Armenian Wines Win over KGB Crowd at ABN Event

They also brought the first wine made by three students from EVN, who happened to all be women. It took the students approximately 8 months to make the wine and about 6 months to do the necessary paperwork so that the wine would be ready by their June 1 graduation.

In the old days, Soviet winemakers did not use advanced technology. Back then, Armenia focused on cognac. ICARE created the EVN Wine Academy two years ago in cooperation with Semina Consulting. It offers an 18-month enology program taught in English with instructors from the German Geisenheim university. The first graduation took place this June, and the 14 graduates all already have been placed in jobs. One is Mariam Saghatelyan, the founder and manager of the first specialized wine shop and bar in Yerevan, In Vino.

EVN has a Wine Laboratory which is the only educational wine laboratory in the Caucasus region. Contributions from the German Development Corporation (GIZ) and the Boston area couple Judith Saryan and Victor Zarougian made it possible.

Urutyan said that ICARE and ANAU could draw upon 15 years of general experience to make EVN Wine Academy successful. It all began in 2000 with ATC. The United States Department of Agriclture and Texas AM helped make the organization more mature and in 2014 USAID and Virginia Tech began assisting it. Virginia Tech, Penn State and the University of Florida are helping add more educational programs. In 2015, Geisenheim University in Germany decided to support the wine academy. It is the top European wine research and education institute. EVN offers short courses and a professional certificate program in enology and wine business jointly with Geisenheim.

Many ICARE ATC graduates have become professors in US and other Western universities or have jobs in corporations. One, Armen Harutyunyan, is the deputy minister of agriculture today in Armenia. It has approximately 92 percent job placement of the 455 graduates of the ATC undergraduate and master’s programs. It continues to collaborate with Texas A&M University, which gives certificates to its graduates. Their salaries are two to three times higher than the industry sector average.

With a student-centered environment, Urutyan stated that the curriculum is in the Western style, with highly qualified instructors and extracurricular activities, while the programs are industry-driven. Urutyan said, “We are very closely tied with the industry.” Aside from economics and finance, leadership and other “soft” skills are stressed to build emotional intelligence. Students are given opportunities to meet with CEOs.

Boston area Armenians Judith Saryan and Victor Zarougian were present in the audience. Urutyan pointed them out and explained that in addition to the aforementioned wine laboratory, they supported the establishment of the largest solar panel system in Armenia at ICARE. This saved much money as well as helped the environment.

After the event, Zarougian said that he was so impressed by the work done by Urutyan and ATC that even without meeting the latter in person, after doing some research, he decided to help in the creation of the solar panel system. He was amazed that up until that time, 2011 or 2012, there was no such system in all of Armenia despite the advantage of having great sunlight to power it. Now, the technology has begun to proliferate.

Zarougian and his wife supported the EVN laboratory a year ago because they felt it would be a useful spur to the Armenian economy. Zarougian said, “This is one of the sectors that has a very, very bright future. It is a sustainable and self-dependent field.” The soil and climate are favorable for growing grapes, and now better quality wines are being created, Zarougian said.

He added that in addition to the direct benefits for the Armenian economy through job creation, the creation of wine bars and other outlets for wine consumption might lead to a more attractive environment for tourism. Interestingly, there may also be domestic health and societal benefits. The increased domestic consumption of wine seems to be replacing vodka drinking to a certain extent.

Ralph Yirikian and Viva Cell helped establish a video conference facility for ICARE so that executives in the US and elsewhere can teach students in Armenia. Internally there is fundraising in Armenia to get a modernized computer lab.

Among its other projects, ICARE runs the Agribusiness Research Center, which gets funding from various private and governmental American and European agencies and organizations to conduct research and rural development projects.

To ensure its long-term success and viability, ICARE is building an endowment fund and soliciting support from the Armenian diaspora for this and a fund to sponsor student tuition (for more information, see www.icare.am).

Institutional Sustainability Campaign @ https://www.ICARE.am/donate/index.php

Dimitri Petrosian and Shahrokh Reza of Kingston Grille and Bar sponsored the ABN event, with the support of their staff, while Ara Sarkissian procured the Armenian wine provided for the tasting.