From the “garden” of France, the Loire Valley, to the cradle of winemaking: Areni village.

The love for wine and the path to searching for the roots of winemaking brought French economist and researcher Guillaume Acherma to Areni, the homeland of the oldest winery in the world, in 2019.

In the heart of Armenia’s Vayots Dzor Province, in Areni, where wine has been made from grapes for six millennia, Guillaume discovered the full charm of Armenian wine and met his future wife, Knarik.

A sociologist by profession, Knarik, who had worked at the Central Bank of Armenia for 17 years, had decided to leave downtown Yerevan after the 2020 war and return to the center of winemaking, her native village of Areni, where she married Guillaume.

And this small Armenian-French family is doing a great job in Areni today—waking up with the sun, cultivating the rocky soil of the border area, and pressing red and sun-colored wine from grapes.

In their home in Areni, Guillaume and Knarik develop natural winemaking with minimal intervention, both in the grape growing and winemaking phases.

They are confident that as long as Areni is vibrant, the border will be strong and durable.

Details are in the report prepared by Armenian News-NEWS.am.

TAGUHI MEKONYAN