Forbes: Azerbaijan makes comeback on global wine map

Azerbaijan's efforts to revive and develop its local winemaking industry and culture have caught the attention of several international publications that have reported on the country's latest endeavours.

An article published by Forbes magazine titled “Azerbaijan Angles To Distinguish Its Wines” highlights the country’s increasing ambition to secure a respectable place on the global winemaking stage, focusing primarily on quality rather than quantity.

As Caliber.Az reports, the author points out that the Azerbaijan Socialist Soviet Republic was a major wine-producing centre in the Soviet Union, with the country's output levels reaching 26 million gallons (approx. 10 million hectoliters) of wine annually during peak production in 1984 across 120 wineries and 420 viticulture farms.

"Fifty-six types of wines were produced, as well as 10 cognacs, reflecting a preference for sweet and fortified wines," the article notes before the Moscow-administered Soviet leadership ordered the systematic destruction of vast vineyard grounds in Azerbaijan as part of their 1985 campaign that sought to tackle the rising alcohol consumption.

"After the Soviet Union disintegrated in 1991, many vine growers and winemakers moved to cities such as the capital of Baku to seek livelihoods. The wine industry largely collapsed," the article states.

However, the country returned to developing this sector with renewed energy and ambition in the early 2000's. "Since around 2000, winemaking in Azerbaijan began actively reviving, with the main emphasis shifting from production volume to product quality. By 2017, up to 2,000 hectares of new vineyards were being planted annually, and in 2018, the Baku Wine School was founded to train professional sommeliers," the Forbes article states.

The publication highlights that Azerbaijan cultivates a combination of three categories of grape varieties: international (such as red Pinot Noir and white Viognier), indigenous Azerbaijani (red Madrasa and white Bayan Shirey), and traditional Caucasian varieties, which include the Red Saperavi and White Rkatsiteli that originate from neighbouring Georgia. The country's main wine growing regions are also mentioned in the article, which are the Baku-Absheron region, along the Caspian Shoreline, the region of Shirvan and Caucasian Foothills, Ganja-Gazakh, the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan and the southern regions of Lankaran-Astara.

The Forbes article also shed light on international events that are being hosted in Azerbaijan, such as the annual Grape and Wine Festival, which hosts several thousand daily visitors over a span of a couple of days. The previous one took place in the village of Meysari in the Shamakhi region, which is home to the Meysari Winery, Azerbaijan's only EU-certified organic winery.

By Nazrin Sadigova