ԵՌԱԳՈՅՆ. YEREVAN, SANTA MONICA—ONEArmenia (1A) and author Vahan Zanoyan have launched a multi-city US book and Armenian wine tasting tour, in support of 1A’s WineCubes of Armenia project, helping winemaking families in rural Armenia become active players in the country’s booming wine industry.
The book tour revolves around Zanoyan’s latest novel, Waking Noah’s Vines, which tells the tale of a group of adventurous vintners from around the world, who embark on a wine-infused journey to revive the 6,000-year-old wine industry in Armenia after the country gains independence from the Soviet Union. Inspired by the real life revival of Armenian wine over the past decade, Zanoyan, who is a major consumer of Armenian wine, is determined to introduce the country’s ancient winemaking tradition to the world.
All royalties from the book’s sale, and ticket sales from the book and wine tasting tour, are going to WineCubes of Armenia. The project is giving small-scale winemaking families the tools they need to produce high-quality wine, and then showcase it to tourists. That includes access to a state-of-the-art wine making facility in Yerevan, and a WineCube, an elegant tasting room built directly in their vineyard. Armenia’s first WineCube is already up and running in Areni village, where husband-wife duo Nver and Narine Ghazaryan are showcasing their family wine brand, Momik Wines, launched through 1A’s Farm-To-Bottle project in 2018.
Author Vahan Zanoyan
In addition to going over the creative process behind Waking Noah’s Vines during the tour, Zanoyan is diving deep into the history of winemaking in Armenia, and how the predecessors of the Armenian people laid the foundations for the country’s growing wine industry today. “We’d be different today, genetically and culturally, if our pre- pre-ancestors had not begun with the vine,” says Zanoyan.
Zanoyan and 1A will visit the following cities to uncover the secrets of wine, and share a selection of fine Armenian wines with local communities:
- New York, NY – March 7, Tufenkian Carpets Showroom
- Paterson, NJ – March 8, Krichian Cafe
- Chicago, IL – March 12, Residence of H. Consul of Armenia
- Sunnyvale, CA – March 28, Sunnyvale Community Center
Signed copies of Waking Noah’s Vines will be available for purchase at each stop of the tour. For more information about how WineCubes of Armenia is bringing sustainable wine tourism to Armenia’s rural vineyards, visit onearmenia.org/campaign/wine
About the author: Vahan Zanoyan is a traveler, global energy consultant and anti-trafficking advocate. He has published two volumes of poetry in Armenian and four novels in English: A Place Far Away (2013) and The Doves of Ohanavank (2014), both of which were inspired by a chance meeting with a young victim of sex trafficking, and The Sacred Sands (2016), based on his experiences as an international energy consultant. Waking Noah’s Vines is Zanoyan’s latest novel.
About 1A: ONEArmenia is a nonprofit organization based in Yerevan and Santa Monica, committed to raising the standard of living in Armenia through innovative projects that accelerate job creation in agriculture, technology, tourism and made-in-Armenia products. Since 2012, 1A has crowdfunded for and implemented 21 different projects with grassroots organizations in Armenia that share its values of radical transparency, collaboration and sustainability.