Zorah, “Karasì” Areni Noir
Vayots Dzor Province, Armenia 2018 (750mL)
Regular price$45.00
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Zorah, “Karasì” Areni Noir
You’ll never forget Zorah’s Karasì: The ancient grape is Areni Noir, the country is Armenia, and the wine is legend. Steven Spurrier and Jancis Robinson hold it in extremely high regard, Bloomberg considers it “one of the best wines in the world,” and we have watched in awe as the previous two vintages prompted mass delirium on our site. Honestly, if the name doesn’t ring a bell by now, it’s safe to assume you’re a new subscriber because “Karasì” has twice been among the most successful offers we’ve ever rolled out. Its ability to channel a dizzying number of deliciously exotic flavors from Europe’s greatest regions is certainly a major reason, but there’s much more brewing beneath the surface: An indigenous 6,100-year-old winemaking grape; an ungrafted monastic vineyard perched under the watchful eye of Mount Ararat; and the discovery of what is considered the world’s earliest-known winery is what truly elevates Zorah’s “Karasì” into singular, rarefied air.
It is one of the most historic and enchanting bottles of red you’ll experience, period, and it seems each new vintage we taste shatters the previous bar. It’s for the wine connoisseurs, history buffs, geography geeks, thrill-seekers—anyone who wants to discover the fascinating allure of an unforgettable, prehistoric wine treasure. Ask yourself: Is there anything more special than a bottle serving as an homage to what could very well be the origin of winemaking itself? It’s hard to argue otherwise...
Zorah was founded in the 2000s by Zorik Gharibian, an Italian-Armenian who left a lucrative fashion career in Milan to return to his roots. With Mount Ararat looming in the backdrop, Zorik was immediately drawn to the volcanic soils of Vayots Dzor, so he began building a winery in the rural town of Rind and planting various grapes at elevations of 4,600 feet. After years of experimentation, he found that an indigenous grape known as Areni Noir performed best in this terroir, so he began channeling his energy towards it with the assistance of one of Italy’s most prominent winemaking consultants: Alberto Antonini. As fate would have it, a literal next-door discovery revolutionized everything just a few years later.
In the late 2000s, a UCLA research team went deep into the highlands of Armenia’s Vayots Dzor and discovered the remains of a 6,100-year-old winery, the world’s earliest known wine production site. They found rudimentary wine presses and crumbling fermentation jars, all of which were covered in brittle grape stems/seeds/pips that were traced to, of course, Areni Noir. Zorik had not only built his winery across the way from the world’s oldest winery, but he was also planting and bottling the very grape they were producing all those millennia ago!
All of Zorah’s vines have been selected from the cuttings of an unused vineyard located next to a local 13th-century monastery. Since these vines are buried in sandy soils and are perched at such a high altitude (around 5,000 feet), all of them are ungrafted, as phylloxera cannot survive in these conditions. After hand-harvesting the Areni Noir into small baskets, the grapes were de-stemmed and sent to ferment naturally in epoxy-free concrete tanks. The wine is then aged 12 months in amphorae, or karas (karasì = “from amphorae”). These karas are wax-sealed and buried underground to ensure a steady temperature during maturation. Afterward, the wine was blended together and bottled, where it aged an additional six months before leaving the winery.
After allowing a minimum 15-minute decant and serving in Burgundy stems around 60 degrees, Zorah’s 2018 “Karasì” wastes no time whatsoever hooking the drinker: An attractively vibrant purple-ruby core reveals itself in the glass quickly followed by an outpouring of aromatic firepower—this is the most alluring and generous vintage we’ve tasted thus far! One can expect deliciously energetic notes of wild brambleberries, blackcurrant, Damson plum, dried black cherry, candied violet, wild strawberry, crushed rock, a hint of pepper, damp clay, and herbal underbrush. It’ll have your mind pinging all over the place, from high-end Bierzo to lush Burgundy to Tuscany to the Rhône Valley, all while remaining paradoxically singular. The palate is buoyant, alive, and brimming with juicy forest fruit alongside finely crushed minerals and earthy savoriness. Svelte tannins and lifted acidity keep each layer rounded, supple, and clean, and the finish is marked by lively mineral components. It is a stunningly unique and equally delicious creation that will appeal to a vast number of wine drinkers. This has become one of our most exciting wines to offer, so we hope you enjoy this fantastic new release as much as we did!
