Top 100 red wines of Azerbaijan

Discovering the wine region of Azerbaijan

Azerbaijani wine is produced in several regions of Azerbaijan. Before the communist regime of the 20th century, Azerbaijan had a thriving wine industry dating back to the second millennium BC. The Long history of wine production in Azerbaijan was rediscovered during archaeological excavations of settlements in Kültəpə, Qarabağlar and Galajig where archaeologists discovered stoneFermentation and storage vessels that included Grape residues and Seeds dating back to the second millennium BC. The ancient Greeks were well aware of wine production in the region by at least the 7th century BC, according to Herodotus.

Later, in the 1st century BC, Strabo would speak of an Azerbaijani wine known as Albania. Arab historians and geographers - including Abu'l-Fida, Al-Masudi, Ibn Hawqal, and Al-Muqaddasi - described extensive viticulture around Ganja and Barda, even after the Islamic conquest of the region. Since the fall of communism and the restoration of Azerbaijan's independence, ardent attempts have been made to revive and modernize the Azerbaijani wine industry. Today, vineyards can be found in the foothills of the Caucasus Mountains as well as in the Kur-Araz lowlands near the Kura River.

In the 21st century, Ganja, Nagorno-Karabakh and Nakhchivan have become centers of wine production in the region. Among the grape varieties used to produce Azerbaijani wine are Pinot noir, Rkatsiteli, Pinot blanc, Aligote, Matrassa, Podarok Magaracha, Pervenets Magaracha, Ranni Magaracha, Doina, Viorica and Kishmish Moldavski. Local varieties indigenous to Azerbaijan include White Shani, Derbendi, Nail, Bayanshire, Gamashara, Ganja Pink, Bendi, Madrasa, Black Shani, Arna-Grna, Zeynabi, Misgali, Khindogni, Agdam Kechiemdzhei, Tebrizi and Marandi.