Hello!This month we celebrate the birthday of wine, it's harvest time! September is my favorite month; for me it represents birth, fertility and an endless cycle. The grapes have been growing all year, the result of all the work in the vineyard is hidden in the harvest period -which is now, the 1-2 month period we are in.&nbsp;We are taking a journey this week and experiencing the harvest together. Destination is Çal, Denizli. In this magical region that has been home to many civilizations; we will wander among the vines, and harvest.There is a discovery in this issue; we get to know a new winery. We salute the roots and hear stories in those unforgotten vineyards and those undried grapes. If you are ready, let's start the journey!Attention!&nbsp;This publication refers to wine, a fermented grape juice from alcoholic beverages. For readers under 18 years of age, non-fermented grape juice may be more suitable.Cheers<a fr-original-style="" href="https://www.instagram.com/selinosmanogluu/?hl=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: rgb(9, 9, 9); text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent; outline: none; cursor: pointer; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: auto; box-sizing: border-box;" target="_blank">Selin</a>

<img lazy="loading" src="https://images.aposto.com/1200xauto/2022/8/1/1663594150482.png" style="display: block; float: none; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px; border-style: none; position: relative; cursor: pointer; padding: 0px 1px; box-sizing: border-box;" ratio="1.81" width="550" fr-original-style="display: block; float: none; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px;" fr-original-class="fr-draggable">This week we are in Çal for the harvest. So, our Grapest Hits list is inspired by Çal Karası. Çal Karası welcomes us with chirping red fruits all over, a festive color, and a fun palate. It's best to consume it cool; it's a summer red. Even though it's fall, my heart just can't say goodbye to summer yet, so I'm sharing a summer time list for this summer red.

GRAPEST HITS

Let's start with what harvest is. Harvest is the last period of time that grapes are spending in the vineyard, also it's the birthday of the wine. It's the last period of time that grapes are spending in the vineyard because it is the time they are cut from the branches -in other words being harvested. Although this time period has shifted -and is still shifting-&nbsp;due to climate change, the grapes are harvested around mid-August-September in the Northern Hemisphere.Harvest is the birthday of the wine. Because the next stop after the vineyard is the winery where the production process begins. Harvest always reminds me of both the end and the beginning, both death and birth. When the grapes leave the vineyard, it's like an end; when the vine turns from green to brown, it's like death.&nbsp;(The vine doesn't die in the winter, of course, it sleeps.) When the grapes leave the vineyard and enter the winery, it's like a beginning; when the grapes turn into wine, it's like a birth. In fact, the year of the harvest is the vintage. So, harvest year = year of the yield = vintage. The year written on the front of the label of the wine bottle is the vintage of that wine, and it says&nbsp;"The grapes in this bottle were harvested this year",&nbsp;in other words, "The wine was born on this year."<h3 fr-original-style="" style="margin: 0px; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-weight: 500; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;">In practice</h3>This is a magical season. It's as if a whole year's worth of labor is hidden in those bunches you cut. The vine is in transformation for a whole year in the vineyard. The first news and the first color comes in the spring. When the March-April comes in the Northern Hemisphere, a budding begins, like a messenger of spring. We can think of this as the beginning of the growth period. Buds appear, green colors appear. Then these buds swell and swell until they burst. These burst buds turn into new and young shoots. These young shoots continue to grow until May gives way to June. The leaves are developing, the green color in the vine is spreading. And around June, flower formation (flowering) begins. Then the flowers turn into grapes, the grape berries form; now we can see the cluster.Then comes summer and the magic period: véraison.&nbsp;The time when the grape berries change color and become speckled with spots.The next step is the ripening and harvesting of the grapes. The grapes have been growing all year, the result of all the work in the vineyard is hidden in the harvest period -which is now. The grapes that have reached the required ripeness are cut with harvest shears. The cut grape clusters are put into crates. From the crates they go to the trucks, and from there to the winery.<img lazy="loading" src="https://images.aposto.com/1200xauto/2022/8/1/1663592324465.jpeg" style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px; border-style: none; position: relative; cursor: pointer; padding: 0px 1px; box-sizing: border-box;" width="550" ratio="1.79" fr-original-style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px;" fr-original-class="fr-draggable"><img lazy="loading" src="https://images.aposto.com/1200xauto/2022/8/1/1663592336957.png" style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px; border-style: none; position: relative; cursor: pointer; padding: 0px 1px; box-sizing: border-box;" width="550" ratio="0.78" fr-original-style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px;" fr-original-class="fr-draggable"><img lazy="loading" src="https://images.aposto.com/1200xauto/2022/8/1/1663592348923.png" style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px; border-style: none; position: relative; cursor: pointer; padding: 0px 1px; box-sizing: border-box;" width="550" ratio="0.78" fr-original-style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px;" fr-original-class="fr-draggable"><img lazy="loading" src="https://images.aposto.com/1200xauto/2022/8/1/1663592362376.png" style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px; border-style: none; position: relative; cursor: pointer; padding: 0px 1px; box-sizing: border-box;" width="550" ratio="1.81" fr-original-style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px;" fr-original-class="fr-draggable"><img lazy="loading" src="https://images.aposto.com/1200xauto/2022/8/1/1663592370778.png" style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px; border-style: none; position: relative; cursor: pointer; padding: 0px 1px; box-sizing: border-box;" width="550" ratio="1.81" fr-original-style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px;" fr-original-class="fr-draggable"><img lazy="loading" src="https://images.aposto.com/1200xauto/2022/8/1/1663592387143.png" style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px; border-style: none; position: relative; cursor: pointer; padding: 0px 1px; box-sizing: border-box;" width="550" ratio="0.78" fr-original-style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px;" fr-original-class="fr-draggable">Every year the weather conditions&nbsp;- rain, wind, sun, water - determine how the grapes turn out. Whatever happened in the sky that year, we see its effect on the grapes. That's why each year brings a different story and each story brings a different harvest.<h3 fr-original-style="" style="margin: 0px; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-weight: 500; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;">In theory&nbsp;</h3>Sacredness has been attached to the grape throughout history. It is magical how the vine leaves its greens in winter, and then blooms and blossoms again in spring. I think the sanctity attributed to wine comes from this magical cycle. It is an endless cycle, it's never ending. The concept of time comes to my mind again. Grapes are formed, they ripen, they are harvested. Time passes, transformation happens, but nothing disappears. I visualize an hourglass that keeps turning over.<img lazy="loading" src="https://images.aposto.com/1200xauto/2022/8/1/1663592529754.png" style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px; border-style: none; position: relative; cursor: pointer; padding: 0px 1px; box-sizing: border-box;" width="550" ratio="1.51" fr-original-style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px;" fr-original-class="fr-draggable">I want to use the word abundance&nbsp;here. What I felt most when I stepped on the soil in the vineyard was abundance. There are so many grapes around; months ago there were none, and each one will give way to the next. This cycle is very stable. People change, climates change, structures change, but this cycle is always the same. The earth is always giving. Every year, every time. It is like eternity. I think that's why I feel the abundance.&nbsp;The vintage is a process that is done together. That's where the festival atmosphere comes from. Those grapes are cut together and celebrated together. What is celebrated is labor and fertility; the labor of human beings and the fertility of the soil. So the harvest is not just about cutting grapes; it is a hello to the results of labor and what the land gives. For this reason, it is celebrated with festivities in many places. They say goodbye to the period that has ended, and hello&nbsp;to the new period that will begin.

