Celebrating the New Year the Armenian Way: Ghapama and Lamb Kebabs Paired with Areni Wine from Yacoubian-Hobbs

As we head into 2025, this New Year we encourage you to try new wines and new regions! Recently we featured three wines from Georgia’s Zurab Gvaladze made biodynamically in amphora from indigenous grapes; this is a region of the world I look forward to learning more about in 2025 and hopefully visiting as long as it is safe. Below you’ll find a wine made by Paul Hobbs from rare Armenian indigenous grapes from newly planted vines and grown sustainably paired with regional dishes for the New Year: Ghapama and lamb kebabs.

“The soul of a wine is when it speaks to a place. If you don’t have that, then you’ve missed everything. And that quest is why we’re so fired up to be here.”— Paul Hobbs

These wines are made near the oldest known winery– a cave that dates back over 6,000! Nothing like starting the New Year with something that’s new and actually very very old! For more new wines, new regions, new styles, and new ideas, plus dishes to pair with them, scroll down for suggestions from eight other wine writers.

Like many people around the world, Armenians see the New Year as a new opportunity (and not just for wine!) and a new chapter in their lives where they get a fresh start. Armenians are big on hospitality — wine, food, celebrations, and inviting everyone to join in.  In the week following New Year’s Day, people visit friends and relatives to celebrate, with these visitations starting with parents, then siblings, followed by grandparents continuing for one week.  

Pomegranates are a national symbol for Armenia, and the year kicks off with the Pomegranate Blessing Ceremony which takes place in Echmiadzin, the oldest church in Armenia. And when you think about what goes together grows together, consider pops of pomegranate to go with Armenian wine! On New Year’s Eve instead of Christmas Eve,  Dzmer Pap aka Santa Claus comes to town and families gather around the Christmas tree to exchange gifts. 

In addition to pomegranates, traditional Armenian New Year’s foods include Dolma, Ishli Kufta, Stalichni, Ghapama, and Harissa accompanied with either local wine or vodka, and the meal is full of toasts. According to “Armenia Is Producing Some of the World’s Most Interesting Wines,” Armenia’s “indigenous old vine grapes allow producers to create wine unlike anywhere else in the world” — certainly a lot to explore here. 

According to the YACOUBIAN-HOBBS website:

• 4100 BC: Areni-1 cave site of the world’s oldest known winery, discovered in 2007
  • Early years, pre 1920: stable and growing horticulture environment
  • Soviet Era, 1920-1991: innovation at a standstill; historic varieties uncultivated
  • New dawn, 1992 to present: international interest piqued. Investment in DNA technologies to identify grapes from old monasteries and villages. Creation of “historic world” designation, separate from new world and old world wines. Includes: Armenia, Georgia, Israel, Jordan, and Lebanon

So much to learn about in this region! And cuisine too!

This dish from Wanderlust caught my attention: “A delicious moorish dish from southern Armenia, ghapama is so beloved throughout the country that it has its very own song – Hey Jan Ghapama – extolling its delicious taste and fragrance.” It’s a pumpkin stuffed with spiced rice, dried fruits and nuts. Be sure to include dried apricots! Playing Hey Jan Ghapama is up to you.

Serious Eats describes the dish this way: “Ghapama is a baked pumpkin stuffed with a jeweled rice pilaf dotted with onions, nuts, dried fruits, and herbs. It’s a dish so cherished by Armenians that it has its own song. Titled “Hey Jan Ghapama,” the tune is about a pumpkin farmer who somehow manages to feed a crowd of a hundred family and friends with a single pumpkin. Though ghapama can’t actually feed a hundred people,  it’s an excellent way to feed many. It’s a traditional celebration dish, particularly around Christmas and the new year, when pumpkins are in season. Cooks carve the pumpkin into wedges and fan it out like a flower, with the rice mounded over the center. The elegant dish looks challenging to make, but it’s actually quite easy to assemble and bake—and is as beautiful as it is delicious.”

And what is more traditional than marinated lamb on a skewer? Seasonings ranged from simple salt and pepper to much more elaborate multi-day affairs. I went with something more in the middle with lemon, wine, garlic, onions and spices including allspice, paprika, and cayenne. Several recipes called for sumac which I didn’t have then but I do now! 

