Page 8 - Code de Vino, # 16/22, s/s 2018

Code de Vino #16 Vahe Keushguerian — Armenia’s Wine President 8

Vahe Keushguerian is a true to life trump card for modern Armenia. It’s almost as if he was summoned
by Noah himself to open the Ark of Armenia’s unique wine to the world, and resurrect winemaking in his
home country. But that isn’t even his most interesting attribute. Vahe Keushguerian and his all-star team
have managed to create wine with an extremely high quality in a very limited period of time.

Keushguerian’s various projects have influenced the lives of many great wine producers in Armenia
— from well-established operations like Tierras de Armenia CJSC, to smaller estates in the more
remote regions of the country. In addition to winemaking, Mr. Keushguerian has also made significant
contributions to science and education in his research of local grape varieties. Surely, we cannot cover
all his projects in a single article. More importantly, we wanted to dive deeper into the individuality of this
visionary of Armenian winemaking in the 21st century.

By no means is “wine president” an official position. Rather, it is a quality. Vahe Keushguerian has
shown the world like none other that the wines of Armenia are in a league of their own. Georgian, Italian,
French... none of them can be compared to domestic Armenian wine, simply because the latter is so
rare. For anyone who wants to feel and understand wine better, it is a wonderful find.