Dry white

Voskehat

Robe — Bright gold — deeper when worked in clay karasi

  • stone fruit
  • quince
  • hazelnut
  • white flowers
Palate
Dry and textured, with the saline, high-altitude cut of the Armenian volcanic highlands
Ageing
3–10 years
Serving
10–12 °C

The flagship white of Armenia, one of the cradles of wine — the Areni-1 cave, in these southern mountains, held a working winery around 4100 BC. Voskehat, « golden seed », is a late, thick-skinned grape that keeps its acidity at 1,400 metres, giving a textured, quietly nutty white of stone fruit and quince with a saline volcanic edge. Made clean in steel or the old way in buried clay karasi, it is the proud face of Armenia's craft revival.

The blend

A typical modern composition

Where it is made

Producers

A few estates working in this style today — a sample, not a ranking

Through time

Indicative presence index, 0–100Origins & Antiquity — 60The Monastic Middle Ages — 45Exploration & the Fortified Age — 28Classifications & the Golden Age — 25Phylloxera & the World Crises — 20The Modern & New World Era — 45Antiquity60500150017001875195045