1 00:00:27,902 --> 00:00:32,323 I've been a wine professional now for, you know, 2 00:00:32,449 --> 00:00:33,867 roughly 15 years. 3 00:00:34,117 --> 00:00:37,245 I've seen thousands of different grape varieties. 4 00:00:37,370 --> 00:00:39,414 I've tasted tens of thousands, 5 00:00:39,539 --> 00:00:41,583 if not hundreds of thousands of different wines. 6 00:00:42,083 --> 00:00:43,418 As sommeliers, as wine people, 7 00:00:43,585 --> 00:00:45,503 we spend a lot of time looking forward. 8 00:00:45,628 --> 00:00:48,631 You know, what's-- what's the new cool thing? 9 00:00:50,175 --> 00:00:52,302 But I think it's equally as interesting to look back 10 00:00:52,427 --> 00:00:53,678 and start to understand, really, 11 00:00:53,803 --> 00:00:55,764 where did these things come from. 12 00:00:57,515 --> 00:01:03,438 [soft dramatic music] 13 00:01:12,030 --> 00:01:14,616 -Tomorrow morning I fly to Tehran -Mm-hm. 14 00:01:14,741 --> 00:01:17,994 and spend the day in Tehran seeing the wine merchant. 15 00:01:18,119 --> 00:01:19,704 Checking out the grapes. 16 00:01:22,373 --> 00:01:23,917 [Dustin] The ancient world of wine 17 00:01:25,460 --> 00:01:29,798 really centers around modern day Iran, Armenia, Georgia, 18 00:01:30,965 --> 00:01:33,301 Caucus Mountains, these places. 19 00:01:37,347 --> 00:01:40,308 Iran is one of the countries 20 00:01:40,475 --> 00:01:42,894 considered the birthplace of the wine, you know. 21 00:01:43,019 --> 00:01:44,896 They belong to a different club. 22 00:01:49,692 --> 00:01:52,070 [Dustin] This area of the world, for wine, 23 00:01:52,195 --> 00:01:54,114 is really starting to wake up. 24 00:01:54,239 --> 00:01:58,243 It's an ancient place that's been sleeping for a long time. 25 00:02:01,329 --> 00:02:03,206 Is there any concern with the truckers 26 00:02:03,331 --> 00:02:04,999 getting the grapes across the border? 27 00:02:05,125 --> 00:02:08,336 Yeah, the problem is they're not eating grapes. 28 00:02:08,503 --> 00:02:10,922 I mean, as far Iran is concerned, 29 00:02:11,047 --> 00:02:12,924 all grapes are eating grapes. 30 00:02:14,509 --> 00:02:19,013 [soft dramatic music] 31 00:02:19,139 --> 00:02:21,724 [Dustin] This is just like one of the wildest things 32 00:02:22,100 --> 00:02:25,353 I think that could ever happen in wine. 33 00:02:26,229 --> 00:02:27,188 You okay? 34 00:02:27,355 --> 00:02:30,316 Um [chuckles] well, it's not-- 35 00:02:30,441 --> 00:02:31,568 I'll call you from jail. 36 00:02:31,693 --> 00:02:32,735 -[both laughing] -Okay? 37 00:02:32,861 --> 00:02:34,571 -Please don't. -[both laughing] 38 00:02:34,696 --> 00:02:36,364 If you have to call me from jail, just don't call. 39 00:02:36,489 --> 00:02:37,657 [Vahe] Okay, I understand. 40 00:02:37,782 --> 00:02:39,576 The government has an alcohol ban. 41 00:02:39,701 --> 00:02:42,537 It's extremely illegal and what we're doing is very public. 42 00:02:42,704 --> 00:02:45,039 I mean, a little danger is fine, I don't mind. 43 00:02:45,206 --> 00:02:49,377 You know, do I want to go to prison in Iran or elsewhere? 44 00:02:49,502 --> 00:02:51,921 Probably not. But anyway, it'll be fine, yeah. 45 00:02:52,046 --> 00:02:54,716 -You're okay, you'll be okay. -Yeah. 46 00:02:54,883 --> 00:02:55,717 [both laughing] 47 00:02:55,884 --> 00:02:57,051 -All right. -Okay, yeah. 48 00:02:57,218 --> 00:02:58,887 I'll leave you, let me go. 49 00:02:59,053 --> 00:03:00,471 I have other things to do. 50 00:03:00,597 --> 00:03:02,056 -You keep the map. -Yeah. 51 00:03:02,223 --> 00:03:03,975 And I'll call you on WhatsApp. 52 00:03:04,100 --> 00:03:05,852 -Okay. -Okay, bye. 53 00:03:09,147 --> 00:03:11,357 Okay? Thanks. 54 00:03:12,609 --> 00:03:19,574 [soft dramatic orchestral music] 55 00:03:19,908 --> 00:03:22,660 It's the most dangerous wine in the world. 56 00:03:25,038 --> 00:03:32,420 [soft dramatic orchestral music continues] 57 00:03:38,551 --> 00:03:39,969 Nice, clear day. 58 00:03:40,094 --> 00:03:42,722 Look at Ararat, so majestic. 59 00:03:45,433 --> 00:03:48,770 Noah's Ark, on the mountain, sat on the Mount Ararat. 60 00:03:48,937 --> 00:03:50,772 Then Noah came down, planted vineyard, 61 00:03:50,897 --> 00:03:52,232 made wine and he got drunk. 62 00:03:52,357 --> 00:03:53,942 I dunno if you know the story. 63 00:03:54,776 --> 00:03:57,070 It's in the Bible. There's no escaping it. 64 00:04:01,199 --> 00:04:02,867 Hey, Luca, it's me. 65 00:04:02,992 --> 00:04:04,285 Hi, not too much. 66 00:04:04,452 --> 00:04:07,538 Is it Hell's Canyon or Devil's Canyon? 67 00:04:08,331 --> 00:04:09,457 Hell's Canyon. 68 00:04:09,624 --> 00:04:11,334 And does the road go a little bit in 69 00:04:11,459 --> 00:04:13,586 so we don't hear the car, 70 00:04:13,711 --> 00:04:15,672 so if we want to shoot, 71 00:04:15,797 --> 00:04:18,633 is there a road that goes into the Hell's Canyon? 72 00:04:19,884 --> 00:04:21,469 No, I'm not gonna go through the canyon. 73 00:04:21,594 --> 00:04:24,597 I want to see the canyon, but not be on the road. 74 00:04:24,722 --> 00:04:26,641 I want to, so we can walk a little bit down, 75 00:04:26,766 --> 00:04:28,142 is that what you're saying? 76 00:04:28,309 --> 00:04:29,435 All right. 77 00:04:29,560 --> 00:04:31,187 Okay, all right. Thanks, honey, okay. 78 00:04:31,312 --> 00:04:32,939 I'll call you back later, bye. 79 00:04:35,483 --> 00:04:37,735 The first time I came here was '97. 80 00:04:38,319 --> 00:04:41,656 I was born in Syria, but I grew up in Lebanon. 81 00:04:41,781 --> 00:04:43,866 But then I went to Italy when I was 19, 82 00:04:43,992 --> 00:04:45,285 the first time, a couple of years, 83 00:04:45,410 --> 00:04:46,661 fell in love with the country, 84 00:04:46,828 --> 00:04:48,705 then went to the States, became serious, 85 00:04:48,830 --> 00:04:51,207 got my college degree, then became un-serious, 86 00:04:51,332 --> 00:04:53,918 opened a restaurant. You know, that kind of thing. 87 00:04:55,545 --> 00:04:56,921 I'm Armenian. 88 00:04:57,046 --> 00:04:59,549 Parents, Armenian, Armenian school, church, 89 00:04:59,674 --> 00:05:01,175 everything else was Armenian. 90 00:05:01,301 --> 00:05:05,221 So we grew up as Armenians in a host country. 91 00:05:05,346 --> 00:05:08,016 Lebanon was a host, Syria was a host country. 92 00:05:08,141 --> 00:05:11,352 We went, we worked hard, we did whatever we had to do, 93 00:05:11,519 --> 00:05:13,479 but we didn't mingle too much. 94 00:05:13,813 --> 00:05:15,940 When you are always being pushed around, 95 00:05:16,065 --> 00:05:17,984 you figure out how to hang in there, you know, 96 00:05:18,109 --> 00:05:19,110 how to survive. 97 00:05:19,736 --> 00:05:21,863 We're always in this survival mode, you know? 98 00:05:22,322 --> 00:05:25,366 But the beauty of being on your own land, 99 00:05:25,533 --> 00:05:27,535 your own soil, your own country, 100 00:05:27,660 --> 00:05:29,954 is that in the context of vineyards, 101 00:05:30,079 --> 00:05:32,707 you can plant and you don't have to worry about it 102 00:05:33,374 --> 00:05:36,002 because you don't worry that you have to move again. 103 00:05:36,127 --> 00:05:37,879 We're not moving anything from now. 104 00:05:38,004 --> 00:05:39,589 From here, we're not going anywhere. 105 00:05:39,714 --> 00:05:41,799 I'm not going anywhere. My family will be here. 106 00:05:41,924 --> 00:05:44,135 So the vineyards that we plant will be here 107 00:05:44,260 --> 00:05:45,678 for a very long time. 108 00:05:45,803 --> 00:05:48,723 Yeah, so, sorry, I didn't know what animal 109 00:05:48,890 --> 00:05:50,725 was coming behind me. 110 00:05:52,143 --> 00:05:54,270 What's up, bro? You wanna be in the video, huh? 111 00:05:54,395 --> 00:05:56,189 [laughs] 112 00:05:59,442 --> 00:06:00,568 Cute, huh? 113 00:06:00,735 --> 00:06:02,111 Oh, Aimee would kill for it. 114 00:06:02,236 --> 00:06:04,530 You know, Aimee has a horse. She rides a horse, yeah. 115 00:06:07,283 --> 00:06:08,576 [Aimee] I never call him Dad. 116 00:06:08,743 --> 00:06:10,328 I never call Vahe Dad. 117 00:06:10,453 --> 00:06:11,788 Vahe is always Vahe to me. 118 00:06:11,913 --> 00:06:13,915 We work together. It's Vahe. 119 00:06:14,082 --> 00:06:17,627 He's a dreamer, romantic type, but he sees the big picture. 120 00:06:17,752 --> 00:06:21,714 So I have twins, Luca and Aimee. 121 00:06:22,423 --> 00:06:25,593 The first project that I did in Armenia... 122 00:06:27,345 --> 00:06:30,431 the first six barrels I made, I made with Luca, my son. 123 00:06:31,474 --> 00:06:33,601 You know, he likes it, he loves drinking it, 124 00:06:33,768 --> 00:06:35,311 he loves everything about it, 125 00:06:35,436 --> 00:06:39,232 but he's not into the wine business per se. 126 00:06:39,941 --> 00:06:42,860 But somehow she got attracted to the wine, 127 00:06:42,985 --> 00:06:46,072 the concept, the vineyards, the making of the wine, 128 00:06:46,197 --> 00:06:49,450 the consuming of the wine, the whole scene. 129 00:06:49,992 --> 00:06:51,577 I'm Armenian, I'm half Armenian. 130 00:06:51,702 --> 00:06:52,912 My father's Armenian. 131 00:06:53,037 --> 00:06:54,705 My mother is very New England American. 132 00:06:54,831 --> 00:06:57,458 I never really felt Armenian until I came to Armenia 133 00:06:57,583 --> 00:06:59,252 and started working in wine. 134 00:06:59,377 --> 00:07:00,753 I graduated college. 135 00:07:00,878 --> 00:07:02,213 A couple of weeks before I graduated, 136 00:07:02,338 --> 00:07:04,006 my father sent me an email and said, 137 00:07:04,132 --> 00:07:05,967 "Aimee, would you like to come work in wine?" 138 00:07:06,092 --> 00:07:08,469 It took me about five minutes to answer, and I answered yes. 139 00:07:08,636 --> 00:07:09,971 And then I came to Armenia 140 00:07:10,096 --> 00:07:12,557 and that was my first harvest that fall. 141 00:07:14,600 --> 00:07:16,269 [Vahe] She really loves it. 142 00:07:16,394 --> 00:07:19,814 And she started from day one also to have her own brand. 143 00:07:19,981 --> 00:07:23,025 [Aimee] This is about 100 years old. 144 00:07:24,569 --> 00:07:25,820 [Vahe] It's her own wine. 145 00:07:25,987 --> 00:07:27,488 She does all the marketing, the branding, 146 00:07:27,613 --> 00:07:30,992 the positioning, rather than work for the father. 147 00:07:31,159 --> 00:07:33,244 Except for our sparkling wine project 148 00:07:33,369 --> 00:07:35,037 that carries our family name 149 00:07:35,163 --> 00:07:37,999 and that will be a family brand. 150 00:07:38,124 --> 00:07:42,170 For me, I think it is, in some ways, it's a legacy thing. 151 00:07:42,336 --> 00:07:45,965 So now you have two generations of Armenians making wine, 152 00:07:46,090 --> 00:07:48,801 which is pretty amazing considering how young 153 00:07:48,926 --> 00:07:50,595 modern wine making is in Armenia, 154 00:07:50,720 --> 00:07:55,183 to have a father and daughter making wine together. 155 00:07:56,184 --> 00:07:58,186 Of course, Armenians have been making wine 156 00:07:58,352 --> 00:07:59,812 for thousands of years, 157 00:07:59,937 --> 00:08:02,732 but it's been interrupted for the past 100. 158 00:08:05,943 --> 00:08:07,820 Vines are not like tomatoes. 159 00:08:07,945 --> 00:08:11,199 Vines are two or three generation crops. 160 00:08:11,324 --> 00:08:14,869 A vine will live until it's 70, 100 years old. 161 00:08:14,994 --> 00:08:19,081 And vines have to struggle to survive. So do people. 162 00:08:21,792 --> 00:08:27,298 [soft dramatic vocalizing] 163 00:08:34,096 --> 00:08:36,974 [Aimee] Armenia is situated in the Caucasus Mountains. 164 00:08:37,099 --> 00:08:41,938 We're surrounded by Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey, Iran. 165 00:08:43,189 --> 00:08:44,690 We are situated in the highlands, 166 00:08:44,815 --> 00:08:46,526 so everything is high elevation. 167 00:08:46,651 --> 00:08:48,736 We sit in this mountaintop. 168 00:08:52,406 --> 00:08:55,701 [Armen Sarkissian] It's a nation that has this advantage today 169 00:08:55,826 --> 00:08:58,120 of being a global nation. 170 00:09:00,873 --> 00:09:03,125 I mean, Armenians were always tradesman, 171 00:09:03,251 --> 00:09:04,835 because we lived on the crossroads 172 00:09:04,961 --> 00:09:07,129 of different civilizations. 173 00:09:10,841 --> 00:09:12,593 As being a crossroads of civilization, 174 00:09:12,760 --> 00:09:15,263 it has a very old culture. 175 00:09:17,431 --> 00:09:20,685 That culture is about architecture... 