Unlike typical American meat kebabs, they’re smart to grill the vegetables separately so they cook completely, and then combine them. Typical vegetables include eggplant, onions, and bell pepper. As a non-onion lover, I appreciate that they are not cooked together!  

Celebrating the New Year the Armenian Way: Ghapama and Lamb Kebabs Paired with Areni Wine from Yacoubian-Hobbs

2018 YACOUBIAN-HOBBS, ARENI, Rind, Vayots Dzor, Armenia

ABV: 14%
SRP: $30
Grape: 95% Areni, 5% Tozot
Importer: Paul Hobbs Selections
sample for my review 

Never heard of Areni? It’s an ancient variety indigenous to Armenia that’s adapted well to the mountainous region of Vayots Dzor. Vines thrive at 4,000′ in rocky, minerally, volcanic soils with limestone deposits to produce late-ripening grapes with good acidity and structure with red fruit and elegance. In addition to Areni, this wine has 5% Tozot which is a rare indigenous Armenian variety, and the name translates to “dusty,” because the berries become covered in heavy bloom. Aging for 20 months in stainless steel. 

Winemaker Paul Hobbs joined the Yacoubian family in the “Birthplace of Wine” to replant in mineral rich soils vines of indigenous varieties at high altitudes, to grow grapes sustainably, and to create modern wines that showcase Armenia’s role in the past and the future of wine. Learn more about the project here.

Appearance:  Garnet with a pale brownish rim, medium density

Aroma: Fruity with cherry, cranberry, red currant, mulberry, carnation, rose potpourri 

Palate: Plenty of bright red fruit on the palate including pomegranate, dusty tannins, baking spices, pepper, clean lengthy finish; medium to lighter bodied (think Grenache). Super fun wine! I preferred the wine in a Syrah wine glass over the Cabernet Sauvignon glass, but now I’m curious how it might show in a Pinot Noir glass.

Pairing: The salad with the fresh blueberries, dried cranberries, and honey walnuts with a simple dressing of olive oil and chardonnay vinegar played well with the fruitiness as well as the texture and the body of the wine. I would ahve included pomegranate if I had it!  With the rice in the pumpkin, the wine handled the sweetness and spice well, but could be better–I’d prepare it with less honey in the butter next time, and we found it took FOREVER to cook — both the pumpkin and the rice.  Fantastic with the spiced grilled lamb kebabs– the lively fruit cut through the rich lamb and brightened the palate. On the second day, the wine was still wonderful with some honeycomb and vanilla tones on the nose and on the palate. 

I would love to try a wine made from this grape with duck breast with pomegranate sauce. 

Celebrating the New Year the Armenian Way: Ghapama and Lamb Kebabs Paired with Areni Wine from Yacoubian-Hobbs

Today is my birthday! Won’t you please subscribe to Wine Predator? That would be the perfect present and pairing for my birthday! 

So what’s new for you in 2025? 

• Robin at Crushed Grape Chronicles shares “Wine and Food Pairings – exploring the logic and the science”
• Gwendolyn at Wine Predator shares “Celebrating the New Year the Armenian Way: Ghapama and Lamb Kebabs Paired with Areni Wine from Yacoubian-Hobbs”
• Andrea at The Quirky Cork shares “Albania: A New Wine Frontier”
• Camilla at Culinary Cam shares “Xers to Zoomers: Exploring the Decline in Wine Consumption + Our Thanksgiving Wines from Tablas Creek”
• Terri at Our Good Life shares “The Unveiling of Red Wine’s Hidden Health Benefits and the Surgeon General’s No-Alcohol Stance”
• Jennifer at Vino Travels shares “The Alcohol Removed Wines of Starla”
• Wendy at A Day in the Life on the Farm shares “Exploring a Dealcoholized Wine”
• Linda at My Full Wine Glass shares “What’s all the hubbub about non-alcoholic wine?”
• Jeff at Food Wine Click! shares “Hot Topics: A Zero Alcohol Primer”