Areni-1 cave - world's oldest winery (6,100 years old)

In 2007, archaeologist Boris Gasparyan dug into the first gallery of a cave behind a village restaurant and found a 1-metre clay basin still coated with the pigment of red wine — pressed there in 4100 BC. Inside the same cave: the world's oldest leather shoe (5,500 years old, size EU 37, stuffed with grass), and three ceramic pots containing the plastered skulls of young women. The same people making wine here were performing burial rites here. Production facility and sacred space at once. The grape seeds found alongside the press are genetically identical to the Areni Noir vines still growing in this valley. You can drink that grape 50 metres from where it was first fermented, at a tasting room that opened next to the cave entrance in 2024.

What to do there

4 things to do

1. 1 Stand Inside the Winery That Started It All History · Price: low

   In 2007, UCLA archaeologist Gregory Areshian and Armenian co-director Boris Gasparyan's team started digging in the first gallery of a three-chambered karstic cave at the eastern edge of Areni village (behind the Edem restaurant, GPS: 39.7304°N, 45.2037°E). They found a 1-metre clay basin wine press — still coated with malvidin, the pigment of red wine — and a 60cm-deep fermentation vat beside it. Six thousand one hundred years ago, someone was treading Areni Noir grapes in this exact chamber and pouring the juice into this exact vessel. The Wine Museum in Bordeaux was founded in 2016. This cave has been a winery since humans were still building with stone. Ask your guide to point out the wine press basin specifically — it looks deceptively small for something that contained the chemistry of wine. In the third chamber, listen for the burial story: ceramic pots containing plastered skulls of three young women, found alongside the wine equipment. It was production facility and sacred space at once.

   Backup: If the cave is closed for winter, the Hin Areni Winery has opened a second tasting room immediately next to the cave entrance (opened 2024) — you can taste the living descendant of this 6,100-year-old wine while looking at the site from outside.

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2. 2 Taste the Grape That Has Grown Here for 6,000 Years Wine · Price: low

   Areni Noir is the grape variety found in the 6,100-year-old wine press — archaeologists confirmed the seeds are genetically consistent with the modern Areni Noir grape still growing on these slopes today. You are tasting what is arguably the oldest continuously cultivated wine grape on Earth. At the Hin Areni tasting room next to the cave (opened 2024) or their main location on the M2 highway through Areni village, ask specifically for the Reserve Areni Noir — their single-vineyard expression with moderate tannins and medium-high acidity, often compared to Pinot Noir but sharper, darker, with something wild underneath. Armenia's wines won over 20 medals at IWSC 2024. Walk 50 meters to the cave entrance after tasting — you just drank the descendant of wine made here 6,000 years before you arrived.

   Backup: If Hin Areni is closed, roadside stalls in Areni village sell homemade Areni Noir poured straight from dusty soda bottles and plastic jugs for $1 a pour. This is not inferior — this is layer 3.

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3. 3 Find the Shoe — Then Find the Brain History · Free

   Areni-1 Cave holds three simultaneous world records — and only one is wine. In 2008, archaeologists found a single-piece leather shoe made from one cow hide, size US women's 7, aged 5,500 years old — the world's oldest leather shoe. The same year, they found ceramic pots containing the skulls of young women, one with partial brain tissue confirmed as the oldest human brain in the Old World. Brain. Shoe. Winery. One cave. The shoe is on display at the History Museum of Armenia in Yerevan (Mashtots Avenue 34, GPS: 40.1872°N, 44.5152°E). Standing in front of the 5,500-year-old shoe, read the label noting it was found in the same cave as the world's oldest winery — the person who last wore this shoe was alive 400 years AFTER the winery was built.

   Backup: If you cannot reach Yerevan, the cave guide at Areni-1 will show you where the shoe was found in situ. The story lands just as hard with an empty spot on the cave floor.

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4. 4 Watch the Red Cliffs of Noravank Catch Fire at Sunset Adventure · Free

   The approach to Noravank is the reveal moment. You drive through Areni village, past the cave, past the roadside wine stalls — and then the road turns into a gorge and the mountains go vertical. The cliffs are brick red, iron oxide staining them rust and ochre. The 13th-century monastery at Noravank (GPS: 39.6938°N, 45.2330°E, 10km south of Areni) sits at the base of these cliffs with a narrow stone staircase jutting from the EXTERIOR wall — you climb the face of the building. Time your visit one hour before sunset. From the monastery courtyard, face the cliffs across the gorge. As the light drops, the iron oxide activates — colours shift from terracotta to deep amber to blood red.

   Backup: If visiting in winter when light fades early, the gorge drive itself delivers — park halfway through and walk 10 minutes toward the monastery. The silence and scale are the point.

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Insider tips

• This is the most important wine archaeology site in the world

• The cave entrance is unassuming - the significance is immense

• Combine with Areni village wine tastings afterward