176 00:09:22,019 --> 00:09:23,563 because Armenia was one of the first 177 00:09:23,688 --> 00:09:25,606 to adopt Christian architecture. 178 00:09:25,773 --> 00:09:29,485 It was the first state kingdom that became Christian 179 00:09:29,610 --> 00:09:31,153 in the year 301. 180 00:09:32,947 --> 00:09:37,451 [soft dramatic vocalizing continues] 181 00:09:37,618 --> 00:09:39,704 [Aimee] Armenians, we have a sense of territory, 182 00:09:39,829 --> 00:09:44,667 of place, of culture, of food, of morality, of family. 183 00:09:47,295 --> 00:09:49,797 Armenia is our land because we've survived here 184 00:09:49,964 --> 00:09:51,966 for thousands of years. 185 00:09:53,718 --> 00:09:57,805 [Boris] In general, our existence is a miracle for me. 186 00:10:00,433 --> 00:10:03,019 As a historian, it's very difficult to explain 187 00:10:03,144 --> 00:10:04,895 how we survived, you know. 188 00:10:05,021 --> 00:10:07,440 It's really miracle by itself. 189 00:10:11,360 --> 00:10:13,738 [Aimee] The darkest moment for Armenians 190 00:10:13,863 --> 00:10:16,365 came in the form of genocide. 191 00:10:17,825 --> 00:10:19,535 Preceding World War I, 192 00:10:19,660 --> 00:10:21,996 the Ottoman Empire attempted to erase 193 00:10:22,163 --> 00:10:23,831 a large population of Armenians 194 00:10:23,998 --> 00:10:27,501 and other Christian minorities living in their territories. 195 00:10:29,545 --> 00:10:32,173 [Armen Khachaturian] We lost 1.5 million Armenians. 196 00:10:33,507 --> 00:10:36,093 Fifty percent of the Armenian people. 197 00:10:39,347 --> 00:10:41,349 My grandfather was a survivor. 198 00:10:41,891 --> 00:10:44,935 He lost his entire family of 17. 199 00:10:47,772 --> 00:10:50,066 [Vahe] We were Christians in a Muslim country. 200 00:10:50,191 --> 00:10:52,068 There was a war going on. 201 00:10:52,193 --> 00:10:55,071 They thought it was a good time to clean up the mess. 202 00:10:58,949 --> 00:11:01,994 [Jonathan] While many civilizations have disappeared 203 00:11:02,119 --> 00:11:05,748 way before classical Greece collapsed, 204 00:11:05,873 --> 00:11:08,250 the Roman Empire collapsed, 205 00:11:08,751 --> 00:11:10,795 the Ottoman Empire collapsed. 206 00:11:11,295 --> 00:11:13,381 If you're from a mountain civilization, 207 00:11:13,506 --> 00:11:15,841 the land is everything because it's rare. 208 00:11:16,509 --> 00:11:19,512 You need to hold onto as much as possible. 209 00:11:20,888 --> 00:11:28,062 [soft dramatic vocalizing continues] 210 00:11:30,564 --> 00:11:33,651 [Armen Khachaturian] Being Armenian is, there's a sense of pride. 211 00:11:34,276 --> 00:11:37,405 Growing up, there were so few of us in the world 212 00:11:37,530 --> 00:11:39,240 and we've been around for so long, 213 00:11:39,782 --> 00:11:42,410 there's a sense of pride for that survival. 214 00:11:45,538 --> 00:11:48,124 [Vahe] Genocide is part of our family, who we are. 215 00:11:50,668 --> 00:11:53,838 Most of our songs tend to be sad... 216 00:11:55,589 --> 00:11:58,300 because we are always reminded, yeah, 217 00:11:58,426 --> 00:12:01,971 that there's always bad in this world. 218 00:12:02,555 --> 00:12:06,267 But at some point we will move forward. 219 00:12:14,442 --> 00:12:16,944 [Aimee] I'm of the generation in Armenia currently 220 00:12:17,111 --> 00:12:19,613 that was born in the early '90s, 221 00:12:19,739 --> 00:12:22,074 so when the country was just becoming a country, 222 00:12:22,199 --> 00:12:25,369 and it was the dissolution of the Soviet Union. 223 00:12:26,120 --> 00:12:28,372 So we're very much a part of defining 224 00:12:28,497 --> 00:12:31,834 what our country's new identity is. 225 00:12:35,588 --> 00:12:38,966 And now we've adopted wine as our identity. 226 00:12:39,091 --> 00:12:42,011 [soft piano music] 227 00:12:45,473 --> 00:12:49,477 So it's really beautiful to be a part of. 228 00:12:49,602 --> 00:12:51,228 [Armen Khachaturian] Wine has always been, to me, 229 00:12:51,353 --> 00:12:53,230 it's always been this international language. 230 00:12:53,355 --> 00:12:55,232 You can put a bottle of wine 231 00:12:55,357 --> 00:12:57,026 and people of different cultures 232 00:12:57,151 --> 00:12:59,779 and different nationalities and ages, it doesn't matter. 233 00:12:59,904 --> 00:13:01,864 It brings everyone together. 234 00:13:04,825 --> 00:13:06,994 When I met Vahe, he had a map. 235 00:13:07,828 --> 00:13:09,246 He had all the different grapes 236 00:13:09,371 --> 00:13:11,081 that were growing in all the different regions. 237 00:13:11,957 --> 00:13:14,877 [Vahe] It's not a political map as much as wine map 238 00:13:15,002 --> 00:13:17,421 of how viticulture started. 239 00:13:18,506 --> 00:13:20,758 [Armen Khachaturian] And he said that a lot of these, 240 00:13:20,883 --> 00:13:23,135 they didn't even know existed. 241 00:13:23,260 --> 00:13:24,845 [Vahe] Over the last 8,000 years, 242 00:13:25,012 --> 00:13:28,432 farmers have been selecting, selecting, selecting. 243 00:13:29,725 --> 00:13:33,395 It's the kid in a candy store, literally. 244 00:13:34,522 --> 00:13:36,273 [Armen Khachaturian] What this man is doing 245 00:13:36,398 --> 00:13:40,736 to revive the historical significance of grape growing. 246 00:13:40,861 --> 00:13:42,363 Fascinating. 247 00:13:45,908 --> 00:13:48,410 It's a labor of love. It's a passion project. 248 00:13:48,536 --> 00:13:49,954 He doesn't do this because someone's 249 00:13:50,079 --> 00:13:51,622 paying him a lot of money. 250 00:13:51,747 --> 00:13:56,043 He's doing this because it's his mark as an Armenian. 251 00:13:59,463 --> 00:14:02,633 In this region, the red varietal that is the most famous 252 00:14:02,758 --> 00:14:06,387 and I think has the most potential is Areni Noir. 253 00:14:10,224 --> 00:14:13,310 Areni itself is not a thick-skinned grape, 254 00:14:13,435 --> 00:14:16,772 so it doesn't have a lot of color, a lot of extension, 255 00:14:16,897 --> 00:14:18,691 not unlike a Pinot Noir. 256 00:14:18,816 --> 00:14:20,150 Yeah. 257 00:14:21,151 --> 00:14:24,905 Areni also has a black pepper character, 258 00:14:25,072 --> 00:14:26,740 has a little bit of pepperiness. 259 00:14:26,866 --> 00:14:29,243 And the important thing for Areni in general 260 00:14:29,368 --> 00:14:30,953 is that it needs to be ripe. 261 00:14:31,078 --> 00:14:34,832 Unripe Areni is really hard. 262 00:14:34,957 --> 00:14:38,460 It's not-- it's not ripe, it doesn't express itself. 263 00:14:38,586 --> 00:14:42,256 But once it's ripe, it really expresses itself nicely. 264 00:14:47,761 --> 00:14:49,096 Absolutely gorgeous. 265 00:14:49,722 --> 00:14:54,143 It is possible that Areni is a very ancient grape. 266 00:14:56,770 --> 00:15:01,191 And I always like to say that wine was not invented, 267 00:15:01,317 --> 00:15:02,735 it was discovered. 268 00:15:03,736 --> 00:15:10,284 [soft dramatic music] 269 00:15:11,410 --> 00:15:14,788 [Dustin] So there's this cave in modern day Armenia 270 00:15:14,914 --> 00:15:16,624 that was recently discovered, 271 00:15:17,583 --> 00:15:21,170 and in it, a place to make wine. 272 00:15:21,295 --> 00:15:23,714 Kind of a ancient winery, if you will. 273 00:15:26,133 --> 00:15:33,307 [soft dramatic music continues] 274 00:15:36,810 --> 00:15:39,813 [Boris] So we are going 275 00:15:39,980 --> 00:15:44,193 to the inner part of the first gallery... 276 00:15:45,402 --> 00:15:50,157 where the main ritual events took place 277 00:15:50,282 --> 00:15:52,576 thousands of years ago. 278 00:15:58,666 --> 00:16:02,127 The grape is a very mysterious plant. 279 00:16:02,753 --> 00:16:05,339 It related with the cult of the sun 280 00:16:05,506 --> 00:16:08,509 and people who lived here were worshiping the sun. 281 00:16:11,470 --> 00:16:14,807 So you can see these clay structures, 282 00:16:17,476 --> 00:16:21,271 and in the context of these clay structures, 283 00:16:21,397 --> 00:16:22,856 you can see what is believed 284 00:16:22,982 --> 00:16:26,694 to be the earliest wine making unit. 285 00:16:28,612 --> 00:16:31,657 So the wine was pressed on this platform, 286 00:16:31,782 --> 00:16:37,204 and with the help of gravity, it flowed down into the tank. 287 00:16:39,456 --> 00:16:43,627 We dated it and it's 4,000 BC. 288 00:16:43,752 --> 00:16:46,130 So there are not wine making units 289 00:16:46,255 --> 00:16:48,590 known in the world like this, 290 00:16:48,716 --> 00:16:51,844 so this is the oldest at the moment. 291 00:16:54,680 --> 00:16:58,183 The clay structures contains animal remains 292 00:16:58,308 --> 00:17:00,769 and as well parts of human body. 293 00:17:02,229 --> 00:17:07,067 [soft dramatic music continues] 294 00:17:07,192 --> 00:17:10,863 Those structures were not burials themselves, 295 00:17:10,988 --> 00:17:13,198 but ritual basins, 296 00:17:13,949 --> 00:17:18,203 which was reflecting a very complicated ritual 297 00:17:18,328 --> 00:17:22,666 related with dying and reviving God. 298 00:17:23,417 --> 00:17:24,918 It was deeply believed that wine 299 00:17:25,085 --> 00:17:29,381 was connecting this world with the next world, 300 00:17:29,715 --> 00:17:32,760 because people believed that everyone drinks wine, 301 00:17:32,885 --> 00:17:35,888 people alive, people dead and gods. 302 00:17:38,599 --> 00:17:41,310 So wine was kind of a beverage 303 00:17:41,435 --> 00:17:44,772 who was opening gates to the next world. 304 00:17:45,939 --> 00:17:47,775 [Vahe] There was a culture here. 305 00:17:48,233 --> 00:17:51,487 And to put it in perspective, they were, I think, 306 00:17:51,612 --> 00:17:53,113 discovering the wheel. 307 00:17:53,280 --> 00:17:55,407 Can you imagine, like, it's the same period. 308 00:17:55,532 --> 00:17:57,951 There was sophistication that they were making wine 309 00:17:58,118 --> 00:18:00,496 while they were tinkering about how to make the wheel, 310 00:18:00,621 --> 00:18:02,623 or they had made the wheel. 311 00:18:03,874 --> 00:18:06,877 This was the time that humans were changing, 312 00:18:07,002 --> 00:18:09,546 transforming from hunters and collectors 313 00:18:09,671 --> 00:18:12,966 into those who could produce agricultural goods. 314 00:18:13,092 --> 00:18:17,971 [Vahe] And these people who were agricultural people, 315 00:18:18,138 --> 00:18:21,767 they see each year, nature is dying and reviving, 316 00:18:21,892 --> 00:18:26,688 and these rituals were related with this, 317 00:18:27,272 --> 00:18:29,566 death and revival. 318 00:18:33,112 --> 00:18:37,658 Those who stayed here became also Armenians. 319 00:18:39,368 --> 00:18:41,954 [Armen Khachaturian] During the time when you had Christianity, they made wine. 320 00:18:42,079 --> 00:18:44,331 When Armenia was not ruled by Christians, 321 00:18:44,498 --> 00:18:46,250 they stopped making wine. 322 00:18:46,375 --> 00:18:47,960 There were times they'd go 300, 400 years 323 00:18:48,085 --> 00:18:49,461 without making any wine, 324 00:18:49,586 --> 00:18:50,838 and then they'd have to start up again. 325 00:18:51,004 --> 00:18:53,757 And they've done that over and over. 326 00:18:55,926 --> 00:19:01,265 The residues that are found in the amphora in that cave 327 00:19:01,807 --> 00:19:05,936 have been carbon dated and analyzed genetically 328 00:19:06,061 --> 00:19:09,690 and those residues carry the same grape variety 329 00:19:09,857 --> 00:19:12,734 that exists today, over 6,000 years old. 330 00:19:16,280 --> 00:19:20,284 [Carole] It is a strange irony that Armenia is starting over 331 00:19:20,701 --> 00:19:22,870 with very ancient plant material. 332 00:19:24,997 --> 00:19:29,376 And I'm not sure that's ironic as it is a connection. 333 00:19:31,879 --> 00:19:33,547 [Dustin] Think about the level of pride 334 00:19:33,714 --> 00:19:36,383 and excitement that you or you as a country 335 00:19:36,508 --> 00:19:40,053 or certainly as a region might experience 336 00:19:40,179 --> 00:19:41,847 if you've been kind of sitting 337 00:19:41,972 --> 00:19:46,810 on that winning lottery ticket for thousands of years 338 00:19:46,935 --> 00:19:48,645 and just not being able to cash it in. 339 00:19:48,770 --> 00:19:51,231 And now, all of a sudden, someone had the balls 340 00:19:51,398 --> 00:19:52,983 to go cash it in. 341 00:20:00,199 --> 00:20:01,617 [Armen Khachaturian] Armenia was an independent country 342 00:20:01,742 --> 00:20:04,369 for three years after World War I, 343 00:20:05,162 --> 00:20:07,414 then it became part of USSR. 344 00:20:08,790 --> 00:20:12,502 [Vahe] It disrupted the whole trajectory of viticulture, 345 00:20:12,628 --> 00:20:14,671 or wine making, here, if you will. 346 00:20:14,796 --> 00:20:17,633 It got interrupted for 70 or 80 years. 