The ancient winery of Areni-1 Cave

The winery complex discovered in Areni-1 (Birds) Cave in 2007 is the oldest known complete and systematic winery in the world to date. Scientific laboratory studies, including analyses conducted using radiocarbon dating methods, have established that this complex dates back to 4100-4000 BC, corresponding to the late Eneolithic (Copper-Stone) period. This find is nearly a thousand years older than the previously known next oldest winemaking sites in the world. During archaeological excavations, a complete production chain was discovered inside the cave. It includes a clay basin (winepress) about one meter long, designed for crushing grapes, which has a sloped floor and is adapted to direct the juice into adjacent buried massive clay jars (with a capacity of up to 50 liters). The jars served for the fermentation of grape juice and the storage of the resulting wine. Remnants of grape pressing, dried seeds, skins, and stems, as well as clay cups and horns intended for drinking wine, were also excavated from the complex area. Chemical analyses revealed traces of malvidin (grape pigment) on the bottoms and walls of the jars, which definitively proved that red wine was produced and stored in these vessels. Morphological studies of the seeds by scientists and botanists have shown that the cave's inhabitants used not wild but already domesticated grape varieties (Vitis vinifera), which are genetically very close to the currently growing Areni grape variety in the same region. The larg