dessert wine all from Voskehat. It is non aromatic.
Chilar: is another promising white grape with great structure that does well with oak

From geopolitical concerns to terroir studies, this podcast has it all! Take a listen -- you will learn a TON!

Photo: Zulal. Credit: Wine For Normal People

Full show notes are on Patreon. Become a member today!

www.patreon.com/winefornormalpeople

_______________________________________________________________

Wine Access has Armenian wines before they even made a splash in the wine magazines! They have their finger on the pulse and connect with wineries and regions you need to know about! Make sure you join the W ine Access-Wine For Normal People wine club in time for the first quarter shipment (it's shaping up to be outstanding AND one of the shipments is likely to have an Armenian wine...hint, hint! ). Get 10% your first order with my special URL.

To register for an AWESOME, LIVE WFNP class with Elizabeth or get a class gift certificate for the wine lover in your life go to: www.winefornormalpeople.com/classes

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Welcome to Wine for Normal People, the Podcasts for People who like Wine for Normal People,
0:09.8	the podcast for people who like wine, but not the snobbery that goes with it.
0:13.2	I'm your host Elizabeth Schneider author of the Wine for Normal People Book and
0:19.5	certified wine dork and I'm MC Ice just a wine-loving normal person. You know where I had the wine you can't get anywhere else. They will open your mind and your cellar to all sorts of things
0:35.3	that you never knew were out there. Go to wine access.com slash W.FMP. Check out a page of my
0:40.8	picks or join my wine club. This year there's going to be
0:44.4	some amazing selections, wine access.com slash normal. In this show we are going to
0:51.9	delve into the world of Armenian wine.
0:55.0	I welcome Kushk managing director and Zulal founder Amy Kushkarian.
1:01.0	Amy is the daughter of Vahai Kushkarian, an Armenian raised in Lebanon who got into
1:06.0	wine in Italy and Tuscany where Amy grew up before becoming a major player in the current
1:11.3	resurgence of the Armenian wine industry.
1:14.4	Amy joins today to educate us on Armenian wine, tell us about the projects she and her family
1:19.5	are undertaking to shape the modern Armenian wine industry,
1:23.3	which is definitely getting noticed
1:25.3	for its high quality and interest in great varieties.
1:27.8	There is so much to cover, so let's jump right in.
1:30.3	Welcome, Amy.
1:31.8	Thank you.
1:32.4	It's a pleasure to be here.
1:34.0	Let's just start out with your background and how you came to work in the world of Armenian
1:40.4	wine.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Wine for Normal People, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Wine for Normal People and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.