347 00:20:18,759 --> 00:20:25,098 [soft upbeat music] 348 00:20:25,265 --> 00:20:28,602 [machines whirring] 349 00:20:28,727 --> 00:20:31,146 [Vahe] We are in Getap Winery. 350 00:20:31,271 --> 00:20:33,106 It's an old-school winery. 351 00:20:34,233 --> 00:20:35,943 Very classic Soviet. 352 00:20:36,526 --> 00:20:40,405 [Armen Khachaturian] It wasn't modern wine making at all, whatsoever. 353 00:20:42,241 --> 00:20:44,785 They would process the fruit fairly rough. 354 00:20:45,452 --> 00:20:48,997 The machines were, you know, pretty industrial machines. 355 00:20:52,918 --> 00:20:55,462 This is as Soviet as it will get. 356 00:20:55,587 --> 00:20:56,797 You like it? 357 00:20:57,297 --> 00:20:58,799 During the Soviet times, 358 00:20:58,966 --> 00:21:01,635 each country had to produce something. 359 00:21:02,636 --> 00:21:05,681 Georgia made wine, Bulgaria made wine. 360 00:21:05,806 --> 00:21:08,642 Armenia was told to make fortified wine. 361 00:21:09,309 --> 00:21:12,896 The Soviet Union decided you guys stop doing wine, 362 00:21:13,021 --> 00:21:14,773 you do brandy. 363 00:21:14,898 --> 00:21:18,694 [Vahe] So Armenia became the cognac country for the Soviet Union. 364 00:21:23,532 --> 00:21:25,951 When the Soviet Union was making brandy 365 00:21:26,076 --> 00:21:30,247 and planting vineyards for large scale production, 366 00:21:30,372 --> 00:21:32,624 they wanted flat land. 367 00:21:34,001 --> 00:21:37,254 All the vineyards that were planted pre-Soviet times 368 00:21:37,379 --> 00:21:39,381 were left untouched. 369 00:21:41,633 --> 00:21:43,844 It just so happens that 120 years ago 370 00:21:43,969 --> 00:21:47,055 we had Armenians that planted Areni. 371 00:21:47,723 --> 00:21:49,808 So that's why we have these vineyards 372 00:21:49,933 --> 00:21:53,186 that essentially have been untouched for 120 years. 373 00:21:54,104 --> 00:21:56,523 [Vahe] So it kind of slipped through the cracks, 374 00:21:56,648 --> 00:21:58,525 kind of thing, you know. 375 00:22:00,235 --> 00:22:03,030 [Armen Khachaturian] Areni Noir, it's such a complex varietal. 376 00:22:03,155 --> 00:22:06,825 I think it can rival some of the best in-- in the world. 377 00:22:08,702 --> 00:22:10,370 [Paul] Areni has the possibility 378 00:22:10,537 --> 00:22:13,123 of bringing a lot of international recognition 379 00:22:13,248 --> 00:22:18,295 to a country that has a great and rich history. 380 00:22:19,129 --> 00:22:21,965 [Dustin] As wine has become more and more popular globally, 381 00:22:22,090 --> 00:22:26,511 making high quality wine has almost become sort of a seal 382 00:22:26,636 --> 00:22:29,598 of your cultural significance. 383 00:22:30,849 --> 00:22:32,392 [Paul] I think Areni as a wine 384 00:22:32,517 --> 00:22:35,520 could do kind of what Malbec did for Argentina. 385 00:22:35,645 --> 00:22:37,272 When I think about Argentina, for instance, 386 00:22:37,397 --> 00:22:40,108 the first thing comes to mind is great steak and great wine. 387 00:22:40,233 --> 00:22:45,947 [upbeat music] 388 00:22:46,073 --> 00:22:49,951 Malbec was a sleeper as a variety. 389 00:22:51,411 --> 00:22:53,663 So all we did was to say, "Well, 390 00:22:53,789 --> 00:22:57,417 what if we could grow this grape, you know, 391 00:22:57,584 --> 00:22:59,294 just make a high quality vineyard? 392 00:22:59,419 --> 00:23:00,837 How would it perform?" 393 00:23:01,713 --> 00:23:04,007 And so that's what we tried. 394 00:23:04,591 --> 00:23:06,093 And when we did that, 395 00:23:06,218 --> 00:23:09,805 we were like shocked how good the wine was. 396 00:23:11,598 --> 00:23:13,141 [man] Paul Hobbs turned out to be 397 00:23:13,266 --> 00:23:16,520 one of the most influential winemakers in the world. 398 00:23:16,812 --> 00:23:21,233 He was vital in shaping the wine culture 399 00:23:21,358 --> 00:23:23,693 that we see in Argentina today. 400 00:23:24,611 --> 00:23:26,655 [Paul] Malbec solidified Argentina 401 00:23:26,780 --> 00:23:29,074 as a world-class producing region. 402 00:23:30,450 --> 00:23:33,036 Having a variety that you're known for, 403 00:23:33,161 --> 00:23:36,623 you're the world leader, I think is a huge asset. 404 00:23:37,958 --> 00:23:41,753 When Malbec took hold, it infected everything. 405 00:23:42,212 --> 00:23:46,174 Tourism, restaurants, hotels bloomed, 406 00:23:46,299 --> 00:23:48,552 or even exploded in the region. 407 00:23:49,386 --> 00:23:51,471 That's one of the reasons I love working 408 00:23:51,596 --> 00:23:52,889 in these kind of places, 409 00:23:53,014 --> 00:23:55,058 because there's always the possibility 410 00:23:55,183 --> 00:23:59,646 of helping either resurrect or create something afresh. 411 00:24:00,689 --> 00:24:02,190 In the case of Armenia, yeah, 412 00:24:02,315 --> 00:24:05,777 I think Areni as a wine could have enormous power. 413 00:24:08,155 --> 00:24:10,323 [Aimee] Paul Hobbs has a bit of a reputation in wine 414 00:24:10,449 --> 00:24:13,285 as a prospector and recently he was one 415 00:24:13,410 --> 00:24:15,287 of the first outsiders to go to Armenia 416 00:24:15,412 --> 00:24:18,540 to make wine with the Areni grape. 417 00:24:20,667 --> 00:24:24,129 [Paul] This is a 2016 version. 418 00:24:24,254 --> 00:24:30,552 This grape clearly stood out in terms of quality. 419 00:24:30,677 --> 00:24:34,139 Beautiful color, this freshness. 420 00:24:35,140 --> 00:24:37,517 And then it finishes, right, 421 00:24:37,934 --> 00:24:40,854 and you can feel the nice grip 422 00:24:40,979 --> 00:24:43,857 and you get the feeling of the mineral, chalky soils 423 00:24:43,982 --> 00:24:45,901 -from the sites that these are grown. -Mm-Hm. 424 00:24:46,026 --> 00:24:51,364 With all this dynamic activity going on in Armenia, 425 00:24:51,781 --> 00:24:54,075 do you feel any kind of pressure? 426 00:24:54,201 --> 00:24:56,953 Because it's really gonna fall on the shoulders 427 00:24:57,078 --> 00:24:59,789 of people like you that are gonna carry this thing 428 00:24:59,915 --> 00:25:02,626 and make it to be whatever it's going to be. 429 00:25:02,751 --> 00:25:08,423 [soft dramatic music] 430 00:25:08,548 --> 00:25:11,259 [Armen Sarkissian] This is a nation that lived on the crossroad, 431 00:25:11,384 --> 00:25:13,803 always surrounded by different nations. 432 00:25:13,929 --> 00:25:16,681 Not always friends. 433 00:25:17,724 --> 00:25:19,559 Sometimes very hostile. 434 00:25:19,684 --> 00:25:22,854 But that created a new DNA in these people, 435 00:25:22,979 --> 00:25:26,191 which is a DNA of a survivor. 436 00:25:27,067 --> 00:25:33,657 [dramatic orchestral music] 437 00:25:40,372 --> 00:25:42,040 [Aimee] When the Soviet Union dissolved, 438 00:25:42,165 --> 00:25:47,212 when USSR dissolved... borders were drawn. 439 00:25:47,879 --> 00:25:49,631 Repeating once again, our top story, 440 00:25:49,756 --> 00:25:51,424 Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev 441 00:25:51,591 --> 00:25:55,262 has been removed from power and there are tanks now 442 00:25:55,428 --> 00:25:56,930 in the streets of Moscow. 443 00:25:57,097 --> 00:25:58,890 He has declared a state of emergency 444 00:25:59,015 --> 00:26:00,642 in individual localities. 445 00:26:00,767 --> 00:26:02,769 It is not clear what that means. 446 00:26:04,104 --> 00:26:05,897 [Aimee] There were Armenians and Azeris 447 00:26:06,022 --> 00:26:08,567 living in different areas. 448 00:26:09,192 --> 00:26:11,152 The borders were redefined for Armenia 449 00:26:11,278 --> 00:26:13,947 to be an independent country and Azerbaijan, 450 00:26:14,072 --> 00:26:16,449 and that's when the conflict started. 451 00:26:16,575 --> 00:26:18,451 [fire crackling] 452 00:26:18,618 --> 00:26:23,540 [Vahe] So it's really kind of a country, you know, at war. 453 00:26:24,082 --> 00:26:25,458 It's always a state of war. 454 00:26:25,625 --> 00:26:27,419 There's always soldiers coming, soldiers going. 455 00:26:27,544 --> 00:26:30,797 We might even see a column of tanks going, you know, 456 00:26:30,964 --> 00:26:32,382 it's very common. 457 00:26:33,049 --> 00:26:34,467 Because this is the road 458 00:26:34,634 --> 00:26:37,387 that goes to Artsakh, or Nagorno Karabakh. 459 00:26:37,512 --> 00:26:41,474 So stuff is always moving from here, there. 460 00:26:41,600 --> 00:26:43,018 It's the main road. 461 00:26:45,478 --> 00:26:50,400 See these things are all to protect 462 00:26:52,485 --> 00:26:54,904 from sniper fire. 463 00:26:56,323 --> 00:27:00,827 When Vahe came and wanted to make sparkling in Armenia, 464 00:27:00,952 --> 00:27:03,204 he had always dreamt of making bubbles. 465 00:27:03,663 --> 00:27:05,415 And he came to Armenia 466 00:27:05,540 --> 00:27:07,334 and he went to different vineyard sites and said, 467 00:27:07,500 --> 00:27:10,170 "Where is the best place to make sparkling?" 468 00:27:10,670 --> 00:27:12,839 And they happened upon Khachik. 469 00:27:14,132 --> 00:27:19,721 [soft dramatic music] 470 00:27:22,307 --> 00:27:24,351 [Vahe] Khachik is a village 471 00:27:24,476 --> 00:27:28,355 at around 1,800 meters above sea level. 472 00:27:28,521 --> 00:27:29,981 So that represents 473 00:27:30,106 --> 00:27:32,776 the highest elevation vineyards in Armenia. 474 00:27:32,901 --> 00:27:40,075 [soft dramatic music continues] 475 00:27:41,868 --> 00:27:45,163 Every year, I buy all the grapes of the village. 476 00:27:46,039 --> 00:27:50,543 Always. The only people that buy are us. 477 00:27:51,795 --> 00:27:54,589 Whether it be 50 tons, 80 tons, 100 tons. 478 00:27:54,714 --> 00:27:57,759 I have promised them and every year I buy it from them. 479 00:28:00,261 --> 00:28:02,847 We'll drive now past the military base, 480 00:28:02,972 --> 00:28:04,474 and then we get to our vineyards. 481 00:28:05,809 --> 00:28:09,562 And our vineyards are 500 meters from the Azeri border. 482 00:28:10,563 --> 00:28:13,483 [Vahe] And I want to build my winery there. 483 00:28:16,236 --> 00:28:20,407 So when I got an architect, a structural engineer, 484 00:28:20,573 --> 00:28:26,329 I asked to build that could withstand, you know, mortars. 485 00:28:28,456 --> 00:28:29,916 Yeah, yeah. 486 00:28:30,041 --> 00:28:33,378 Vahe, my father wants to build a bombproof-- bombproof cellar. 487 00:28:33,503 --> 00:28:36,965 [Vahe] So that my cellar wouldn't be, you know, 488 00:28:37,090 --> 00:28:39,092 short of a bunker buster, 489 00:28:39,217 --> 00:28:41,094 whatever those big bombs are, you know. 490 00:28:41,219 --> 00:28:44,556 Every time he says that, I'm like, "Will we need it?" 491 00:28:44,681 --> 00:28:46,015 [Vahe] And it was gonna be 492 00:28:46,141 --> 00:28:47,600 four to five times more expensive 493 00:28:47,767 --> 00:28:50,937 because of the amount of concrete we had to pour. 494 00:28:51,062 --> 00:28:53,815 I mean, it's a little surreal. 495 00:28:54,691 --> 00:28:56,901 But if we're gonna age our Keush up here, 496 00:28:57,026 --> 00:28:58,445 1,500 meters from the border 497 00:28:58,611 --> 00:29:00,905 and any war breaks out, then yeah. 498 00:29:03,616 --> 00:29:06,995 I'm a little concerned, but I'm not gonna run away. 499 00:29:08,288 --> 00:29:11,040 These are our vineyards, this is our land, 500 00:29:11,958 --> 00:29:13,960 so we're gonna make wine no matter what. 501 00:29:16,838 --> 00:29:19,758 [Jonathan] The first war, which started in 1988, 502 00:29:19,883 --> 00:29:23,720 the peace accord was signed more or less in '94. 503 00:29:24,304 --> 00:29:28,475 That brutal conflict was won by the Armenians. Hands down. 504 00:29:28,641 --> 00:29:32,520 They really-- the Azeri army got a serious beating 505 00:29:32,645 --> 00:29:33,980 and took heavy losses. 506 00:29:34,564 --> 00:29:38,485 For the Azeris, it's a question of revenge as well. 507 00:29:38,610 --> 00:29:40,945 They claim that it's their territory. 508 00:29:41,780 --> 00:29:45,325 Now, if a country claims that this is their territory, 509 00:29:45,492 --> 00:29:47,535 then we can go back in time indefinitely and say, 510 00:29:47,660 --> 00:29:50,246 "Well, actually, Armenians were there way before you were." 511 00:29:50,371 --> 00:29:54,959 The Turks didn't come before the early 11th century. 