When thinking about wine festivals happening in Armenia, the first thing that comes to my mind is Yerevan Wine Days. Even though we have other wine festivals, this happens to be the most popular one. And sure enough, you have heard of Armenian winemaking culture as being one of our country’s specialties. So, if you are in Armenia somewhere during the time of the prominent wine festival in Yerevan make sure to become a part of it. I promise it will be fun! 😉
The Yerevan Wine Days is the biggest annual street festival celebrating the history of Armenian winemaking. The festival offers an opportunity to taste more than 200 types of wine presented by the local producers. The event takes place sometime between May and June in Yerevan on Tumanyan – Moskovyan – Saryan streets. Quality live music and lots of food accompany the wine tasting during Yerevan Wine Days.
After reading this post, you will get to know how and why we celebrate the wine festival. And I’ll also provide you with some recommendations on places where you can have the best wine in Yerevan. But you need to promise me one thing :-). When you attend the Yerevan Wine Days festival or go to some of my recommended places you will share your impressions and photos with me on Instagram or Twitter with #ArmeniaTravelTips. I’ll look forward to it!
How do we celebrate the Yerevan Wine Days festival?
The Yerevan Wine Days festival is the perfect place to meet both wine lovers and the local producers. More than 130 wine producers have already participated in the festival to showcase their finest products in the past. The wine you can find during the event is presented by the best wineries from Armenia and Artsakh. And, over 100,000 people have visited the wine festival so far making it one of the most successful festivals organized in Yerevan. The number of both producers and tourists continues to grow exponentially every year.
Typically, the event lasts 3 days offering special programs on each day, and it takes place on Tumanyan – Moskovkyan – Saryan streets of the Armenian capital. Here you will get the chance to enjoy quality live music, try some food from Armenian and international cuisines and obviously get a little tipsy from wine tasting.
Note that the festival might get crowded during evening hours so if you want to avoid that you might prefer to go there at earlier hours during the day. You can also get to know more about the agenda, actual dates and the price of packages for the fest by visiting the Yerevan Wine Days website.
This wine fest has been organized by Eventtoura annually since 2017, and it has become the absolute favorite festival of the year among locals and foreigners. People actually travel to Armenia just to become part of it. And now that you have an idea of what the festival might look like, I suggest you watch the video below from Yerevan Wine Days 2021.
Why do we even have a wine festival?
The purpose of organizing a wine festival is to increase the recognition of Armenia as one of the ancient cradles of wine-making. Armenia has a very long history of 6100 years of producing wine and you can even find the Areni cave here, the oldest winery in the world. And technically, having only one festival dedicated to wine would not be enough which is why we have other festivals happening in the regions of Armenia as well.
Besides presenting the traditions of Armenian winemaking, the Yerevan Wine Days festival attracts many tourists from around the world. Therefore, it is a really effective way of promoting our tourism sector as well. We have many wineries that present their products at the fest and also organize tours of their factories and vineyards. Especially, if you like gastro tourism you will find a lot of interesting experiences in Armenia, beyond this wine fest.
We also have the Yerevan Beer Fest which basically serves the same purpose for beer lovers. So if you like “drinking festivals” I’m pretty sure Armenia is the go-to place for you. 🙂 If you want to check other unusual things to do in Armenia, I have a blog post on that for you, too!
Best places to get wine
As Armenia has a long history of winemaking, wine makes a huge part of our dining culture. So, you can try Armenian wine pretty much at every cafe or restaurant that you go to. And, you will surely be satisfied. But the list I prepared for you includes both wine bars and wineries. And by the way, wineries offer really good tours so if you’re interested check out their websites.
Best wine bars in Yerevan
- Wine Republic Yerevan – your ultimate wine and dine spot
- In Vino EVN – more than 26 wines are available with the selection changing daily
- Wine Time – wine cafe & coworking place
- Voskevaz Wine Time – a venue for family gatherings and friendly meetings
- Wine Mood Yerevan – a cafe & bar in the oldest area of Yerevan
- Smoking Chef Grill & Wine – great place to enjoy steak with wine
Best wineries and vineyards in Armenia
- Van Ardi winery – a wide selection of Armenian wines
- Areni Wine Factory – among the oldest and most well-established wineries
- Armas winery – offering diversity in Armenia’s winemaking
- Vozkevaz winery – a popular place for tasting true Armenian wines
- Armenia Wine – one of the leaders of modern Armenian winemaking
Final thoughts on the Yerevan Wine Days
After what you have learned about the Yerevan Wine Days festival, I hope you find it fascinating enough to become a part of it. This will surely be a memorable experience during your visit to Armenia. I believe you will make it a tradition to come every year to the festival as lots of tourists do. And, don’t forget to check out the rest of the cultural events that happen in Yerevan throughout the year. Maybe you’ll combine a couple of events during your visit. 😉
Also, if you enjoy the fun that festivals bring to your life in general I would suggest you check out my post about the best time to visit Armenia. You can look at what festivals you can participate in during your time here. In the end, you might want to stay in Armenia for long enough to participate in all of them 🙂 And, as always, I look forward to hearing your thoughts about Yerevan Wine Days. So, please share them with me on Instagram or Twitter with #ArmeniaTravelTips.
Featured image credits: cottonbro on Pexels
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