Discover Turkey’s Unexplored Mediterranean Wine Region
I’m so excited that my first piece for Food Wine Travel Magazine was published today!
Discover Turkey’s Unexplored Mediterranean Wine Region
Beneath my feet lies an ancient wine press, carved deep into the mountain’s limestone bedrock countless centuries ago. Around me, gnarled bush vines twist out of the rocky soil, some 80 or more years old. From this high plateau, more than 5,000 feet above sea level, the air feels fresher. The sky stretches endlessly overhead, a burning blue. Not far to the south, the bright turquoise of the Mediterranean echoes the sky.
While I could be in the vineyards of Priorat, Cinque Terre, or Provence, I’m not. I’m in a much older, much less well-known region: Turkey’s Mediterranean.
A Region Sought After for Centuries
Long before the Greeks and Romans built the cities to which tourists still flock today, people sought shelter in the caves around Turkey’s Mediterranean coast. Over millennia, the land filled with various voices. The Milyae in the mountains, the seafaring Termilae from Crete along the coast, Assyrians, and later, the fierce Lukka of Hittite records.
Greek settlers arrived after the Trojan War, building cities that flourished into Lycia, Pamphylia, and Pisidia. Alexander the Great conquered much of the area. The city of Antalya was founded during the kingdom of Pergamon. Later absorbed into the Roman Empire, it grew into a bustling Byzantine port.
Read the full story – including travel tips! – on Food Wine Travel Magazine
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