512 00:29:55,084 --> 00:29:58,004 The Armenians had been there many hundreds of years before, 513 00:29:58,171 --> 00:30:00,215 so if you go into that logic, then, well, 514 00:30:00,340 --> 00:30:02,926 Armenians, that's their land. It's not Turkish land. 515 00:30:03,051 --> 00:30:06,429 Of course, the reality on the ground is quite different. 516 00:30:08,097 --> 00:30:15,271 [bombs exploding] 517 00:30:18,983 --> 00:30:22,070 [Aimee] Women and children were evacuated a week ago 518 00:30:23,154 --> 00:30:26,699 and most of the farmers have reported to the front lines 519 00:30:26,825 --> 00:30:28,451 to defend the village. 520 00:30:29,202 --> 00:30:31,579 We're preparing for air raids. 521 00:30:33,289 --> 00:30:40,296 [soft dramatic music] 522 00:30:40,755 --> 00:30:42,841 [Jonathan] This war is very dangerous. 523 00:30:43,466 --> 00:30:45,009 Not only just at the front line 524 00:30:45,134 --> 00:30:46,636 when you are there with the troops. 525 00:30:46,761 --> 00:30:48,596 I mean, yeah, you're getting shelled constantly 526 00:30:48,721 --> 00:30:51,432 and you don't know if the next bomb is for you or not. 527 00:30:51,558 --> 00:30:53,726 But it was very dangerous on the roads. 528 00:30:53,893 --> 00:30:55,603 We knew there are drones everywhere. 529 00:30:55,728 --> 00:30:58,815 It's like having a giant sniper up in the air. 530 00:30:59,232 --> 00:31:01,568 The difference that the sniper gets tired, 531 00:31:01,693 --> 00:31:02,986 these drones don't. 532 00:31:03,111 --> 00:31:04,863 They could keep circling for 24 hours, replace. 533 00:31:04,988 --> 00:31:06,698 I mean, it's nonstop. 534 00:31:09,659 --> 00:31:12,453 A lot of people that I met who stayed, 535 00:31:13,246 --> 00:31:15,748 they stayed because it was their home, 536 00:31:15,957 --> 00:31:20,628 either the house or the land, or because they had cattle. 537 00:31:21,546 --> 00:31:25,550 Also, the grapes, you know, the people who were making wine. 538 00:31:27,427 --> 00:31:34,309 [soft dramatic music continues] 539 00:31:34,934 --> 00:31:38,897 The vineyards sit right between the Armenian military base 540 00:31:39,022 --> 00:31:41,232 and the Azeri military base. 541 00:31:43,109 --> 00:31:45,737 [Vahe] It is around a half a mile, 542 00:31:45,862 --> 00:31:50,992 maybe a mile maximum from their post to our border. 543 00:31:51,117 --> 00:31:57,457 So it is in a direct line of fire, the vineyards. 544 00:32:00,710 --> 00:32:03,504 For the most part, we've never had a problem. 545 00:32:03,630 --> 00:32:07,467 There was not much happening in the last 30 or some years, 546 00:32:07,634 --> 00:32:11,387 but because now it's a full-blown war... 547 00:32:14,599 --> 00:32:17,727 people are hesitating whether they should harvest. 548 00:32:20,313 --> 00:32:23,191 [Armen Khachaturian] The harvest date is the most important date 549 00:32:23,316 --> 00:32:26,319 in the entire process of making wine. 550 00:32:26,486 --> 00:32:29,322 Winemakers have to wait until the perfect moment 551 00:32:29,447 --> 00:32:31,157 to pick the fruit. 552 00:32:31,282 --> 00:32:34,661 And if you miss the window, you can't make wine that year. 553 00:32:34,786 --> 00:32:38,122 It is exact time to do the harvest, 554 00:32:38,247 --> 00:32:40,249 probably either today, tomorrow, 555 00:32:40,375 --> 00:32:43,586 the next three, four days is the window 556 00:32:43,711 --> 00:32:46,547 before the sugars go up too much. 557 00:32:47,882 --> 00:32:51,177 It is potentially 30,000 bottles 558 00:32:51,344 --> 00:32:54,514 of blanc de noirs from that village. 559 00:32:55,098 --> 00:32:56,224 It's not about money, I think, 560 00:32:56,349 --> 00:32:58,768 it's about the work that they did 561 00:32:58,893 --> 00:33:02,480 that they can't harvest and it has to stay on the vine. 562 00:33:04,023 --> 00:33:05,984 [Aimee] It's their year that they've spent, you know, 563 00:33:06,109 --> 00:33:09,821 growing these grapes and they wanna see it go into fruition. 564 00:33:10,780 --> 00:33:14,575 [Vahe] It's kind of a dilemma. 565 00:33:15,368 --> 00:33:17,829 Do we risk going to the fields 566 00:33:17,954 --> 00:33:21,207 and perhaps aggravate the situation 567 00:33:21,332 --> 00:33:23,042 by them fighting on them, 568 00:33:23,209 --> 00:33:27,797 or we let go of the fruit and let it stand in the vineyard? 569 00:33:30,341 --> 00:33:31,843 First of all, the road to Khachik 570 00:33:31,968 --> 00:33:35,388 at the moment is closed for military personnel only. 571 00:33:38,933 --> 00:33:43,521 So if they were to allow us to go and harvest the grapes, 572 00:33:43,646 --> 00:33:46,733 that would be a very strategic military decision 573 00:33:46,899 --> 00:33:48,026 at the moment. 574 00:33:48,776 --> 00:33:50,278 We can't go at night with lights. 575 00:33:50,403 --> 00:33:51,487 You know, they have snipers, 576 00:33:51,612 --> 00:33:53,072 they have certain technologies 577 00:33:53,197 --> 00:33:54,949 that can see you when you harvest the grapes. 578 00:33:55,074 --> 00:33:57,535 So we're talking about a completely different ballgame. 579 00:33:58,453 --> 00:34:03,249 This is a war of our right to live peacefully in our land. 580 00:34:03,374 --> 00:34:05,043 [soldiers shouting] 581 00:34:05,168 --> 00:34:08,921 And the vineyards actually are a pretty big part of that. 582 00:34:09,088 --> 00:34:10,840 It's not a new thing that the vineyards 583 00:34:10,965 --> 00:34:13,593 have acted like borders where farmers stay 584 00:34:13,718 --> 00:34:15,636 and they defend their land. 585 00:34:16,971 --> 00:34:19,098 Look, we can pull it off. 586 00:34:19,891 --> 00:34:21,893 [Aimee] It's gonna be a day-to-day decision. 587 00:34:23,061 --> 00:34:28,357 [dramatic orchestral music] 588 00:34:28,483 --> 00:34:30,443 No, I'm calm. Yeah. 589 00:34:30,568 --> 00:34:33,279 Yeah, and it's not a fake calm, it's a real calm. 590 00:34:35,656 --> 00:34:38,701 Vahe, Vahe is, [laughs] 591 00:34:38,826 --> 00:34:41,579 you would think I understand how he's thinking. 592 00:34:42,789 --> 00:34:46,834 He does well when there's something that needs to happen. 593 00:34:48,127 --> 00:34:50,922 He has war experience, so it's a little different. 594 00:34:51,047 --> 00:34:53,800 He can see this from a different perspective. 595 00:34:58,054 --> 00:35:00,181 He's very much a leader and a lot of people around us 596 00:35:00,306 --> 00:35:02,558 are looking at him to be a leader. 597 00:35:04,143 --> 00:35:06,854 Actually, I do better in times of difficulty 598 00:35:06,979 --> 00:35:08,439 than in times of peace. 599 00:35:08,564 --> 00:35:12,735 For some reason, I'm better suited to take charge 600 00:35:12,860 --> 00:35:15,863 when things are out of your control. 601 00:35:15,988 --> 00:35:17,740 I think it's best. Yeah, let's-- okay. 602 00:35:17,865 --> 00:35:21,494 [Vahe speaking Armenian] 603 00:35:21,661 --> 00:35:22,995 Okay. 604 00:35:48,229 --> 00:35:51,858 [Aimee] Usually we see a lot more trucks with grapes. 605 00:35:52,024 --> 00:35:53,192 It's mid-harvest season, 606 00:35:53,359 --> 00:35:55,862 but it looks really calm right now. 607 00:36:01,617 --> 00:36:04,662 [Vahe] It's becoming more and more real, by the way. 608 00:36:04,787 --> 00:36:07,540 It's coming, you know, closer. 609 00:36:08,499 --> 00:36:11,752 And now we know we're hearing about people 610 00:36:11,878 --> 00:36:16,340 that we know got hurt, injured or died, you know? 611 00:36:26,225 --> 00:36:29,103 [soft dramatic music] 612 00:36:29,228 --> 00:36:31,355 So freaking quiet. 613 00:36:31,480 --> 00:36:32,607 Yeah? 614 00:36:32,732 --> 00:36:34,233 [Aimee] Yeah, it's almost too quiet. 615 00:36:34,358 --> 00:36:36,903 [Vahe] Yeah, exactly. The famous calm before the storm. 616 00:36:37,028 --> 00:36:39,739 Hopefully the storm never comes here. 617 00:36:40,865 --> 00:36:44,035 [soft dramatic music continues] 618 00:36:54,337 --> 00:36:55,880 [Aimee] Here we go. 619 00:36:57,215 --> 00:37:03,554 [soft dramatic music continues] 620 00:37:11,395 --> 00:37:12,813 Okay. 621 00:37:14,273 --> 00:37:15,900 [Vahe] You got it? 622 00:37:17,318 --> 00:37:24,492 [soft dramatic music continues] 623 00:37:29,956 --> 00:37:31,040 [Aimee] Okay. 624 00:37:32,416 --> 00:37:39,590 [soft dramatic music continues] 625 00:37:41,884 --> 00:37:43,678 The plan is each farmer and their plot 626 00:37:43,803 --> 00:37:45,346 will have three, four people harvesting. 627 00:37:45,471 --> 00:37:47,932 Yeah, basically, rather than the whole village harvest-- 628 00:37:48,057 --> 00:37:50,142 They do plot by plot slowly, slowly. 629 00:37:50,268 --> 00:37:52,645 So that there's no big concentration, you know? 630 00:37:52,812 --> 00:37:54,063 Yeah. 631 00:37:58,818 --> 00:38:01,237 [Vahe] Do you know they used to plant, in the Roman Empire, 632 00:38:01,362 --> 00:38:04,991 they used to plant vineyards on the borders of the empire 633 00:38:05,157 --> 00:38:08,703 because they figured any community that has vineyards, 634 00:38:08,828 --> 00:38:12,039 they will never run away because they've invested so much. 635 00:38:12,164 --> 00:38:16,377 This is what? 120, 130, 140 years. 636 00:38:16,502 --> 00:38:21,382 It's been-- to let go of this without putting up a fight, 637 00:38:21,799 --> 00:38:24,010 it's almost impossible. 638 00:38:27,388 --> 00:38:28,514 Yeah, that's the white line. 639 00:38:28,681 --> 00:38:29,890 You see the white line? That's the-- 640 00:38:30,016 --> 00:38:31,434 -The road looking thing. -[Vahe] Yeah. 641 00:38:31,559 --> 00:38:33,185 And that's their post. 642 00:38:35,479 --> 00:38:39,066 Our fields go 300 meters from their post. 643 00:38:39,191 --> 00:38:42,028 I mean, people farm, they're gutsy, man. 644 00:38:43,029 --> 00:38:44,905 They've seen war, they've seen so much 645 00:38:45,031 --> 00:38:49,744 that then farming there is, you know, 646 00:38:49,869 --> 00:38:51,996 it's a normal day-to-day thing, honey. 647 00:38:52,121 --> 00:38:53,497 -They're used to it. -They don't care. 648 00:38:53,622 --> 00:38:54,957 Yeah. 649 00:38:55,082 --> 00:38:57,418 Do you know another beauty is that you see, 650 00:38:57,543 --> 00:39:00,004 we stand right, Ararat, you see? 651 00:39:03,215 --> 00:39:05,468 That mountain is a symbol. 652 00:39:05,593 --> 00:39:08,679 Symbol of who we are, what we've done, 653 00:39:08,804 --> 00:39:12,308 from Noah to this day. 654 00:39:12,433 --> 00:39:14,602 Yeah, of course, let's leave religion 655 00:39:14,727 --> 00:39:16,270 on the side for a minute, but, you know, 656 00:39:16,395 --> 00:39:21,525 had it been Noah and whatnot, it's a remarkable story 657 00:39:22,193 --> 00:39:24,987 you'll tell to your kids one day. 658 00:39:25,112 --> 00:39:26,906 I'm telling you now. 659 00:39:27,990 --> 00:39:34,872 [soft dramatic music continues] 660 00:39:45,508 --> 00:39:49,095 It will be a historic moment for the village, 661 00:39:49,220 --> 00:39:52,098 for the country in saying in spite of it, 662 00:39:52,264 --> 00:39:53,391 we did it, you know? 663 00:39:53,933 --> 00:39:56,936 Even if it's 7,000 bottles, who cares, you know? 664 00:39:58,521 --> 00:40:01,107 It's what that 7,000 represent. 665 00:40:02,608 --> 00:40:08,989 [dramatic triumphant orchestral music] 666 00:40:23,879 --> 00:40:31,053 [soft dramatic vocalizing] 667 00:40:33,681 --> 00:40:40,855 [singers singing in foreign language] 668 00:41:08,883 --> 00:41:10,468 [Jonathan] After a couple of weeks, 669 00:41:10,593 --> 00:41:13,387 they knew the war was going really badly for them. 670 00:41:14,180 --> 00:41:16,223 Maybe they wouldn't express it publicly, 671 00:41:16,348 --> 00:41:19,185 but inside, they knew they had lost. 672 00:41:21,187 --> 00:41:23,814 There's no question about it. 673 00:41:25,316 --> 00:41:27,735 They lost quite a bit of territory, too. 674 00:41:30,154 --> 00:41:37,328 [singers singing in foreign language] 675 00:41:47,213 --> 00:41:51,884 [Vahe] We truly thought we would win this one. 676 00:41:52,051 --> 00:41:54,762 And then slowly we came to the belief 677 00:41:54,887 --> 00:41:57,223 that we were going to lose this one. 678 00:41:57,640 --> 00:42:00,059 And we did lose it, honestly. 679 00:42:02,895 --> 00:42:04,355 [Aimee] We lost three major wineries, 680 00:42:04,480 --> 00:42:06,565 several large-scale vineyard projects, 681 00:42:06,732 --> 00:42:08,609 and the majority of the oak forest 682 00:42:08,734 --> 00:42:10,653 that are used to make our barrels. 