Diyarbakır is located in an area with one of the most suitable climates and natural structure for viticulture. Other than the wild variety of grapes, these are the lands where the grape vine was first cultivated in human history. Viticulture has been a part of life since the earliest periods of human settlement. Among the over seventy varieties of grape, there are table grapes, grapes suitable for drying into raisins, grapes to be made into grape juice and wine grapes.

In this section, Gültekin Özdemir, academic at the Faculty of Agriculture at Dicle University, introduces the grape varieties that grow in Diyarbakır and their qualities, providing information about the products grapes are used in and the stages of traditional production.

Gastronome and oenologist Levon Bağış tells the story of Boğazkere, one of the most famous wine grapes of the region, that goes back to Herodotus.

Born in 484 BC, Herodotus, often referred to as “The Father of History”, travelled across Anatolia and Mesopotamia when he was writing about the Greco-Persian wars that took place between 499 and 449 BC. He included the information he collected, along with fabricated Persian stories and folk tales, in his “Histories”. This work retains its value to this day.

In Herodotus’s Histories, there is a lot of information about the land called Armenia, which includes parts of modern-day Turkey’s Eastern and South-Eastern regions. One of the most interesting stories Herodotus tells is about the wine trade.

“I will now give a description of what was to me the most amazing thing in Assyria, after Babylon itself. They have boats plying down the river to Babylon which are completely round and are made of leather. In Armenia, which is upstream from Assyria, they cut branches of willow and make them into a frame, around the outside of which they stretch watertight skins to act as a hull; they do not broaden the sides of the boat to form a stern or narrow them into a prow, but they make it round, like a shield. Then they line the whole boat with straw and send it off down the river laden with goods. Their cargo is most commonly palm-wood casks filled with wine. The boats are steered by two men, who stand upright and wield a paddle each; one of them pulls the paddle towards his body, while the other pushes his paddle away from his body. These boats vary in size from very large downwards; the largest of them can manage cargo weighing five thousand talents. Each boat carries a live donkey – or, in the case of the larger boats, several donkeys. At the end of their voyage in Babylon, when they have sold their cargo, they sell off the frame of the boat and all the straw, load the donkeys up with the skins, and drive them back to Armenia. They do this because the current of the river is too strong for boats to sail up it, and that is why they make these boats out of skins rather than wood. Once they have got back to Armenia with their donkeys, they make themselves more boats in the usual way.”

Levon Bağış, Gastronome and oenologist

Source: Herodotus, Histories, chapter 194, translated by Robin Waterfield, Oxford World’s Classics, 2008, p. 85-86.

Local varieties are both consumed as fresh grapes and processed into different products including wine, pestil, pekmez [molasses], bulama, muska, tarhana, sucuk, köfter, şıra [must] and grape juice. Pekmez can be defined as a dense food product made by mixing must, made of crushed grapes, with special pekmez soil. The first condition for the making of pekmez is the harvesting of grapes at the right time.

Grapes are harvested at the time when their sugar content is the highest, and carried to the area where pekmez is to be made. The whole process takes place in a festival atmosphere in the villages, with the use of imece, or collective labour. This production process is like a ceremony where people help each other and experience the joy of producing together. Since the vineyards are often on slopes, a significant work force is often required in both the carrying of grapes and production of pekmez.

The harvested grapes are brought to special rock-cut grape crushing areas, and crushed by foot, generally by women. These grape crushing rocks are now considered works of art in themselves, and have largely been replaced by concrete structures or electrical presses.

Must obtained from grape is transferred to cauldrons on wood fire, and the boiling process begins. This continues until the pekmez reaches the required density. The special soil known as pekmez soil helps the colour and other sediments in the must to settle in the bottom of the cauldron, thus producing a clearer pekmez. The foam on top is removed as the pekmez boils on, and after being set for 4-5 hours, it is transferred to a clean container, without touching the sediment in the bottom of the cauldron. Prepared in this manner, pekmez can be consumed for at least two years. It is known that all grape varieties produced in Diyarbakır, and first and foremost Şire, which have faced sales difficulties in recent years, are used to make pekmez for consumption. The best varieties for pekmez are in fact those varieties that yield the highest amount of must.

Gültekin Özdemir

Cevizli sucuk, grape molasses with walnuts, is a traditional specialty rich in minerals and vitamins, produced by all grape growers first and foremost for the yearlong consumption of their own families. It is known in different regions by different names including Maraş sucuğu, bandırma, şeker sucuk, köme or orcik. In Diyarbakır, most often a regional grape variety known as Şire is used in the production of cevizli sucuk.

To make cevizli sucuk, grapes are harvested in their mature period when the highest amount of can be obtained. Bunches of grapes are placed in clean bags and crushed in vats known as salk to produce must. The must is then poured into large cauldrons, heated on wood fire and left to boil. Once the boiling process is completed, the must is transferred to an empty cauldron so the must settles and the solid remains sink to the bottom.

Meanwhile, in a separate container, flour, measured to around 10% of the must is mixed with warm must, taken from the cauldron before it begins to boil, to produce the mixture known as livinç. As this mixture is slowly poured into the must that has begun to boil in the other cauldron, it is also constantly stirred with a long handled tool called egiş to stop the mixture sticking to the bottom of the cauldron. The process is continued until the must reaches a homogeneous consistency to produce thick must.

The next stage is the careful stringing of walnut kernels, one by one, and then they are hung on tree branches. Depending on the desired consistency, the stringed walnuts are dipped for a few seconds or more in the mixture and promptly removed. Then the strings are laid out in the sun to dry. Cevizli sucuk is made in all districts of Diyarbakır where viticulture is practiced, and especially in Eğil, Ergani, Dicle, Çermik and Çüngüş. Cevizli sucuk produced in the district of Lice is different to others, it is white on the surface and known as kef sucuğu.

Gültekin Özdemir