WINE & CULINARY IN TURKEY

BRIEF HISTORY

Turkey is considered one of the birthplaces of the culture of wine in the world. According to Holy Bible, Noah landed at Ararat Mountain in Eastern Turkey after the big flood and planted the first vines on its slopes. Hittites were the first people to attribute special importance to wine and to create vineyards in Central Anatolia 4000 years ago. With the first rules, they established about vine growing and wine classification they were the first wine empire of history.

Urartians from Eastern Anatolia were famous with their gigantic underground wine cellars in 9th century BC.

According to archaeological discoveries in the tumulus of King Midas in Central Anatolia, the Phrygian King had drunk local wine in 8th century BC for his last dinner. The Phocaeans, ancient people of Western Anatolia introduced grape and vine for the first time to Southern France where they reached after a long journey across The Mediterranean in 6th century BC According to Greek mythology, god of wine Dionysus lived in the ancient city of Nyssa in Western Anatolia. Herodotus known as the father of history wrote about the wines produced from the grape Moschatos known as Muscat in Smyrna which is Izmir to the present day.

A Wine Tour of Turkey is also one in history. Almost all of the main sites of the country are located in the vicinity of ancient wine regions. It is the exploration of the origins of wine, and tasting of oldest wines of the world produced with oldest grape varieties used by Hittites, Trojans some thousands of years ago. We invite you to a vacation of Turkey with wines and with fabulous cuisine.

Did you know?

• The very first wine denominations of the history were made by Hittites of Central Anatolia nearly 3500 years ago.
• Turkey is very rich in terms of indigenous grape varieties. Turkish wines are produced with more than 30 different indigenous grape varieties.
• The viticulture was first introduced to the Italian peninsula by ancient residents of Anatolia. First grapes were exported to Italy from ancient Turkey following the war of Troy.
• The oldest shipwreck carrying wine barrels was discovered by the Turkish shores.
• According to the Bible, Noah’s Ark settled on Mount Ararat in Eastern Turkey (Anatolia), where Noah harvested his first crop—the grape. To this day, these wild vines continue to flourish, and modern-day wineries transform Turkey’s ancient vines into enchanting wines.
• Turkey was called "Wiyanawanda" - the land of grapevine - the Hittite Era of 1700 - 1200 BC, to emphasize the abundance of grape in this country.

TOUR FOR HISTORY & CULTURE OF WINE IN CAPPADOCIA

Cappadocia which is located in Central Turkey should be considered as one of the homelands for wine. In Hittite period 3500 years ago, wines that were produced around Avanos in Cappadocia were carried to the Hittite capital of Hattusa through Red River. This deep and old wine culture would become the main factor that pushed Christians persecuted by Romans in the first centuries of Christianity to the region. Today, several historical wall paintings and rock carved wineries dating back to Christian times can be seen in Cappadocia. All these traces of wine are the main instruments to constitute our tours together with main historic sites of this stunning region with all rock carved churches decorated with beautiful wall paintings, amazing fairy chimney formations and breathtaking panoramas of Cappadocia. The existence of traditional goblet-style of vineyards with wines dating before phylloxera that destroyed most of the European vineyards in the 2nd half of 19th century is another interesting point of our tour.