683 00:42:11,111 --> 00:42:13,739 [Vahe] It's kind of a rough one, 684 00:42:13,906 --> 00:42:15,950 seeing all that lost, you know? 685 00:42:17,493 --> 00:42:20,913 We'll pick up the pieces and we'll move forward. 686 00:42:25,709 --> 00:42:30,756 The people who stick it out through thick and thin 687 00:42:30,923 --> 00:42:33,592 respect the vine, respect the struggle 688 00:42:33,759 --> 00:42:35,135 the vine has to go through, 689 00:42:35,261 --> 00:42:38,722 respect the age to which the vines live 690 00:42:38,847 --> 00:42:42,685 and respect the produce of the vine, 691 00:42:42,810 --> 00:42:44,228 which is just a bunch of grapes, 692 00:42:44,353 --> 00:42:46,730 which they, through their intelligence, 693 00:42:46,855 --> 00:42:48,774 manage to turn into wine. 694 00:42:50,150 --> 00:42:53,946 Wine is a product which can be sold across the world. 695 00:42:54,113 --> 00:42:57,491 That's a great advantage. 696 00:42:58,576 --> 00:43:02,913 [Dustin] If you are a country that produces very high quality wine 697 00:43:03,038 --> 00:43:05,291 and become globally recognized for it, 698 00:43:05,457 --> 00:43:09,461 it can really help to market you as a country, 699 00:43:09,587 --> 00:43:13,215 can show people that you should be seen on the global stage 700 00:43:13,340 --> 00:43:15,593 alongside these other places in the world 701 00:43:15,718 --> 00:43:18,596 that make high quality wine. 702 00:43:19,513 --> 00:43:21,473 [Aimee] I'm gonna take the Areni to Napa Valley 703 00:43:21,599 --> 00:43:24,393 and see what the world thinks of it. 704 00:43:24,518 --> 00:43:27,313 [plane engine whooshing] 705 00:43:29,189 --> 00:43:31,692 Getting the message out is the toughest part. 706 00:43:32,818 --> 00:43:34,987 There's a story that has to be told. 707 00:43:35,487 --> 00:43:37,156 [Aimee] Not many people have heard of Areni 708 00:43:37,281 --> 00:43:39,867 and not many people have heard of Armenia. 709 00:43:40,367 --> 00:43:43,287 [Dustin] First of all, the wine has to be good. 710 00:43:43,412 --> 00:43:46,332 You gotta get people to try it, to taste it. 711 00:43:46,457 --> 00:43:49,168 But it's not a wine that anybody's familiar with. 712 00:43:49,293 --> 00:43:50,919 [Carole] This is a first for me. 713 00:43:51,045 --> 00:43:53,047 I don't think I've ever had an Armenian wine. 714 00:43:53,172 --> 00:43:54,673 I've never had the grape variety before, 715 00:43:54,840 --> 00:43:56,675 so I don't really know what to expect. 716 00:43:56,884 --> 00:44:00,012 [Aimee] Everyone's, at first, a little hesitant. 717 00:44:00,846 --> 00:44:03,390 [DLynn] You've got words on here that I can't pronounce. 718 00:44:03,515 --> 00:44:05,267 [Steve] How do you market it outside of Armenia? 719 00:44:05,392 --> 00:44:08,020 If you're trying to sell something that nobody can say, 720 00:44:08,145 --> 00:44:09,980 that's a bit of an obstacle. 721 00:44:10,105 --> 00:44:11,649 [Steve] Because you know what you get in Napa, 722 00:44:11,774 --> 00:44:13,067 you know what you get in Bordeaux, 723 00:44:13,192 --> 00:44:14,526 you know what you get in Burgundy or La Morra. 724 00:44:14,693 --> 00:44:15,569 Yep. 725 00:44:15,694 --> 00:44:17,029 [Steve] With Caucasus oak, 726 00:44:17,154 --> 00:44:18,656 is it at faster growing or slower growing? 727 00:44:18,781 --> 00:44:19,823 Caucasian, it's slow growth. 728 00:44:19,948 --> 00:44:21,158 It's very delicate grape. 729 00:44:21,283 --> 00:44:22,868 It's very thin-skinned, tight clustered. 730 00:44:23,035 --> 00:44:24,411 [Dlynn] So what's the viticulture like? 731 00:44:24,536 --> 00:44:26,455 How are you harvesting these grapes? What, what-- 732 00:44:26,580 --> 00:44:28,332 Yeah, yeah. 733 00:44:28,457 --> 00:44:30,793 Viticulture is, yeah. 734 00:44:30,918 --> 00:44:33,045 [Carole] Is there a problem with winter cold? 735 00:44:33,170 --> 00:44:34,463 [Steve] Do you do any special winterization, 736 00:44:34,588 --> 00:44:35,631 burying the trunks or anything like that? 737 00:44:35,756 --> 00:44:37,007 We don't do any of that. 738 00:44:37,132 --> 00:44:39,051 Areni is grown in volcanic soil. 739 00:44:39,176 --> 00:44:40,844 It's all volcanic soil, high elevation. 740 00:44:40,969 --> 00:44:43,681 The vineyards range from 1,300 meters 741 00:44:43,806 --> 00:44:45,641 all the way up to 1,700 meters. 742 00:44:45,766 --> 00:44:46,934 Those vineyards are first 743 00:44:47,059 --> 00:44:48,519 or second highest elevation vineyards 744 00:44:48,644 --> 00:44:50,229 in the Northern Hemisphere. 745 00:44:50,396 --> 00:44:54,024 Do the local skirmishes affect when you can harvest? 746 00:44:54,733 --> 00:44:56,110 [Aimee] We don't have certifications yet, 747 00:44:56,235 --> 00:44:57,486 we don't have appellations. 748 00:44:57,611 --> 00:44:58,862 We're at the very beginning. 749 00:44:58,987 --> 00:45:01,323 We're just starting to export, really. 750 00:45:01,448 --> 00:45:03,200 No one was making wine in Armenia 751 00:45:03,325 --> 00:45:05,160 and Armenia has only been a country for around 20 years. 752 00:45:05,285 --> 00:45:06,912 Oh, now I'm gonna have to go look at a map. 753 00:45:07,079 --> 00:45:08,455 Yeah. Figure this all out. 754 00:45:08,580 --> 00:45:10,290 -[Steve] Should we try it? -So let's do it. Yeah. 755 00:45:10,416 --> 00:45:11,875 -Let's taste. -[man] I think we shall. 756 00:45:12,000 --> 00:45:13,335 Thanks so much. 757 00:45:23,679 --> 00:45:25,097 It smells lovely. 758 00:45:30,894 --> 00:45:32,396 It's very exotic. 759 00:45:33,480 --> 00:45:36,316 [Aimee] A lot of people try to compare it or place it. 760 00:45:36,442 --> 00:45:39,737 Like, "Oh, Areni tastes like Pinot Noir," 761 00:45:39,862 --> 00:45:41,113 but it's not a Pinot Noir. 762 00:45:41,238 --> 00:45:44,158 It's a completely different grape. 763 00:45:46,910 --> 00:45:54,084 [soft orchestral music] 764 00:46:04,344 --> 00:46:11,518 [soft orchestral music continues] 765 00:46:19,401 --> 00:46:23,030 I don't think-- I-I don't think that it should be compared 766 00:46:23,155 --> 00:46:25,282 to other grapes, personally. 767 00:46:25,866 --> 00:46:30,329 This wine is totally singular. 768 00:46:31,079 --> 00:46:37,336 [soft orchestral music continues] 769 00:46:42,800 --> 00:46:44,384 Well, I really like it. 770 00:46:45,803 --> 00:46:48,555 [DLynn] I love the wine. The wine is pleasurable. 771 00:46:48,680 --> 00:46:51,892 It's got great acid, it's got great tannin. 772 00:46:52,017 --> 00:46:54,645 This is a quality wine. I really dig it. 773 00:46:54,770 --> 00:46:57,523 It has crazy balance. 774 00:46:59,691 --> 00:47:01,652 This one, you could call this a noble variety, 775 00:47:01,777 --> 00:47:03,695 if you were to use that term. 776 00:47:05,364 --> 00:47:08,033 It has, it's the whole package. 777 00:47:09,660 --> 00:47:11,495 [Aimee] It should be a noble grape. 778 00:47:11,620 --> 00:47:13,539 I mean, the grape is one of the oldest grape varieties 779 00:47:13,664 --> 00:47:17,251 in the world and somehow it still survives to this day. 780 00:47:19,419 --> 00:47:22,714 [Carole] The story of an ancient land, you know, 781 00:47:22,840 --> 00:47:26,927 with such an ancient, ancient wine culture. 782 00:47:27,052 --> 00:47:28,679 I think it's a winner. 783 00:47:30,472 --> 00:47:33,559 [Vahe] This would be the closing of a circle. 784 00:47:34,852 --> 00:47:36,353 It's originated here 785 00:47:36,979 --> 00:47:39,731 and now it's coming back with a vengeance. 786 00:47:40,899 --> 00:47:43,569 [Aimee] Wine can be used as a form of diplomacy, 787 00:47:43,694 --> 00:47:48,240 can be used as a form of peacemaking, of negotiations. 788 00:47:49,116 --> 00:47:51,243 Wine can be used as many things. 789 00:47:52,786 --> 00:47:54,872 [Vahe] She can, if not the world, 790 00:47:54,997 --> 00:47:58,500 she can change parts of the world through wine 791 00:47:58,625 --> 00:48:01,211 and she can make it a little bit better 792 00:48:01,712 --> 00:48:05,340 because she's... she's my daughter. 793 00:48:06,925 --> 00:48:14,099 [soft music] 794 00:48:16,768 --> 00:48:22,357 [people chattering] 795 00:48:29,531 --> 00:48:31,408 [Aimee] It's the harvest season in Armenia. 796 00:48:32,075 --> 00:48:33,869 We're harvesting grapes from five different regions, 797 00:48:33,994 --> 00:48:37,122 so it's definitely hectic here at the winery. 798 00:48:39,875 --> 00:48:43,086 [Vahe] I like the excitement of the new. 799 00:48:44,379 --> 00:48:47,132 The thrill of the chase. 800 00:48:47,257 --> 00:48:48,842 I think it's my character. 801 00:48:48,967 --> 00:48:50,594 I'm not irresponsible, 802 00:48:50,719 --> 00:48:57,434 but I like the high of doing something new, you know, 803 00:48:57,559 --> 00:49:00,145 and maybe getting away with it. 804 00:49:00,812 --> 00:49:04,733 The idea came to me to make first wine from Iran. 805 00:49:09,071 --> 00:49:15,202 The whole idea started because we have the map behind me. 806 00:49:15,327 --> 00:49:17,704 Iran is a critical part of it. 807 00:49:18,830 --> 00:49:21,333 When you drink wine, the majority, 808 00:49:21,750 --> 00:49:24,795 ninety-nine-point-something percent of what you drink 809 00:49:24,920 --> 00:49:28,048 is from a species of vine called vitis vinifera. 810 00:49:28,173 --> 00:49:31,301 That is Pinot Noir, that is Chardonnay, that is Gamay, 811 00:49:31,426 --> 00:49:33,220 that's Shiraz, that's Cabernet Sauvignon, 812 00:49:33,345 --> 00:49:34,763 that's Cabernet Franc. 813 00:49:34,888 --> 00:49:37,557 It all comes back to vitis vinifera. 814 00:49:37,683 --> 00:49:40,102 A lot of experts believe that the origin 815 00:49:40,227 --> 00:49:43,313 of vitis vinifera comes from Iran. 816 00:49:44,523 --> 00:49:46,858 [Vahe] Well, we have two neighbors that are friendly. 817 00:49:46,984 --> 00:49:49,569 So one is Georgia, which is fine. 818 00:49:49,695 --> 00:49:53,782 And then we have Iran, which we get along very nicely, 819 00:49:53,907 --> 00:49:57,035 but no one else in the world gets along, you know. 820 00:49:57,160 --> 00:49:58,912 It's interesting that the Armenians 821 00:49:59,037 --> 00:50:03,250 and the Persians get along for a multitude of reasons. 822 00:50:03,375 --> 00:50:05,627 One of them is because they are alike. 823 00:50:05,752 --> 00:50:07,963 They were enemies, but they were also allies 824 00:50:08,088 --> 00:50:11,216 that went back and forth since the fifth century, really. 825 00:50:11,341 --> 00:50:12,968 They have a common history. 826 00:50:13,135 --> 00:50:19,224 [soft piano music] 827 00:50:25,022 --> 00:50:28,108 [Moe] Maysara is an ancient Persian word 828 00:50:28,233 --> 00:50:30,152 meaning house of wine. 829 00:50:30,277 --> 00:50:34,114 "May" means wine and "Sara" is house. 830 00:50:34,906 --> 00:50:41,913 [soft piano music continues] 831 00:50:42,914 --> 00:50:47,794 Initially when we started owning a vineyard and a winery, 832 00:50:48,378 --> 00:50:50,297 we made it very clear to our kids 833 00:50:50,422 --> 00:50:54,259 that they should pursue their own dreams, 834 00:50:54,926 --> 00:50:57,763 but I am so excited and thrilled 835 00:50:57,929 --> 00:51:00,891 for it to become a family business. 836 00:51:07,856 --> 00:51:10,442 I have to say, it didn't seem as much 837 00:51:10,609 --> 00:51:13,403 whatever you girls wanna do, go do. 838 00:51:13,528 --> 00:51:15,113 It was always expected, 839 00:51:15,280 --> 00:51:17,616 but it could also be that we put that pressure on ourselves, 840 00:51:17,783 --> 00:51:21,119 right, where we wanted to kind of perform, 841 00:51:21,286 --> 00:51:22,829 seeing what they've done. 842 00:51:22,954 --> 00:51:24,790 I mean, they escaped from a country with whatever they had 843 00:51:24,956 --> 00:51:27,876 and I think that it does hold us to a different standard. 844 00:51:28,627 --> 00:51:30,837 I mean, I'm American, I was born here, 845 00:51:31,546 --> 00:51:32,631 but I'm so proud of my roots. 846 00:51:32,798 --> 00:51:35,801 I'm so proud that I'm Iranian. 847 00:51:37,636 --> 00:51:40,055 Of course, we get people asking, 848 00:51:40,180 --> 00:51:42,474 well, in your country you don't have wine culture 849 00:51:42,641 --> 00:51:45,936 or you're Muslim, how come you have a winery? 