Writer: Yavuz İşçen August 2004
When wine producing is considered in Central Anatolia, one of the most important centers is Cappadocia. The region, which has a deep-rooted tradition of producing wine, is famous with its high quality of white wines produced with the Emir grapes, peculiar to the region. White wines produced with the Emir grapes have become well known with the Nevşah wine, which was first produced by the Doluca at the beginning of the 1980s. The vineyards in the Cappadocia region are so noted due to the soils with tufa formed as a result of the volcanic eruptions in the region. Due to the lava spewed out by three big volcanoes such as Erciyes, Hasan and Melendiz Mountains, which surround the region, the region was fully covered with the lava in the ancient periods. These lavas have been scrapped due to the natural effects and a type of soil with tufa has occurred. The most important feature of the soil with tufa from the standpoint of viniculture is that it yields good grapes and it does not enable the grapevine louse, which is very harmful to grapevines, to survive. Another significant feature of the volcanic rock structure in Cappadocia for producing wine is that there is a rocky structure, which is not rough and these rocks can be easily carved and wine cellars can be prepared. Places in the rocks in Cappadocia are cool with a stable temperature that they are really perfect for producing wines. The temperature during the fermentation realized in the cool cellars carved in the rocks is not so high and there is a convenient atmosphere, which provides a nice aroma while drinking wine. Despite these advantages for the production of wine in Cappadocia, the region is not so lucky since there are no high-quality black grapes. Ordinary wines are produced from the Dimrit black grapes in the Cappadocia region. In order to overcome this problem, wine producers in the region began to raise high-quality grapes, which they bring from various regions such as Narince grapes from Tokat, Boğazkere from Diyarbakır, Öküzgözü from Elazığ and Kalecik Karası from Kalecik. Among important firms, which produce wine in Cappadocia are Turasan and Kocabağ wine companies. Turasan viniculture and wine producing Turasan wine company, which is the oldest in the Cappadocia region, was established by Hasan Turasan in 1943. It was the first private wine company set up with the personal initiatives. Turasan is the only company, which exports its wines produced with the state of the art technology in Cappadocia. The company has a high-system viniculture of 300,000 square meters, where Turkey’s highest-quality grapes such as Kalecik Karası, Emir and Narince are produced. The company, which has a production capacity of two million liters, is increasing its production quality each passing year. The firm received many quality awards in the 1980s and 1980s.
Kocabağ wine company Mehmet Erdoğan, who is the founder of the Kocabağ Wine Company, which took its name from the vineyard in the Yeşilyurt region of Nevşehir, began to produce wine in 1972 in the pools built by carving the rocks. After 1986, his son, Hasan Erdoğan, began to produce wine by raising Narince, kalecik Karası, Öküzgözü and Boğazkere grapes in his own vineyards. The firm turned the top floor of the cellars carved from 200 tons of rocks in Uçhisar into a store and wine tasting place. Visitors may also visit the cellars at the lower floor. The firm has also a cellar of 300 tons in the Sığırlı village, Yeşilyurt.
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