Ararat Wine Factory

Info from the Soviet Guide to Yerevan

Next to Hakhtanak Bridge, on the left bank of the Hrazdan River, stands a huge basalt building with a tall tower, reminiscent of a fortress or castle. This is the Ararat wine processing plant, designed by architect Rafael lsraelyan, and which stands on the site of the former sardar palace. In 1827, in one of the palace’s rooms, Alexander Griboyedov attended the first performance, by officers in the Russian army, of his immortal comedy “Woe from Wit”.

The sardar palace and its forbidding fortress walls were destroyed long ago. Now tart wines mature peacefully in the cellars of the wine processing plant, at the entrance to which guests are greeted by the words of Maxim Gorky: “Long live the people who understand the art of making wine and who through it transfer the strength of the sun to the spirit.”

These cellars are truly inexhaustible. Every year four million decalitres of wine leave the factory. Armenian wine-growers are justifiably proud of their produce, which has won world-wide recognition at international competitions. According to poets, Armenian wine, sparkling with the sun’s clear light or flowing in thick ruby-red streams, raises the spirit and gives people the strength of the mountain eagle (provided, of course, it is drunk in moderation).