The Torah, the Holy Book of Judaism, identifies Eastern Anatolia and Mount Ararat as the oldest region where viticulture was practised.
According to findings from archaeological studies conducted in recent years, the domesticated grapevine species known as 'Vitis vinifera' was cultivated during the Neolithic period—that is, approximately 9,000 years ago—across a region stretching from the Caucasus to Thrace. It has also been established that vine cultivation took place in around 40 regions across Anatolia during the same period.
The fertile Mesopotamian region, irrigated by the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, is home to some of the oldest wine-producing regions in Anatolia, and perhaps even the world. A wine trade route was established along these rivers, following their course as far as the land of Babylon, and wines from Eastern Anatolia were transported along this route as far as the Indian Ocean thousands of years ago.
"IN VINO VERITAS": The author of the quote displayed at the entrance to our museum is the great Roman scholar Pliny the Elder, who lived between 23 and 79 AD. Pliny, who is also the author of the 37-volume ‘Historia Naturalis’ (Natural History) – regarded as the first book of its kind in history – is the person who coined this historical phrase.