10 вопросов виноделу бренда Аллуриа

New words must be created for this wine …

It is no coincidence that we start a new section # 10_questions_to winemaker with the most extraordinary winemaker of Armenia.

As well as #Alluria wine, you don’t need to expect a familiar, ordinary and previously tested conversation with Samvel Machanyan. We invite you to the world of the Alluria winery!

1. About start

Winemaking is a family affair. After the Armenian Genocide, our family moved to Etchmiadzin. Our grandfathers brought with them and preserved the tradition of winemaking. Already from grandfather to father, and from father to us this family hobby passed. Each year my brothers and father made several hundred liters of wine. And in 2013 they decided that we can already think of wine as a business. We started work on branding and from that year every year we produce wine using traditional technology and the special technology of our father.

4. About technology

Our father changed some technological processes and got his own way of producing the best quality wine. And we make wine exactly according to my father’s method. I would not say that this is a specific technology. This is more about the selection method, the method of maceration – they differ from the traditional ones.

3. About philosophy

We call it natural winemaking. But, if you look at how organic wine or biodynamic wine is produced, then we produce just such a wine. Now we are in the process of obtaining an organic certificate. I hope that next year we will receive a certificate to officially bear the name «organic wine».

And we’ll even begin the process of producing biodynamic wine. The technology we use. And the methods that we use – they correspond to biodynamic wine. But now we call it simply – natural wine.

4. About the news

Alluria Classic is our father’s blend of experiments. My brothers and I also love to experiment. And every year we try different grapes and try to make different wines. Next year, I hope that we will have white wine. Of course, we do it by the same natural methods – this is spontaneous fermentation, without the use of sulfites … We are trying to maintain our technology. With white wine, this is a little more difficult, but we still keep the philosophy of natural winemaking.

5. About business card

I think that the wine, which is definitely worth a try, will be our Alluria Reserve. We always tell our dear customers: «If you try Alluria, then you do not need to expect something so familiar». The very first thing we want is for the consumer to have an IMPRESSION. We always say that you should not expect anything familiar from Alluria. This is always something unfamiliar, it is always something unreal, how to say … wild, complex, interesting. For example, Alluria Reserve is a touch that my brothers and I did. Our father made only Alluria Classic and could not stand the wine in barrels. And in 2014, the brothers and I did an experiment with the 2013 vintage. We didn’t have a barrel then. And we decided that we would not pour the wine into the barrel, but on the contrary, «pour» the barrel into the wine. We ourselves burned the oak shavings and sent them to a bottle of wine. After 8 months of aging, it turned out a very interesting and good wine. And, most importantly, our father liked it. And then we got two barrels as a gift. In them we made our first Alluria Reserve vintage 2014. I think that this is exactly the wine that encapsulates in itself everything that we call Alluria. This is both unpredictability and savagery … but in a barrel it turns out to be somehow «combed» and interesting.

6. About consumers

I feel the difference in consumer. But not in a geographical sense. It doesn’t matter – these are Russians, Armenians or Americans. The difference is whether the consumer is a beginner or not. Those who have a lot of experience with other wines, they try to find something to compare, try to find what Alluria looks like. And people who do not have such much experience with wine, they themselves try to come up with their associations with Alluria.

It is always very interesting. We have one experimental wine that people who have a lot of experience really like. Because they find in him something familiar. And there is another “wine” experiment, which is more like those who do not have much experience. All who have tried it say that this is an unpredictable and inexplicable wine. We had a guest from Japan who said that for this wine he should create new words in order to be able to tell about his feelings. Because the usual words that are used to describe wine, for this wine he did not want to use.

7. About plans

We want to expand and want our wine to become international. Our first experience of entering the international market was sales in Russia with the help of «Amelia Wine». And now I already think that next year we will move to the next level and send our wines to other countries.

8. About dreams

My brothers and I really want to create a new wine, which will become our blend. This is our very first desire.

9. About traditions

And our second desire is to recreate the wine that our grandfathers made. From the grapes from which our grandfathers made wine. We brought vines from an old vineyard in the village of Aylur. We want to plant a vineyard and make wine from this grape. And this will be the most interesting of what we will have in 3-4 years. The day we receive the first fruits will be the day of the revival of our family winemaking.

Aylur village is located in Turkey, near Van Lake. Now this village is called Alakoy. Last year my brothers and I went there, asking residents about the old vineyard. They didn’t really want to show us these places, but our guide was able to find out the way. According to the stories of fellow villagers, only our family was engaged in viticulture in this village. So it was a very emotional moment when we took the vines from there and brought them to Etchmiadzin. And one of the vines withstood the move. This is a technical grape variety with a dense peel, very sweet. I cannot name the variety, but we will certainly send the grapes for genetic analysis.

10. About thanks

First of all, I want to say thanks to «Amelia Wine», which gave a chance to show our wine in Russia and, of course, many thanks to our consumers for appreciating our work. And I want to assure you that even though we are moving forward, our philosophy remains the same. We will make wines that will be abnormal and interesting. And since my brothers and I are experimenters, every year we will try to create new Alluria wines.

And of course I invite you all to Armenia to see the country that stands at the roots of winemaking and invite to Alluria Wines to see with your own eyes how the wildest wine is created!