Site-Seeing: The Wine of Izal

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The wine of Izal is flowing in southeastern Turkey. The small Syriac-speaking Christian minority in the region of Izal is again pressing grapes from local vineyards. Multiple wine shops sell their wares in the old city of Mardin, and several wineries now operate outside the city of Midyat.

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Endnotes

1.
A visually rich introduction to this region and its religious heritage is found in Hans Hollerweger, Turabdin: Where Jesus’ Language Is Spoken (Linz: Friends of Turabdin, 1999); see also Çigdem Maner, A Traveler’s Guide to Mardin (Istanbul: Marev, 2006), which is the standard guidebook to the region.

2.
Chantel E. White and Naomi F. Miller, “The Archaeobotany of Grape and Wine in Hittite Anatolia,” Die Welt Des Orients 48. 2 (2018), p. 218.

3.
For more on these regional names and their biblical connection, see Mark Wilson, Biblical Turkey (Istanbul: Ege, 2020), pp. 28–30.