
Armenia
The majority of Armenia wine is produced in the fertile valleys of the South Caucasus which is now believed to be the source of the world's first cultivated grapevines and neolithic wine production, over 6000 years ago.
Armenian wine has played an important role in the history of wine and it has been suggested that the domestication of the Eurasian grape first occurred in the mountainous regions of Armenia before moving to the south. Wine production has continued through all this time and they were one of the main wine producers in the Soviet Union, now exporting their wine worldwide.
In 2011 archaeologists in Armenia announced the discovery of the world's oldest-known wine production facility. Located in the Areni cave complex, it consisted of a shallow basin to press grapes, a vat for storage, and fermentation jars. They also found grape seeds, remains of pressed grapes, and dozens of dried vines. The seeds were from Vitis vinifera, a grape still used to make wine. The cave remains date to about 4000 BC – 900 years before the earliest comparable wine remains, found in Egyptian tombs. Archaeologist Gregory Areshian of UCLA says, "The site gives us a new insight into the earliest phase of horticulture—how they grew the first orchards and vineyards"..