Azerbaijan Archives - Dr. Liz Thach, MW

A Tasting of Wines from Yarimada Winery in Azerbaijan

Wine Tasting at Art Garden Restaurant January 2015 - Several days after arriving in Baku, I received an email invitation from Ibrahim Abdulrahimov, the Commercial Director of Yarimada Winery. He invited me to a private wine tasting and lunch at the Art Garden Restaurant in the Old City of Baku. Ibrahim was kind enough to pick me up from my hotel, and as we drove to the restaurant, he explained more about the winery. The name, “Yarimada” means “peninsula” in Azerbaijani. The winery is named this because it is located 40 minutes from Baku on the Absheron peninsula in the [...]

Ancient Wine in the Land of Fire – Azerbaijan

Heydar Aliyev Cultural Centre January 2015 - It had been 18 years since my first visit to Baku, Azerbaijan in the Spring of 1996, when I was working for Amoco Oil. My memories were of a black city covered in grimy oil and soot, dinners of caviar and sturgeon, and sweet reds wines along with gritty white sparkling wine. Arriving again in Baku for 10 days from Dec. 26, 2014 to Jan. 4, 2015 was like walking into a futurist city. Everything was clean and sparkling, and there were many new buildings with amazing architecture like the Fire Towers and [...]