850 00:51:46,061 --> 00:51:48,355 [Naseem] I think people often, when they think Persia 851 00:51:48,480 --> 00:51:50,065 or they think Iran, 852 00:51:50,190 --> 00:51:53,026 they think of the regime that's going on with religion 853 00:51:53,151 --> 00:51:55,862 and then they pull away being like, well, they can't drink wine. 854 00:51:55,987 --> 00:51:58,573 And it's just like, let's go back to history 855 00:51:58,698 --> 00:51:59,991 and see where it all started. 856 00:52:00,158 --> 00:52:01,701 It came from our home country. 857 00:52:02,369 --> 00:52:04,037 [Moe] In the western world, 858 00:52:04,329 --> 00:52:06,206 we mainly talk about 859 00:52:06,873 --> 00:52:10,377 the flavor, aroma, acidity. 860 00:52:10,502 --> 00:52:14,631 But in our Persian culture, in our poetry, 861 00:52:14,756 --> 00:52:20,428 it's mainly talked about the spirit of wine. 862 00:52:20,554 --> 00:52:25,559 Wine was considered as like a sun's radiance 863 00:52:25,684 --> 00:52:27,853 in a liquid form. 864 00:52:29,229 --> 00:52:31,606 It was a very sacred thing. 865 00:52:33,150 --> 00:52:35,235 [Vahe] What happened was that there was 866 00:52:35,360 --> 00:52:38,488 a religious revolution in 1979. 867 00:52:40,615 --> 00:52:43,994 The country became an Islamic republic. 868 00:52:45,036 --> 00:52:49,624 So immediately, use of alcohol was banned. 869 00:52:52,043 --> 00:52:53,712 You know, you hear a lot of these stories 870 00:52:53,879 --> 00:52:56,506 of these Persians fleeing when the revolution happened. 871 00:52:56,631 --> 00:52:58,425 They fled after the revolution. 872 00:52:58,550 --> 00:53:00,218 It was even harder to get out. 873 00:53:00,385 --> 00:53:02,554 They came with what they had on their back and, you know, 874 00:53:02,721 --> 00:53:04,556 my mom was eight months pregnant. 875 00:53:05,223 --> 00:53:08,185 -It was difficult. -It was really hard, yeah. 876 00:53:09,186 --> 00:53:12,063 [Moe] Of course they closed down the wineries, 877 00:53:12,230 --> 00:53:17,652 but before the revolution, there was about like 300 wineries. 878 00:53:19,237 --> 00:53:23,742 But a lot of those vineyards, they got demolished. 879 00:53:26,203 --> 00:53:31,541 It's unfortunate that when you get a lot of politics 880 00:53:31,666 --> 00:53:33,710 and religion and things like that, 881 00:53:33,835 --> 00:53:37,422 they forget history and it automatically goes to a place 882 00:53:37,589 --> 00:53:40,800 of just like negative, bad, right? 883 00:53:40,926 --> 00:53:42,552 They took something that was so important 884 00:53:42,677 --> 00:53:45,222 to my parents' culture 885 00:53:45,347 --> 00:53:49,059 and so it makes-- it makes it hard, you know, so. 886 00:54:01,279 --> 00:54:03,198 [tense music] 887 00:54:03,323 --> 00:54:05,325 Let's put the show on the road. 888 00:54:05,784 --> 00:54:07,786 -Let's see. -As they say. 889 00:54:08,453 --> 00:54:11,748 [Vahe] So tomorrow, I'll fly to Tehran. 890 00:54:12,624 --> 00:54:14,793 I've never been to Tehran. 891 00:54:14,918 --> 00:54:17,629 Tuesday, Wednesday, we'll be in the grape region. 892 00:54:18,046 --> 00:54:20,757 This part is Kurdistan. You see, it's all mountains, 893 00:54:20,882 --> 00:54:23,134 -and we'll get the grapes from there. -Mm-hm. 894 00:54:23,301 --> 00:54:25,428 I'm looking for Rasheh grapes. 895 00:54:25,553 --> 00:54:27,389 The harvest has started already, 896 00:54:27,514 --> 00:54:30,433 so it's going to be treasure trove, you know. 897 00:54:31,226 --> 00:54:32,394 The problem I need to be careful 898 00:54:32,519 --> 00:54:34,479 is that we're going to go around here 899 00:54:34,646 --> 00:54:37,190 with lots of cameras, drones and whatnot. 900 00:54:37,315 --> 00:54:40,485 And that, you know, it might attract attention 901 00:54:40,652 --> 00:54:44,364 as to why would anybody video. 902 00:54:44,489 --> 00:54:48,910 So wine is going to be a distant idea 903 00:54:49,035 --> 00:54:53,331 that we know but not everyone to know. 904 00:54:53,498 --> 00:54:54,624 Why now? 905 00:54:54,749 --> 00:54:56,543 So at some point it's the right time. 906 00:54:56,668 --> 00:54:59,170 You know, it's the right time to do something. 907 00:54:59,671 --> 00:55:04,926 And you know, wine hasn't been made for 40 years. 908 00:55:05,051 --> 00:55:06,803 It's something new. 909 00:55:10,849 --> 00:55:13,476 Yeah, you'll come visit me in jail, okay? 910 00:55:13,601 --> 00:55:14,561 It'll be fine, yeah. 911 00:55:14,686 --> 00:55:16,771 You're okay. It'll be okay. 912 00:55:17,689 --> 00:55:23,028 [soft dramatic music] 913 00:55:25,280 --> 00:55:28,700 [Aimee] He's been talking about this for four, five years. 914 00:55:28,867 --> 00:55:31,202 I remember every year during harvest season, he says, 915 00:55:31,369 --> 00:55:33,038 "Should we get the grapes? Should we bring the grapes in? 916 00:55:33,204 --> 00:55:35,040 Should we go find grapes in Iran?" 917 00:55:39,461 --> 00:55:41,796 It's a state with very heavy surveillance 918 00:55:41,921 --> 00:55:43,715 that happens on a day-to-day basis. 919 00:55:46,760 --> 00:55:52,057 I've had friends that, they got caught drinking 920 00:55:52,182 --> 00:55:54,517 and they wanted to take him out to the street 921 00:55:54,642 --> 00:55:57,187 and slash him with belts. 922 00:55:59,731 --> 00:56:06,404 [soft dramatic music continues] 923 00:56:06,529 --> 00:56:10,033 [Vahe] So somehow we managed enough contacts and people 924 00:56:10,158 --> 00:56:12,744 that now it's gonna be a reality. 925 00:56:13,787 --> 00:56:15,372 I don't know what to expect, 926 00:56:15,497 --> 00:56:18,625 but something's going to happen, let's put it that way. 927 00:56:20,418 --> 00:56:26,508 [soft dramatic music continues] 928 00:56:40,563 --> 00:56:42,232 We land in Iran and it's nothing 929 00:56:42,357 --> 00:56:45,276 like I've experienced before other countries. 930 00:56:45,443 --> 00:56:49,114 There is security concerns. 931 00:56:50,281 --> 00:56:54,369 It is a police state because there's so many rules 932 00:56:54,494 --> 00:56:56,204 that people have to obey, 933 00:56:56,329 --> 00:57:00,125 so you have to have a lot of people to enforce those rules. 934 00:57:02,961 --> 00:57:04,963 You asked me if I'm nervous. 935 00:57:05,296 --> 00:57:07,799 It takes a lot to make me nervous. 936 00:57:09,592 --> 00:57:15,432 [soft dramatic music] 937 00:57:15,557 --> 00:57:16,975 It's one thing being in prisons, 938 00:57:17,100 --> 00:57:20,061 another thing being in Iranian prison. 939 00:57:24,149 --> 00:57:25,817 [Aimee] This is gonna be the first time 940 00:57:25,984 --> 00:57:28,278 anyone is making wine with modern technology 941 00:57:28,403 --> 00:57:29,946 from these Iranian grapes 942 00:57:30,071 --> 00:57:32,157 and that is just too hard to pass up, honestly. 943 00:57:32,282 --> 00:57:35,201 It's just too exciting. It's very risky. 944 00:57:37,829 --> 00:57:41,666 [Vahe] I don't look at the risk, I look only at the rewards. 945 00:57:43,501 --> 00:57:47,547 If we don't take risks in life, what's the point? 946 00:57:49,674 --> 00:57:51,759 I'm gonna spend the day in Tehran. 947 00:57:51,885 --> 00:57:53,344 I'll figure out which are the grapes 948 00:57:53,511 --> 00:57:55,346 that we would like to get. 949 00:57:57,223 --> 00:57:59,851 Hello, nice to meet you. How are you? 950 00:57:59,976 --> 00:58:01,769 Yes, you want some jewelry? [laughs] 951 00:58:01,895 --> 00:58:03,480 They might stop us, ask us questions. 952 00:58:03,605 --> 00:58:06,524 Say we're doing a documentary on grapes, DNA, 953 00:58:06,691 --> 00:58:08,359 origins of grapes, whatever. 954 00:58:08,485 --> 00:58:15,825 -We'll make it up, something. -[dramatic orchestral music] 955 00:58:19,621 --> 00:58:24,542 [soft dramatic music] 956 00:58:24,709 --> 00:58:27,879 Now, you know, we are playing with fire a little bit. 957 00:58:28,713 --> 00:58:30,048 Nice to meet you. Pleasure. 958 00:58:30,215 --> 00:58:32,175 It's so good to meet you. Thank you very much. 959 00:58:32,300 --> 00:58:35,220 Thanks for having me. It's a pleasure here. 960 00:58:35,887 --> 00:58:40,517 Anyway, so, my first time in Tehran. 961 00:58:40,642 --> 00:58:43,728 First time. Looks okay, I'll come back again, I think. 962 00:58:43,895 --> 00:58:45,188 It's very nice. 963 00:58:45,313 --> 00:58:47,315 So you will translate? 964 00:58:47,440 --> 00:58:48,566 How's your English? It's okay? 965 00:58:48,733 --> 00:58:50,485 You understand quite well? 966 00:58:50,610 --> 00:58:51,778 Yeah? Okay. 967 00:58:51,903 --> 00:58:55,615 So the purpose is for me to buy grapes, 968 00:58:55,740 --> 00:59:00,537 maybe 10, 15 ton of grapes 969 00:59:00,662 --> 00:59:03,456 for us for do research, 970 00:59:03,581 --> 00:59:05,458 do some microvinification. 971 00:59:05,583 --> 00:59:09,963 Try to see, you know, how Iranian grapes are. 972 00:59:10,088 --> 00:59:14,217 I guess you must produce a lot of fruit, yeah, 973 00:59:14,342 --> 00:59:16,177 grapes in Iran, yeah? 974 00:59:17,262 --> 00:59:23,059 So my interest, I want to see what varieties is available, 975 00:59:23,184 --> 00:59:24,310 what we can get. 976 00:59:24,435 --> 00:59:26,354 Maybe we drive around, we see some vineyards. 977 00:59:26,479 --> 00:59:29,190 If you have a supplier there, we can go see them, 978 00:59:29,315 --> 00:59:31,818 see the grape and we can purchase, 979 00:59:31,943 --> 00:59:34,529 if you have anybody in Kermanshah. 980 00:59:35,029 --> 00:59:37,615 We know historically grapes were grown there 981 00:59:37,782 --> 00:59:39,158 for thousands of years 982 00:59:39,284 --> 00:59:43,454 because it's one of the birthplaces of the vine. 983 00:59:43,621 --> 00:59:44,706 Where are the grapes? 984 00:59:44,831 --> 00:59:46,291 I need vineyards. 985 00:59:46,457 --> 00:59:49,627 [wine merchant speaking in foreign language] 986 00:59:50,503 --> 00:59:53,464 This is Western Azerbaijan or something, right? 987 00:59:53,590 --> 00:59:56,426 [Liaison] Yeah, and that is Kermanshah. 988 00:59:56,551 --> 00:59:58,469 [Vahe] Kermanshah? 989 00:59:58,595 --> 01:00:00,805 Does it have a name, this grape? 990 01:00:02,056 --> 01:00:04,934 -[Liaison] Rasheh, Rasheh. -Rasheh, Rasheh? Okay. 991 01:00:06,936 --> 01:00:13,151 [wine merchant speaking in foreign language] 992 01:00:21,159 --> 01:00:23,828 Fifteen ton, 10 cent makes no difference. 993 01:00:23,953 --> 01:00:26,623 One thousand dollar, 500. 994 01:00:27,206 --> 01:00:29,459 [wine merchant speaking in foreign language] 995 01:00:29,584 --> 01:00:32,003 So tomorrow, where can we go tomorrow? Tomorrow? 996 01:00:32,170 --> 01:00:33,671 [speaking in foreign language] 997 01:00:33,838 --> 01:00:35,006 Here? 998 01:00:35,506 --> 01:00:38,134 [merchant] Over to Sanandaj, and here over to Mahabad. 999 01:00:38,259 --> 01:00:41,220 [Vahe] From here, they are three hours, so five hours? 1000 01:00:42,805 --> 01:00:46,351 [merchant] I think I have a new road, but I don't... 1001 01:00:46,476 --> 01:00:52,023 [Vahe] So we decided not to wait and drive to Sanandaj. 1002 01:00:54,525 --> 01:00:58,154 Here we are going to the hills in Kurdistan 1003 01:00:58,696 --> 01:01:00,573 trying to find grapes, 1004 01:01:00,698 --> 01:01:03,201 and they didn't know if there were grapes. 1005 01:01:04,535 --> 01:01:07,038 And there was one point we kept driving, driving. 1006 01:01:07,163 --> 01:01:08,373 I wasn't seeing any vineyards, 1007 01:01:08,539 --> 01:01:10,333 like what the hell am I going to do 1008 01:01:10,458 --> 01:01:13,211 if there's no grapes in this goddamn country? 1009 01:01:13,795 --> 01:01:16,547 [liaison speaking in foreign language] 1010 01:01:16,673 --> 01:01:18,883 No grapes? Grapes, no grapes? 1011 01:01:20,176 --> 01:01:22,053 [translator] He says six kilometers. 1012 01:01:22,178 --> 01:01:23,888 -Maybe. -No, no, three kilometers. 1013 01:01:24,013 --> 01:01:26,557 -Maybe, or there is grapes? -Yes, there is. 1014 01:01:29,102 --> 01:01:36,067 [people chattering] 1015 01:01:36,401 --> 01:01:38,069 Thank you. Vahe. 1016 01:01:38,820 --> 01:01:40,238 And this fellow, he's Kurdish, 1017 01:01:40,405 --> 01:01:42,573 he's gonna accompany us to a place 1018 01:01:42,699 --> 01:01:45,576 where he knows where those grapes are grown. 