Whilst most experts recognise that Georgia is the original home of wine, with a history dating back to 8,000 BC what is little recognised is that its fellow south Caucus neighbour, Azerbaijan, has a similar long history dating back to 7,000 BC.
Whilst Azerbaijan has a long history in grape growing and wine making, whilst under Soviet times they were forced to pull out most of the vines and hence it is only since independence in 1991, has the Azerbaijan industry been reborn.
Today wine production is centred around the Ismayilli region with significant international influence in the technology and wine making methods employed.
Leaving the city of Baku, built on the edge of the Caspian Sea in an area that is relatively arid and semi-desert we were taken away by the scenery when we were about an hour and a half out of town. Along both sides of the road were beautiful green rolling hills as far as the eye could see yet not a tree or bush in sight. The scenery did not change until we reached Ismayilli 3 hours later.
We had the pleasure of going on a day trip to Chabiant a winery just outside of Ismayilli with the tour run by Nasimi Wine Tours, Azerbaijan’s first specialised wine tour operator (www.winetours.az). Chabiant vineyard is planted on the southern slopes of the Great Caucasus Mountains.
Chabiant (www.chabiant.az) was one of the first wineries to be established post-independence and with the assistance of Italian wine makers they produce a range of white, rose, and red wines from traditional French grape varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon as well as local grape varieties such as the white grape Bayan Shira, the red grape Madrasa and wine made from persimmons.
Chabiant has been one of the advocates Azerbaijan wineries to focus on indigenous grape varieties and to that end they have a small vineyard where they have planted and are testing a range of other indigenous grape varieties, before they put them into commercial production.
Chabiant is by no means a boutique winery, with annual production reaching 700,000 bottles.
We were taken on a personalised tour of the winery that included tastings from the 2,000 litre tanks and a visit to the extensive underground cellar.
The standout wine for us was a dry white wine, the 2024 Bayan Shira.
Whilst in the old town of Baku it is worth going to the Meysari wine store (www.meysariwines.az) as well as the wine store of Absheron-Sherab (www.absheron-sharab.az) where we tasted the dry red Ivanovka Baglari 1954 Madrasa. The wine gets its name from historic wines planted in 1954 in the village of Ivanovka. It is a dark ruby dry wine with a dark fruit profile and soft tannins.
For those that are adventurous, you will be rewarded if you take a trip to an Azerbaijani winery or even taste an Azerbaijan wine.
