📍 Ganja-Gazakh

Ganja-Gazakh is the western part of Azerbaijan near the borders with Georgia and Armenia, in the foothills of the Lesser Caucasus. It includes the districts of Shamkir, Tovuz and Goygol, and its main city is Ganja. As an economic region it was abolished in 2021, but the name is still used for the wine zone.

This zone is regarded as the country's largest wine territory. In Goygol, archaeologists found jars with traces of wine from the second millennium BC. Modern winemaking is also tied to German settlers, who founded a winery there in 1860, and in Soviet times the republic greatly expanded its vineyards.

Growers plant Rkatsiteli and Saperavi, varieties known across the Caucasus, and the local red grape Matrasa (Madrasa), which has pinkish skin. Matrasa has been grown in Azerbaijan and Armenia since the nineteenth century.

Ganja-Gazakh is part of Azerbaijani wine. For visitors it is the easiest way to meet Caucasian winemaking without crossing into Georgia — wine has been made here for a long time, and the vineyards lie in the foothills near towns.