1019 01:01:45,702 --> 01:01:48,037 But he insisted on having tea, so we're having tea. 1020 01:01:48,162 --> 01:01:49,956 Yes, shall we have tea? 1021 01:01:50,957 --> 01:01:52,125 [people chattering] 1022 01:01:52,250 --> 01:01:54,419 You drink a lot of tea, huh? 1023 01:01:55,294 --> 01:01:56,254 You don't? 1024 01:01:56,421 --> 01:01:58,756 [liaison] Iranians drinking tea, 1025 01:01:58,881 --> 01:02:00,508 Kurdistan doesn't have a good tea. 1026 01:02:00,633 --> 01:02:02,969 Yeah, they grow it here? 1027 01:02:03,553 --> 01:02:04,929 Smuggle it, yeah. 1028 01:02:05,096 --> 01:02:05,972 [liaison] The good tea. 1029 01:02:06,097 --> 01:02:07,265 They smuggle tea? 1030 01:02:07,432 --> 01:02:08,391 Why? 1031 01:02:08,516 --> 01:02:09,851 They just take it in the car, no? No? 1032 01:02:09,976 --> 01:02:11,436 [liaison] No, no. 1033 01:02:11,602 --> 01:02:14,063 If they wanna smuggle, smuggle something better, no? 1034 01:02:15,606 --> 01:02:19,610 [people speaking in foreign language] 1035 01:02:19,736 --> 01:02:21,154 What? 1036 01:02:21,279 --> 01:02:24,741 [liaison] He says if you want some place for resting-- 1037 01:02:24,866 --> 01:02:26,576 No, no, it's okay. Yeah, it's okay. 1038 01:02:26,701 --> 01:02:28,119 We want vineyards. 1039 01:02:28,244 --> 01:02:30,621 We want grapes, vineyards. Yeah. 1040 01:02:31,372 --> 01:02:33,624 [speaking in foreign language] 1041 01:02:33,750 --> 01:02:40,131 [soft piano music] 1042 01:02:44,135 --> 01:02:47,263 [Vahe] Slowly, we started seeing vineyards. 1043 01:02:49,515 --> 01:02:52,143 So you can see there's a piece of vineyard there. 1044 01:02:52,727 --> 01:02:56,647 There's an impossible piece of vineyard over there. 1045 01:02:57,940 --> 01:03:01,068 I have no idea why would anybody 1046 01:03:01,194 --> 01:03:03,321 want to put a vineyard there, 1047 01:03:03,488 --> 01:03:05,490 but I guess they don't have a choice. 1048 01:03:06,282 --> 01:03:08,075 We'll drive another half an hour, an hour 1049 01:03:08,201 --> 01:03:10,203 and see what we need. 1050 01:03:11,287 --> 01:03:14,457 How do they farm this land, man? 1051 01:03:14,582 --> 01:03:16,417 Okay, so I'm gonna go. 1052 01:03:17,001 --> 01:03:18,503 Let me go. 1053 01:03:20,087 --> 01:03:26,260 [soft music continues] 1054 01:03:29,847 --> 01:03:31,349 [Vahe grunts] 1055 01:03:34,685 --> 01:03:39,065 [Vahe panting] 1056 01:03:39,190 --> 01:03:43,528 [Vahe laughs] 1057 01:03:43,694 --> 01:03:45,446 Oh, fuck. 1058 01:03:45,822 --> 01:03:47,073 Sorry. 1059 01:03:52,703 --> 01:03:54,705 [Vahe panting] 1060 01:03:54,831 --> 01:03:56,374 Where's the vineyard? There? 1061 01:03:58,125 --> 01:04:01,629 [Vahe panting] 1062 01:04:07,718 --> 01:04:13,516 [soft orchestral music] 1063 01:04:26,904 --> 01:04:29,240 These are definitely ready. 1064 01:04:33,536 --> 01:04:34,745 Perfect, yeah. 1065 01:04:35,413 --> 01:04:39,083 I'm gonna go talk to the owner and see how much he has 1066 01:04:39,250 --> 01:04:41,210 and what he wants to sell. 1067 01:04:43,254 --> 01:04:48,259 [soft orchestral music continues] 1068 01:04:49,594 --> 01:04:51,262 [Aimee] When it comes to wine, he's always, I think, 1069 01:04:51,387 --> 01:04:53,306 been at the right place at the right time. 1070 01:04:58,603 --> 01:05:01,814 He does all this out of pure excitement 1071 01:05:01,939 --> 01:05:05,693 and seeing a boundary and wanting to push it. 1072 01:05:07,570 --> 01:05:11,574 His ability to be inspiring is contagious. 1073 01:05:16,787 --> 01:05:20,249 [people chattering] 1074 01:05:22,168 --> 01:05:24,879 [soft orchestral music continues] 1075 01:05:25,004 --> 01:05:28,132 [Vahe] Grapes cannot grow anywhere for 8,000 years 1076 01:05:28,257 --> 01:05:30,384 and not have something special. 1077 01:05:30,843 --> 01:05:32,887 You know, it's something beautiful, 1078 01:05:33,012 --> 01:05:35,848 and if people can't see beauty, it's their problem, 1079 01:05:35,973 --> 01:05:37,475 it's not my problem. 1080 01:05:38,976 --> 01:05:43,773 [soft orchestral music continues] 1081 01:05:46,734 --> 01:05:52,365 For 40 years, no modern wine was made in Iran, 1082 01:05:52,490 --> 01:05:55,034 so as if time has stood still. 1083 01:05:57,662 --> 01:05:59,830 Now we're trying to catch up, 1084 01:05:59,997 --> 01:06:04,335 get the grapes, make the wine and see what they have. 1085 01:06:05,252 --> 01:06:09,173 For a winemaker, it's the holy grail. 1086 01:06:12,677 --> 01:06:14,553 We used professional people 1087 01:06:14,679 --> 01:06:17,431 that truck between Iran and Armenia. 1088 01:06:17,556 --> 01:06:20,351 I'm not saying they bribed or they didn't bribe, 1089 01:06:20,518 --> 01:06:24,814 but I'm saying they figured it out how to bring it. 1090 01:06:27,525 --> 01:06:30,820 Of course, we have to put a different name on the paperwork 1091 01:06:30,945 --> 01:06:34,824 so that it crosses the border with relative ease. 1092 01:06:40,037 --> 01:06:43,249 Shipping grapes for three days, four days 1093 01:06:43,374 --> 01:06:45,084 is not something common. 1094 01:06:45,376 --> 01:06:48,587 But because of the circumstances, we don't have a choice. 1095 01:06:48,713 --> 01:06:52,591 You know, I can't sit there in Kurdistan and make wine. 1096 01:06:55,302 --> 01:06:56,762 At least not yet. 1097 01:07:05,146 --> 01:07:06,856 Things could go wrong. 1098 01:07:09,025 --> 01:07:11,235 I'm hoping that everything is perfect, but you never know. 1099 01:07:11,360 --> 01:07:13,612 This is a first for us. 1100 01:07:18,075 --> 01:07:20,202 [Aimee] We're doing something that maybe some people 1101 01:07:20,327 --> 01:07:24,206 have dreamt of but never thought that it would be possible. 1102 01:07:25,374 --> 01:07:30,254 [dramatic orchestral music] 1103 01:07:45,436 --> 01:07:49,148 [Vahe] So far... so far, so good. 1104 01:07:51,400 --> 01:07:58,574 [dramatic orchestral music continues] 1105 01:08:04,830 --> 01:08:06,540 It's gonna have a huge impact. 1106 01:08:06,665 --> 01:08:08,584 It's going to open talks, 1107 01:08:08,709 --> 01:08:10,669 people are going to write articles. 1108 01:08:11,420 --> 01:08:15,216 Not because of the wine, but because of the possibility. 1109 01:08:19,136 --> 01:08:20,638 For Aimee, my daughter, 1110 01:08:20,763 --> 01:08:23,432 you know, there's a big question mark. 1111 01:08:24,225 --> 01:08:25,893 [Aimee] I am very concerned. 1112 01:08:27,144 --> 01:08:30,439 We don't know how the government is going to react. 1113 01:08:31,232 --> 01:08:34,360 There isn't a precedent for something like this. 1114 01:08:39,073 --> 01:08:42,493 [Vahe] Perhaps the Iranian government might not like it. 1115 01:08:44,161 --> 01:08:45,871 I don't know what they can do. 1116 01:08:46,580 --> 01:08:47,832 I'm not going to not do it 1117 01:08:47,957 --> 01:08:49,917 because it might happen, you know? 1118 01:08:56,507 --> 01:08:58,592 [speaks indistinctly] 1119 01:09:00,052 --> 01:09:01,303 -Twenty-two? -Yeah, 22. 1120 01:09:01,428 --> 01:09:03,430 -Twenty-two. -Exactly 22. 1121 01:09:03,973 --> 01:09:06,559 Now we have something special, I think. 1122 01:09:06,684 --> 01:09:08,519 -We can start the process. -Cool. 1123 01:09:08,644 --> 01:09:10,980 -Let's get it done, yeah? -Yellah. 1124 01:09:12,356 --> 01:09:14,275 Okay, yellah. 1125 01:09:15,276 --> 01:09:18,863 [Vahe] It was risk worth taking, you know, so we'll see. 1126 01:09:20,197 --> 01:09:22,449 She's fine. She'll be okay. 1127 01:09:24,869 --> 01:09:28,789 [Aimee] I think it's a wait-and-see kind of thing. 1128 01:09:31,375 --> 01:09:35,963 [soft piano music] 1129 01:09:44,054 --> 01:09:48,893 [tense jazz music] 1130 01:09:52,354 --> 01:09:56,275 [Vahe] We bottled the wine and we had to get a pulse 1131 01:09:56,400 --> 01:09:59,236 and we wanted to put it in front of professionals 1132 01:09:59,403 --> 01:10:01,906 to see what we had achieved. 1133 01:10:04,450 --> 01:10:05,951 [Aimee] I think it represents 1134 01:10:06,076 --> 01:10:08,120 -the Persian culture very well. -Yeah, it's very nice. 1135 01:10:08,996 --> 01:10:11,248 Came out beautifully, it's wonderful. 1136 01:10:11,415 --> 01:10:12,416 Yeah. 1137 01:10:12,583 --> 01:10:14,418 -Yeah. -I like it, yeah. 1138 01:10:15,044 --> 01:10:16,712 I'm sure people will like it, too. 1139 01:10:18,547 --> 01:10:20,716 Before we release the wine, 1140 01:10:20,841 --> 01:10:23,844 we can know what kind of product we have 1141 01:10:23,969 --> 01:10:26,096 and how to approach it and how to release it 1142 01:10:26,222 --> 01:10:27,932 and what we're going to do next, 1143 01:10:28,057 --> 01:10:29,975 and New York is the place to do it. 1144 01:10:30,100 --> 01:10:33,979 New York City is the most dynamic. 1145 01:10:34,104 --> 01:10:37,233 Top restaurants and the top sommeliers. 1146 01:10:38,359 --> 01:10:41,946 Well, I'm very nervous because it's one thing 1147 01:10:42,071 --> 01:10:45,699 you make the wine, you taste it during its progress 1148 01:10:45,824 --> 01:10:47,868 and you become very acquainted to it. 1149 01:10:47,993 --> 01:10:49,828 And then you can be often biased, 1150 01:10:49,954 --> 01:10:51,789 so it's very important not to be biased. 1151 01:10:51,914 --> 01:10:56,835 So that's the anxiety, if anything, I have 1152 01:10:56,961 --> 01:11:00,631 and butterflies right before we taste, 1153 01:11:00,756 --> 01:11:03,926 because, "What if, what if," in my mind. 1154 01:11:06,762 --> 01:11:12,977 [soft dramatic music] 1155 01:11:32,037 --> 01:11:33,497 I've been carrying these things. 1156 01:11:33,622 --> 01:11:35,374 I'll put it down before I break it. 1157 01:11:35,499 --> 01:11:37,251 [Sabato] All right, it made it all this way. 1158 01:11:37,376 --> 01:11:38,669 Amazing. 1159 01:11:40,379 --> 01:11:47,553 [soft dramatic music continues] 1160 01:11:50,347 --> 01:11:52,641 -Hi. -Oh, sorry. 1161 01:11:52,766 --> 01:11:53,851 Dustin, good to see you. How's it going? 1162 01:11:54,018 --> 01:11:55,394 -Good, you? -Pleasure. 1163 01:11:55,519 --> 01:11:56,562 -Nice to meet you. -Good to meet you. 1164 01:11:56,687 --> 01:11:57,771 -Lovely show. -Thank you. 1165 01:11:57,896 --> 01:11:59,606 Thanks very much. Yeah, absolutely. 1166 01:11:59,732 --> 01:12:01,233 -Looking forward to tasting with you. -Very excited to meet you. 1167 01:12:01,358 --> 01:12:02,818 You've come a long way to get here. 1168 01:12:04,361 --> 01:12:07,448 So, first bottle, you'll be the first to taste it, 1169 01:12:07,573 --> 01:12:08,490 outside of Armenia. 1170 01:12:08,615 --> 01:12:09,867 -Armenia-- -Wow. 1171 01:12:10,034 --> 01:12:11,702 Where we made at the winery, we've tasted it. 1172 01:12:11,869 --> 01:12:14,038 But outside you will be the first, so-- 1173 01:12:14,163 --> 01:12:16,248 -This has come a long way. -I'm a bit apprehensive. 1174 01:12:16,373 --> 01:12:18,751 I don't know, but I'm guessing 1175 01:12:18,876 --> 01:12:20,669 it will do just fine, you know? 1176 01:12:20,794 --> 01:12:23,589 You're a tough judge, I'm guessing. 1177 01:12:23,714 --> 01:12:25,799 It's not like my friends or something, 1178 01:12:25,924 --> 01:12:28,469 so your input will be, you know, because it's-- 1179 01:12:28,594 --> 01:12:29,887 -I've heard the story. -No one's tasted it, 1180 01:12:30,054 --> 01:12:32,473 so I'm apprehensive, will people like it, 1181 01:12:32,598 --> 01:12:35,017 and the whole journey to make something like this. 1182 01:12:35,142 --> 01:12:37,102 -Right. -And then you're kind of like, 1183 01:12:37,227 --> 01:12:39,480 was it all worth it, you know, so. 1184 01:12:39,605 --> 01:12:41,398 Right, well, what do you think? 1185 01:12:41,565 --> 01:12:43,650 Yeah, no, I think of course, it's worth it. 1186 01:12:43,776 --> 01:12:45,069 -Yeah. -Hopefully, 1187 01:12:45,235 --> 01:12:47,613 it's the first bottle, 1188 01:12:47,738 --> 01:12:50,324 actually without over dramatizing it, 1189 01:12:50,449 --> 01:12:53,660 it will be the first bottle of fine Iranian wine 1190 01:12:53,786 --> 01:12:56,663 -ever made in the last 40, 50-- -Wow. 1191 01:12:56,789 --> 01:12:58,415 Forty-some years. 1192 01:12:58,540 --> 01:12:59,958 And before that there was no technology 1193 01:13:00,084 --> 01:13:01,585 -to make wines like this. -Sure. 1194 01:13:01,752 --> 01:13:05,881 So this would be the first bottle made, 1195 01:13:06,006 --> 01:13:08,717 modern style wine in the history of Iran, 1196 01:13:08,842 --> 01:13:10,052 let's put it that way. 1197 01:13:10,177 --> 01:13:12,179 So for what it's worth, we tasted it 1198 01:13:12,304 --> 01:13:17,059 and I am hoping, I'm hoping we are onto something. 