CAPPADOCIA, famous for its scenic landscape and hot air balloon rides, is also one of the largest wine-producing regions in Turkiye, particularly Urgup - one of the largest towns in the region.
The town's history of grapes and winemaking dates back to 5000 years ago. To honour the long history, the town hosts the Urgup Grape Harvest Festival at the start of every autumn.
This year, the celebration kicks off with a parade in the lively town with plenty of traditional performances, concerts, competitions as well as booths offering local products.
The three-day festival continues with more fun-filled activities held at one of the vineyards owned by Turasan, the country's biggest winery known for its Emir grape.
Here's four reasons why you should not miss out on the next Grape Harvest Festival!
PARTY LIKE THE LOCAL
Annually, the festival has been celebrated with a bang, and this year the parade is one of the best highlights with awesome performances on stage!
The open-air venue is crowded over the weekend with visitors from all over the nation but we love the local feel as locals come together and enjoy the lively vibe.
There are more than 10 booths at the festival selling all sorts of local products and visitors can freely chat with the vendors to know more about their products. And of course, to have a taste of everything too.
Among the products available on the market are honey, assorted pickles in jars, as well as fresh vegetables such as tomatoes, egg plants, chillies and more.
You can also get a taste of the local grapes - red and green.
LEARN ALL ABOUT GRAPES
Here's your chance to know more about this little, juicy fruit that has been farmed here in the area of Cappadocia.
The locals are super friendly, and you can ask them anything and everything about grapes (well, some don't speak English, so Google Translate will definitely be helpful).
There are a few types of grapes that are farmed in Cappadocia but the Emir is one of its native.
According to Turasan Winery product manager, Dogukan Basbilir, the Emir grape is considered special as it only grows here in the region.
Emir thrives in Cappadocia's volcanic soils and benefits from its unique micro-climate. It has that sweet mineral taste, and is said to be so juicy when it's ready to be harvested.
TRY YOUR HANDS ON GRAPE PICKING
Among one of the most awaited activities during the festival is grape picking. The locals come from all over the nation to have their hands at grape picking at the hosted vineyards.
It's fun to see kids of all ages, adults and even elderlies, come with colourful baskets to the vineyard and have a field day plucking the finest grapes to take home.
The activities are held at one part of the area, where the host opens up for visitors to come and pluck it for a day, for absolutely no fee at all!
ALL THAT IS GRAPE
Besides grape picking and eating juicy fresh grapes, you can also try out anything, and everything that is made of grapes.
There will be a huge grape juice container on a trailer, where you can fill your glass (or bottle) as many as you want. The juice is not too sweet as there's no sugar added which means the sweetness purely comes from the fruit.
You can also watch how local delicacies made of grapes are cooked by the local ladies such as making Pekmez, a molasses-like dessert made from boiled down juices.
At the festival, they serve a sweet jelly-like dessert called Koftur, which is made by dehydrating the grape molasses - that is then mixed together with the pekmez, and visitors are queuing to get their hands on a plate of this Turkish delight!
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