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This year's Yerevan Wine Days festival promises to be even more grandiose and large-scale. The festival includes Yerevan Gastro Days and an expo market, as well as many celebrity guests, including two Michelin star chefs: Alan Aleksanyan, as well as the winner of the prestigious Bocuse d'Or competition, French chef Davy Tissot.

Details of the upcoming events were presented by the organizers of the festival, co-founders of the Eventtoura company Nune Manukyan and Mary Badalyan during a media brunch at the Chinar restaurant.

According to Mary Badalyan, Yerevan Wine Days was recognized as the best regional event 2021-2022 by the Wine Travel Awards. This year the festival is presented in the “Magnet of the region” category, and the organizers hope to win. Badalyan noted that last year the festival was visited by 120,000 people, of which 30% were tourists. The number of winemakers participating this year will increase: if last time 67 winemaking companies participated, this year—85.

“Last year, 33,000 bottles were sold in three days. The turnover for three days amounted to 420 million drams,” Badalyan said, noting that the data is based on information provided by festival participants. “These figures demonstrate the impact the festival has on tourism and the economy of Armenia.”

What awaits us this year?

This year, as part of Yerevan Wine Days, there will also be an expo-market, which will be held in Seasons Park. As Nune Manukyan noted, the expo will feature not only wines, but also other drinks from local producers—from fruit vodkas to juices. The goal is to promote business. “We want to facilitate contacts between distributors and manufacturers,” she noted.

Badalyan said that this year, as part of the rebranding, the symbol of the festival will be a karas—a clay wine vessel—from Dvin, dating back to the 9th-10th century BC. The festival will feature posters of 20 ancient Armenian karas, and visitors will have the opportunity see them in reality in museums. Each poster will contain information about which museum it is exhibited in.

Yerevan Gastro Days has every chance and potential to become a separate festival in the future, the organizers believe. This year, gastro days will “occupy” part of Moskovyan Street to Baghramyan Avenue. Two mirrored stages with professional equipment will be installed here, where famous chefs will hold gastro shows. All dishes will be prepared exclusively from local products.

In general, Yerevan Gastro Days has four components.

The first charity dinner will be hosted by French chef of Armenian origin with two Michelin stars Alan Aleksanyan, who specializes in healthy eating and organic wines. He promotes Armenian products in his restaurants in Lyon. The charity dinner will be dedicated to the famous Armenian restaurateur, founder of the Dolmama restaurant, Zhirair Avanyan. All profits will be donated to one of the culinary colleges.

The second is master classes for professional focus groups, which will be conducted by invited celebrity chefs and experts.

In addition, 100 local restaurants participating in the festival will offer a set menu with a 20% discount from May 15 to June 15, which includes any Armenian drink of your choice.

Also, as part of cooperation with the Association of Chefs of Armenia, a professional competition for chefs will be held. The winner will be determined by an international jury of five people.

Celebrity guests

This year, guests of the festival will be the French chef, winner of a Michelin star, Meilleur Ouvrier de France medal and winner of the prestigious Bocuse d'Or competition Davy Tissot, Lebanese chef Zarmik Halajian, who is also the co-founder of the food festival in Qatar, as well as chef and restaurateur from Los Angeles Mary Sue Milliken, who arrives through the mediation of the US Embassy.

Lebanese chef Leila Fattalah, who was included in the hundred most influential women in the Middle East, Italian Marco Leoni, a pizza maker from Naples, as well as the head of the Armenian Chefs Association Arbi Karakhani.

Badalyan added that next year the owner of three Michelin stars and the prestigious Bocuse d'Or Régis Marcon award will come to Yerevan.

At the invitation of the US Embassy, the rock band SIHASIN, a duet of brother and sister Clason and Jeneda Benally, representatives of the Navajo (Dine) American Indians, will perform at the festival. The group's name "Sihasin" translates as "hope." The band hails from Flagstaff, Arizona, and their music is rooted in Navajo culture, activism, and punk rock.

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