1199 01:13:17,184 --> 01:13:19,144 [Dustin] Now what do you hope to accomplish with this wine? 1200 01:13:19,269 --> 01:13:22,231 -Do you have some-- -This wine, just start curiosity, 1201 01:13:22,356 --> 01:13:24,900 I think, you know? 1202 01:13:25,025 --> 01:13:27,569 You know, the romantic in me says maybe the government 1203 01:13:27,694 --> 01:13:31,073 might allow a little bit of wine to be made 1204 01:13:31,198 --> 01:13:34,284 within a decade or maybe two decades. 1205 01:13:34,451 --> 01:13:37,246 Things will open up and we'll be able to taste more wines. 1206 01:13:37,371 --> 01:13:39,623 Well, it's a way more humble answer than I was expecting. 1207 01:13:39,790 --> 01:13:42,292 -[Vahe] Yeah. -I mean, you could do a lot with this thing. 1208 01:13:42,459 --> 01:13:44,795 -Yeah. -Change the whole world. 1209 01:13:44,962 --> 01:13:47,297 -If you don't mind opening it. -I'd be happy to. 1210 01:13:47,423 --> 01:13:49,091 -Yeah. -Thanks. 1211 01:13:51,218 --> 01:13:54,471 Honored to be the first one to taste this with you. 1212 01:13:54,638 --> 01:13:56,723 I'm honored to taste it with you also. 1213 01:13:56,849 --> 01:13:58,058 Do you wanna do the honors? 1214 01:13:58,183 --> 01:14:00,018 -May I? -Yeah, of course, of course. 1215 01:14:00,144 --> 01:14:01,311 So tell me about the label here. 1216 01:14:01,478 --> 01:14:02,479 Okay. 1217 01:14:02,646 --> 01:14:03,772 It's from the Iranian motifs. 1218 01:14:03,897 --> 01:14:05,107 This is very typical. 1219 01:14:05,232 --> 01:14:08,485 Molana is a very famous poet, Rumi. 1220 01:14:08,610 --> 01:14:10,446 -Rasheh is the grape. -Yeah. 1221 01:14:10,571 --> 01:14:12,865 Sardasht is the region. 1222 01:14:12,990 --> 01:14:15,451 And here I added a little bit of-- 1223 01:14:15,576 --> 01:14:18,203 -I saw that, yeah. -[Vahe laughs] 1224 01:14:18,787 --> 01:14:20,080 -[Sabato] All right. -It's the first bottling. 1225 01:14:20,205 --> 01:14:22,082 -Moment of truth, as they say. -All right. 1226 01:14:22,207 --> 01:14:25,669 Honored to be able to serve you your wine. 1227 01:14:25,836 --> 01:14:27,713 [Vahe] My heartbeat is 120. 1228 01:14:27,838 --> 01:14:29,381 [both laughing] 1229 01:14:30,299 --> 01:14:34,803 And my misery, so you can taste the wine. 1230 01:14:38,307 --> 01:14:40,184 Good fruit, nice. 1231 01:14:41,852 --> 01:14:43,145 [Sabato] I'm sorry I don't have 1232 01:14:43,270 --> 01:14:45,105 any Reidel Rasheh glasses here for you. 1233 01:14:45,230 --> 01:14:48,275 No, no, I don't-- [laughs] It's going to be a while. 1234 01:14:48,400 --> 01:14:50,235 -[Dustin] Slightly nervous? -A little bit, yeah. 1235 01:14:50,360 --> 01:14:52,613 More, I am definitely nervous. Yeah. 1236 01:14:52,738 --> 01:14:54,740 -Cheers, sorry. -Thank you, this is wild. 1237 01:14:54,865 --> 01:14:57,576 Thank you. Thanks for having-- having me. 1238 01:14:59,369 --> 01:15:03,081 It will open up a bit. I think it's cold because... 1239 01:15:03,207 --> 01:15:04,833 So it's fresh, nice, bright fruit. 1240 01:15:04,958 --> 01:15:06,376 -It smells great. -Yeah. 1241 01:15:06,502 --> 01:15:08,212 A nice little black cherry, I think, you know. 1242 01:15:08,337 --> 01:15:10,797 I'll let you do the description, too. 1243 01:15:12,508 --> 01:15:14,635 Mostly cherry, I think. 1244 01:15:17,387 --> 01:15:19,431 Good fruit. Good... 1245 01:15:19,556 --> 01:15:23,894 It's for you to say, honestly, because I've had it a few times. 1246 01:15:25,395 --> 01:15:30,901 [soft dramatic music] 1247 01:15:32,819 --> 01:15:34,696 You know, it's hard to place, to compare. 1248 01:15:34,821 --> 01:15:36,031 -It's really good. -Yeah, yeah. 1249 01:15:36,156 --> 01:15:37,533 -It's really good. -You like it? 1250 01:15:37,658 --> 01:15:38,617 -Yeah, it's very good. -Thank you. 1251 01:15:38,742 --> 01:15:39,576 -Yeah. -Thank you. 1252 01:15:39,701 --> 01:15:40,702 -Cheers. -Cheers. 1253 01:15:40,827 --> 01:15:41,745 -Thank you. -Well done. 1254 01:15:41,870 --> 01:15:42,996 -Thank you. -Wow. 1255 01:15:43,205 --> 01:15:47,793 This is by far the best Iranian wine 1256 01:15:47,918 --> 01:15:50,045 made in Armenia that I've ever had. 1257 01:15:50,170 --> 01:15:52,673 [Vahe laughs] Thank you. 1258 01:15:52,798 --> 01:15:54,216 Thank you for sharing this. 1259 01:15:54,341 --> 01:15:59,012 But no, in, in all seriousness, it's very unique. 1260 01:15:59,346 --> 01:16:01,932 I'm thinking about the people that harvested that 1261 01:16:02,057 --> 01:16:04,893 and it's just yesterday they were harvesting table grapes 1262 01:16:05,018 --> 01:16:05,978 and today they're harvesting this, 1263 01:16:06,103 --> 01:16:07,896 but here we are in New York City 1264 01:16:08,021 --> 01:16:10,816 drinking the fruits of their labor and yours, 1265 01:16:10,941 --> 01:16:13,902 and it's amazing when you think about how many people 1266 01:16:14,027 --> 01:16:16,280 are involved in producing this and the worlds 1267 01:16:16,405 --> 01:16:18,448 and lives that they live to put it together 1268 01:16:18,615 --> 01:16:19,950 to tell the story in the glass. 1269 01:16:20,075 --> 01:16:21,702 It's pretty, pretty amazing. 1270 01:16:21,827 --> 01:16:26,456 You know, there's these moments where I've been very lucky 1271 01:16:26,623 --> 01:16:28,083 to drink a lot of great wine. 1272 01:16:28,208 --> 01:16:31,044 And sometimes, you know, you're drinking something 1273 01:16:31,169 --> 01:16:33,088 that means so much historically, 1274 01:16:33,213 --> 01:16:36,717 or it's so old or it's such a rare experience 1275 01:16:37,467 --> 01:16:40,178 that that part kind of takes over, you know, 1276 01:16:40,304 --> 01:16:42,514 and the wine itself might just be kind of so so. 1277 01:16:42,639 --> 01:16:43,974 -Yeah, yeah. -You know? 1278 01:16:44,099 --> 01:16:45,809 -This is very cool because-- -It has both. 1279 01:16:45,934 --> 01:16:47,436 This has both. Yeah. 1280 01:16:47,561 --> 01:16:49,146 [Sabato] I mean, I have friends that are Iranian 1281 01:16:49,271 --> 01:16:50,856 that live in the United States 1282 01:16:50,981 --> 01:16:53,108 and they've never tasted wine like this. 1283 01:16:53,233 --> 01:16:56,028 And so I can only imagine what this is like for them, 1284 01:16:56,153 --> 01:16:58,905 for, you know, having family or knowing an appreciation 1285 01:16:59,031 --> 01:17:01,158 for where they came from to be able to drink this 1286 01:17:01,325 --> 01:17:05,495 with people they love that have endured a lot to be here, 1287 01:17:05,621 --> 01:17:09,082 so I think that's really special from that standpoint. 1288 01:17:09,207 --> 01:17:13,587 I think it's great for the wine community, 1289 01:17:13,712 --> 01:17:15,172 wine loving community, 1290 01:17:15,339 --> 01:17:17,507 and then of course the Iranian community 1291 01:17:17,633 --> 01:17:19,509 who haven't had Iranian wine 1292 01:17:19,635 --> 01:17:22,679 since they left Iran or any Iranian 1293 01:17:22,846 --> 01:17:25,015 in the last 40-some years. 1294 01:17:52,334 --> 01:17:54,086 [Naseem] Hey, can I have you? 1295 01:17:56,546 --> 01:17:57,881 Follow me. 1296 01:18:01,510 --> 01:18:03,804 Follow me up top. 1297 01:18:07,432 --> 01:18:10,143 Well, they have something for you. 1298 01:18:13,063 --> 01:18:14,523 Oh, my God. 1299 01:18:14,648 --> 01:18:15,691 You wanna read it? 1300 01:18:15,816 --> 01:18:16,942 Yeah. 1301 01:18:17,067 --> 01:18:18,568 -Do you know what this is? -Glasses. 1302 01:18:18,694 --> 01:18:19,945 Do you know what it is? 1303 01:18:20,612 --> 01:18:22,030 Is it from Armenia? 1304 01:18:22,155 --> 01:18:24,282 Keep going, keep reading it. 1305 01:18:27,244 --> 01:18:29,746 -Iranian... -Dad, they've-- 1306 01:18:29,871 --> 01:18:32,416 this is the first wine that's been made out of Iran. 1307 01:18:32,582 --> 01:18:34,251 They smuggled the grapes. 1308 01:18:35,043 --> 01:18:37,254 -Took it-- -That's amazing. 1309 01:18:37,379 --> 01:18:38,463 How do you feel? 1310 01:18:39,923 --> 01:18:40,966 Emotional. 1311 01:18:41,091 --> 01:18:42,384 [Moe and Naseem chuckle] 1312 01:18:44,511 --> 01:18:46,847 -That's so great. -[voice breaking] Yeah. 1313 01:18:48,974 --> 01:18:51,935 So this is-- this is history coming back. 1314 01:18:52,853 --> 01:18:53,937 Thanks. 1315 01:18:54,062 --> 01:18:55,522 You wanna open it? 1316 01:18:55,647 --> 01:18:56,940 Sure. 1317 01:18:58,442 --> 01:19:00,485 -Dad, I'm gonna cry. -[Moe laughs] 1318 01:19:01,653 --> 01:19:03,572 I can't even see right now. 1319 01:19:05,782 --> 01:19:10,370 [soft orchestral music] 1320 01:19:10,495 --> 01:19:13,331 So, that daughter and father, 1321 01:19:13,457 --> 01:19:19,463 they smuggled in the grapes to Armenia 1322 01:19:19,588 --> 01:19:20,464 and they... 1323 01:19:20,589 --> 01:19:22,966 From Shiraz or? 1324 01:19:23,133 --> 01:19:24,050 Sardasht, yeah. 1325 01:19:24,176 --> 01:19:25,427 -Yeah. -Yeah. 1326 01:19:25,552 --> 01:19:28,221 Yeah, I used to pass through that town 1327 01:19:28,346 --> 01:19:31,057 -almost every week with your mom. -[Naseem chuckles] 1328 01:19:32,642 --> 01:19:34,519 [Moe] They have great grapes in there. 1329 01:19:34,644 --> 01:19:36,146 [Naseem] Yeah, so... 1330 01:19:40,192 --> 01:19:42,569 You wanna pour it? I'll give you the honors. 1331 01:19:44,946 --> 01:19:51,328 [soft piano music] 1332 01:19:53,914 --> 01:19:55,749 -Cheers. -Cheers. 1333 01:19:55,874 --> 01:19:57,459 Be salamati. 1334 01:20:02,047 --> 01:20:05,634 -You could smell the dirt. -Mm-hmm. 1335 01:20:07,844 --> 01:20:10,972 [Naseem] "This wine was crafted to transcend time and place. 1336 01:20:11,097 --> 01:20:13,391 Named after the prolific Persian poet, 1337 01:20:13,517 --> 01:20:16,812 the wine resembles its namesake emphasis 1338 01:20:16,937 --> 01:20:18,230 on purity and elegance. 1339 01:20:18,355 --> 01:20:20,232 It is fresh and playful on the palate 1340 01:20:20,357 --> 01:20:22,150 with a strong sense of provenance 1341 01:20:22,275 --> 01:20:24,986 due to the terroir the grapes were grown in. 1342 01:20:25,111 --> 01:20:28,532 Rumi was an experimental innovator among the Persian poets 1343 01:20:28,657 --> 01:20:31,868 who had a mystical appeal and bold poetic forms. 1344 01:20:31,993 --> 01:20:33,912 This wine echoes just that." 1345 01:20:34,037 --> 01:20:36,331 That is so great. 1346 01:20:36,873 --> 01:20:38,625 Molana, yeah. 1347 01:20:40,043 --> 01:20:43,964 I really smell the place. 1348 01:20:44,756 --> 01:20:45,966 I'm serious. 1349 01:20:46,299 --> 01:20:48,051 [Naseem] Well, they did a great job. 1350 01:20:50,637 --> 01:20:57,602 [soft dramatic music] 1351 01:20:59,229 --> 01:21:00,897 [Naseem laughs] 1352 01:21:01,565 --> 01:21:03,525 It's like bringing everyone together again. 1353 01:21:03,650 --> 01:21:07,654 And that Armenians make great, great wines. 1354 01:21:07,779 --> 01:21:12,325 They're just known for it throughout the history, actually. 1355 01:21:14,744 --> 01:21:19,958 I really feel not only very honored, but very emotional. 1356 01:21:21,751 --> 01:21:23,295 They did a great job. 1357 01:21:23,420 --> 01:21:24,796 You know, I'm even-- [laughs] 1358 01:21:24,921 --> 01:21:27,132 I'm gonna drink quite a bit of this tonight. 1359 01:21:27,424 --> 01:21:32,178 Well, hopefully, one day we'll have our wine in there. 1360 01:21:36,474 --> 01:21:40,729 Well, at least we can share some with the family. 1361 01:21:42,480 --> 01:21:49,613 [soft orchestral music] 1362 01:21:55,410 --> 01:21:56,953 [Aimee] For thousands of years, bottles of wine 1363 01:21:57,120 --> 01:22:00,165 have graced our dinner tables on a regular basis. 1364 01:22:00,665 --> 01:22:03,376 Common dinner table topics that are not to be discussed 1365 01:22:03,501 --> 01:22:05,670 are religion, politics. 1366 01:22:06,922 --> 01:22:09,215 But the truth is that bottle of wine 1367 01:22:09,341 --> 01:22:10,884 sitting in the middle of that table 1368 01:22:11,009 --> 01:22:13,970 came from religion and survived politics 1369 01:22:14,137 --> 01:22:16,306 to get to that place. 1370 01:22:24,648 --> 01:22:28,109 [Vahe] There is a certain poetic beauty of continuing something 1371 01:22:28,234 --> 01:22:32,739 that people started 6,000, 7,000 years ago. 1372 01:22:32,864 --> 01:22:35,033 And if you don't have that kind of poetic beauty 1373 01:22:35,158 --> 01:22:38,453 in your life, what's the purpose, really? 1374 01:22:38,578 --> 01:22:44,292 [dramatic orchestral music] 1375 01:23:09,401 --> 01:23:16,533 [dramatic orchestral music continues] 1376 01:23:39,723 --> 01:23:46,855 [dramatic orchestral music continues] 1377 01:23:59,325 --> 01:24:04,164 [dramatic orchestral music continues]