In the last 15 years, many Armenian female wine professionals have returned home after years abroad in Europe and the United States. Once a male-dominated industry, women now fill various roles in more than 100 Armenian wineries across five regions.
Part of this growth is due to increased educational opportunities.
Since the 1930s, the Armenian National Agrarian University has trained wine specialists, but women were largely underrepresented. In its class of 2000, for instance, just 20% of graduates were women.
In 2014, EVN Wine Academy launched courses to engage female students. It offered night classes for the enology and wine business program to address a need for professional development.
Taught in English, the program became more attractive to women who could work during the day and dive into a new vocation at night.
EVN’s enology and wine business program is a joint effort with Germany’s Hochschule Geisenheim University, where students can continue their education. The fruits of their labor are visible.
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Here, a few of the female wine professionals in all corners of the industry.
Zara Kechechyan, winemaker, Tufenkian Heritage Hotels
Formerly a social psychologist, Kechechyan embarked on a wine career in 2014. After she earned degrees from the Agrarian University, EVN Wine Academy and Hochschule Geisenheim, Kechechyan worked at wineries in Spain and Argentina. She then spent five years at Karas Wines, one of Armenia’s largest wineries.
In 2022, she joined Tufenkian, a hotel/winery in the village of Areni, more than 3,000 feet above sea level. There, she cultivates native grapes like Tosot and Voskehat. She’s passionate about biodynamic farming, which she compares to “homeopathic” medicine.
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Victoria Aslanian, CEO/president, ArmAs Estate
Born in Armenia, Aslanian moved to Los Angeles in 1990. In 2009, she returned home to help her father manage ArmAs, the 450-acre winery estate and boutique hotel that he established in 2007. It’s located in the Aragatsotn province, approximately 30 minutes from Yerevan, the Armenian capital.
With a degree in art history from University of California, Berkeley, Aslanian says she had to learn everything about wine after she returned home.
“There literally isn’t a single job in the winery that I haven’t done at one point myself, especially the first couple of years,” says Aslanian. “I did not leave the winery. I’ve washed every tank. I’ve made whatever was necessary, from A to Z, so that I could properly manage it.”
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