Cehennem Deresi

In a recent Turkish Wine Masterclass and Dinner, I got an opportunity to savour the wonderful wines of Türkiye and even speak about some of these. In this post I talk about one of such wine called as Cehennem Deresi.

This Masterclass on Türkiye Wines was excellently conducted by Tûba Yargic de Wilde, a certified aspirant sommelier who is the spouse of a senior diplomat in India. As the President of Delhi Wine Club, I too got to speak about the wines served during the dinner after the masterclass.

Cehennem Deresi

One of the wines I covered was the Cehennem Deresi. To start with let me break down the name of the wine for you, which consists of two parts – Cehennem and Deresi

Cehennem is a Turkish word that translates to “Hell“ in English. Again a Turkish word, Deresi (an off take of Dere) means “Creek” in English. So the name of this wine i.e. Cehennem Deresi reads in English as Hell’s Creek and the same also finds a mention on the label of this wine bottle.

An Indian Connect in the Name ?

I’m really not into semantics, but I found the word Cehennem bit intriguing. Not for anything else but for its similarity to the Indian word Jehannum (which could be an off take from Jehennem) both of which mean the same i.e Hell. Though this was purely my personal thought but I did share this viewpoint with the audience where both the Indian and Turkish guests seemed convinced and nodded appreciatively. I could have been right or even wrong, but then as they say what’s in a name? Especially if it’s a name of a wine.

Why is it named as Hell’s Creek

Still the question remains as to why this wine is called as Cehennem Deresi Hell’s Creek. Well it’s actually so because the wine takes its name from a cannon of the same name (Cehennem Deresi) which runs near to the village where winery which produces this wine is located. (Both the village and the winery go by the same name – Midin).

It is one of the country’s biggest canyons and is amongst the deepest of its kind in the world and hence its name – Hell’s Creek. Check out some of spectacular views of the canyon at go_sernak.

Midin Vineyards and Winery

Midin Wine – the company which owns Midin vineyards and the winery, was founded in the year 2020 and is located in the Midin village in Sirnak Province of South East Türkiye.

Midin happens to be an ancient village with a history going back to biblical times and has been making wine over a millennium.

With such rich heritage Midin Wine goes beyond the commercial boundaries of business and sees itself as the temporal custodian of these beautiful vineyards some of which are very old.

South Eastern Wine Region of Türkiye

As I mentioned earlier, Midin Vineyards are located in the South Eastern Wine Region of Türkiye and our wine the Cehennem Deresi comes from here. The main winemaking area in this region is the Diyarbakir province.

The climate in this region is rough and dry with extreme temperatures in summer. The soil consists of decomposed sandstone and red clay. This region produces approximately 3.4% of wine produced in Türkiye.

A Word on Bogazkere & Kittilnef

Coming back to the Cehennem Deresi Wine, this post shall be incomplete without a mention about Bogazkere and Kitilnef, the two main grapes which go into making this wine (the third grape is Gavdoni but that’s more of a blending grape).

Let’s talk about Kittilnef first. This grape has been grown on the slopes of Mount Cudi for over thousand of years – and as per some records for atleast 10,000 years. Mount Cudi itself is a mountain with a lot of historical and cultural significance in Türkiye with a linkage with legend of Noah’s Ark.

All this not only proves that Kittilnef is an historic grape but also makes this region of south east Türkiye as the cradle of winemaking. This is further reinforced by the fact that this area corresponds roughly to the northern edge of Mesopotamia which was a flourishing civilisation of ancient era where wine was an essential part of its culture. Similarly Bogazkere is also an indegenous Turkish grape of Türkiye with a lineage going long back into history. This variety grows near the headwaters from where the ancient Tigris river emanates.

With such an illustrious history, it was a forgone conclusion that this wine is going to be equally fascinating. But the proof of the wine is in drinking and savouring it, where it certainly impressed the palate too with its aromatic and juicy fruit driven style. Needless to say that this beautiful wine from Türkiye was loved and appreciated by all guests.

Cheers !!