When you are tasting Armenian wines and you see the name Trinity, it doesn’t conjure up images of an Armenian winery.  Sure, Armenia was the first Christian nation in the history of the world, but Trinity is very American (English) sounding and almost religious in nature.  Then I eventually found out that while the winery was referred to as Trinity, it was really Trinity Canyon Vineyards and that sounds like it should be on the west coast of America, but there are in reality three holy mountains of Armenia, and the family that lived around the block from my Grandparents where my  Father and his Brother and Sisters grew up knew the three sons of that family who were named for the three mountains; Ararat, Christopher and Masis, and that is how I was always able to remember the names of the mountains, not to mention, back when I was a kid, growing up in Detroit, the old lady that lived next door to us, went back to the old country once, and when she returned, she brought back a painting on velvet of the three mountains and that is in my house, stored away, back when velvet paintings was a world-wide rage.

Trinity Canyon Vineyards was founded in 2009 by three wine lovers and associated themselves with some winegrowers and winemakers in the Vayots Dzor Highlands, near the oldest established wine producing site in the world.  The Executive Director at Trinity is Hovakim Saghatelyan is a civil engineer, a poet and an entrepreneur.  Levon Hakobyan is the Vineyard Manager and his father also grew grapes before him, and has planted more than thirty hectares of vineyards and has acted as a consultant since 1981.  The Winemaker is Artem Pareghyan who joined Trinity in 2013 and holds degrees in Oenology and Viticulture from France and Germany.  They also have a Consultant Winemaker in Jean Luc Isnard, who with his wife have Domain Solence in Ventoux, France, as well as the Director of Organic Winegrowers of Rhone Valley. 

Trinity Canyon Vineyards had four wines represented at the tasting, and the winery actually has eleven wines on their web site.  Alas, somehow, I only tasted two of the four wines that were present.  The two wines that I missed were the Trinity Canyon Vineyards 6100 Rosé 2016 made from the Areni Noir grape and the Trinity Canyon Vineyards Areni Noir 2015.  The first wine that I did find and have was the Trinity Canyons Vineyards 6100 Eh Reserve Areni Noir Vayots Dzor 2017.  The wine underwent fermentation in Stainless Steel and then was aged for fourteen months in Caucasian Oak barrels.  This was one of the first red wines that I enjoyed as there was some terroir and tannins and it gave me a reason to go get a couple more lamb chops to enjoy with the wine.  The other red from them also caused me to get a few more lamb chops and this was the Trinity Canyon Vineyards Dukhov 2017, that was not on their website.  Dukhov is one of the slogans of the Armenian Velvet Revolution, a peaceful Anti-Government Movement that raised hopes for a free election in the country.  This wine was a blend of ten percent Areni Noir, sixty-five percent Kakhet and twenty-five percent Cabernet Sauvignon.  While this wine was good, I preferred the 6100 Eh Reserve better.