The Vintner Project: Ancient Wines, Volcanic Soils, and Otherworldly Landscapes: Why Cappadocia, Turkey is a Must-Visit for Any Wine Lover
Located a little over an hour’s flight from Istanbul, Cappadocia is the jewel of central Turkey. Its surreal “fairy chimney” rock formations, hot air balloon tourism, and network of underground cities and cave churches has made it one of the country’s top attractions—for good reason. Just as impressive but far less known, however, is the region’s history as an important wine center that predates Christianity and where some of the world’s first viticultural legislation was introduced. Today, Cappadocian producers draw on this rich history to produce interesting, complex wines that spotlight ancient native (and foreign) grapes.
In Cappadocia, evidence of grape and wine production dates back to at least 3000 BC during the Neolithic era. But the region’s vigorous wine culture wasn’t established until the arrival of the Hittites, an ancient group of Indo-Europeans who formed an empire in Anatolia around 1600 BC. For the Hittites, wine was an important part of the social, cultural, and economic fabric of daily life; it was used in religious ceremonies and helped prop up the local economy, leading to the formation of related industries such as the creation of pottery specifically for wine service. The Hittites were also among the first civilizations to lay down viticultural legislation. Inscriptions on cuneiform tablets indicate that in addition to private vineyards, the state and temples also owned vineyards. Wines were grouped into categories (young, aged, dry, sweet, red, etc.) and the region played host to annual grape harvest festivals.
Wine played such a vital role in the Hittite kingdom that their lands were called “Wiyanawanda,” which translates to “land of the grapevine.” (Interestingly, it is from their word, “wiyana” that many modern languages have derived their own word for wine.)
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