Jancis Robinson WW21 – The Ancient Roots of Wine Run Deep in Midin
Every year the Jancis Robinson hosts a summer wine writing competition. This year, inspired by the Old Vines Conference, writers were invited to submit stories about just that…old vines. More than technical information about how such and such vine was planted more than 50 years ago etc, we were encouraged to submit stories that find the humanity. Why? Who put them there? How have they survived?
I recently had the opportunity to visit a new winery opened in Turkey’s southeast in Şırnak. The Assyrian winery here works with vines planted generations before anyone currently residing in the village was born. So it was with great pleasure that I was able to submit their story.
The Ancient Roots of Wine Run Deep in Midin
In the extreme southeast of Turkey, at the conjunction of Turkey, Syria, and Iraq, fields of golden wheat ripple under the scorching sun. Vines older than anyone in the village grow in unkempt bushes interspersed with fruit and almond trees. Shepherds drive the village’s combined herd of cows, sheep, and goats home at sunset. Houses are constructed from volcanic basalt hewn from the earth and church steeples, not minarets, rise above the village. This is the land of the Assyrians – or was once upon a time. Assyrians, an ethnic group indigenous central Asia and the Middle East, have lived and made wine in this corner of Turkey since long before Turkey was Turkey. Now tiny hamlets dot the country’s southeast and sit in a sometimes uneasily surrounded by both Kurdish and Turkish villages.
Located in the Şırnak province, Midin sits at an elevation of 760 meters above sea level and has a hot summer Mediterranean climate. Most precipitation comes in the autumn and winter with a hot growing season with temperatures hovering around 40 C, very dry, with little to no humidity. Constant breezes blow through the fields helping to keep pests and diseases from the vines. Basalt rocks of varying size generously pepper the local landscape, a legacy of the last volcanic eruption here 10,000 years ago. These basalt rocks cover a variety of soil types that make a crazy patchwork of sandy volcanic tuff, terra rossa, and fertile humus. This region looks inhospitable but it is perfect for grapes.
Formerly a great empire (cira 2500 – 609 BC), the Assyrian population in Turkey has dwindled to only roughly 15,000. They may have lost the empire, but they have not lost their traditions. One of the most significant aspects of their culture is the production of wine. During their heyday, Assyrians oversaw expansive planting of vines, especially around Nineveh in Turkey’s southeast and land for vineyards cost forty times more than land meant for other agricultural products. Wine held great importance especially for religious rites, ceremonies, and feasts. Now largely Christians, Assyrians of old were a polytheistic people and used wine in worship of many of their gods including their national god Ashur; Nanna, god of the moon; Ishtar, goddess of fertility; Ninurta, god of agriculture; and many more. They were renowned for their vines and wines and extended plantings wherever they conquered.
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