Harvest is a festival, in theory and in practice.

🍷 September, the Month of Harvest

NEWS FROM THE VINE

<h3 fr-original-style="" style="margin: 0px; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-weight: 500; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;">Introduction</h3>This week, we are in Çal, district of Denizli province of Turkey. The story is woven around Çal, so let's start with Çal. Çal is a plateau with the Büyük Menderes river running through the middle. Although there are different stories about the origin of its name, it means "high place" in Chagatai Turkish. Because the region has an average altitude of 850 meters. Viticulture has been the main source of livelihood here for centuries. As you drive down the road, vineyards are on your right, left, front and back.If you see white grapes in these vineyards, it is Sultaniye, and if you see red grapes, it is Çal Karası. Sultaniye and Çal Karası are the local grapes here.In the past, there were not many wine grapes in this region; grapes were usually dried to be raisins. In the last 20 years, modern viticulture techniques has started to be practiced to make wine grapes. Kuzubağ planted its first vineyard in 2007. This is the dream of Salih Kuzu and his family. A little love for home, a little love for wine.&nbsp;<img lazy="loading" src="https://images.aposto.com/1200xauto/2022/8/1/1663592785874.png" style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px; border-style: none; position: relative; cursor: pointer; padding: 0px 1px; box-sizing: border-box;" width="550" ratio="1.81" fr-original-style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px;" fr-original-class="fr-draggable">Aslı Kuzu, Salih Kuzu<hr fr-original-style="" style="height: 0px; overflow: visible; border-bottom: none; clear: both; user-select: none; break-after: page; box-sizing: border-box;">We set off with <a fr-original-style="" href="https://www.instagram.com/haziran_/?utm_source=aposto" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: rgb(9, 9, 9); text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent; outline: none; cursor: pointer; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: auto; box-sizing: border-box;" target="_blank">Aslı Kuzu,</a> heading to Çal. With the page-by-page measurements of the grapes in one hand and the weather app in the other, we started chatting. As you know, it's harvest time.The winery was born in April 2020, and the foundation was laid in November. It is pandemic time with bans and limited working hours. "It's crazy to start in this period," I say to myself. My eyes must have given away my thoughts, because Aslı says,&nbsp;"Yes, it was very difficult."&nbsp;Just as we locked ourselves in our houses, the Kuzu family locked themselves in the winery. The goal is to catch up in time for the 2021 harvest, that is, to process grapes in August 2021. The winery was born in 9 months.<h3 fr-original-style="" style="margin: 0px; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-weight: 500; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;">On life and space</h3>"Where is this place?" I ask myself as I approach the winery; "Can't I see it?" The building is so integrated with the natural landscape that it seems as if it doesn't exist. The materials used, the colors and the height of the building are a big factor in this perception and feeling; the closer I get, the more I understand. When you enter the winery, you feel as if you are in the vineyards that you pass by - and it is indeed a building located in the vineyards. It is very harmonious with the environment; it seems to have taken its scale from the vineyards around it. We are in a 3000 square meter building, all exposed concrete. My curiosity is aroused, questions come to my mind.<img lazy="loading" src="https://images.aposto.com/1200xauto/2022/8/1/1663592876264.png" style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px; border-style: none; position: relative; cursor: pointer; padding: 0px 1px; box-sizing: border-box;" width="550" ratio="1.81" fr-original-style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px;" fr-original-class="fr-draggable"><img lazy="loading" src="https://images.aposto.com/1200xauto/2022/8/1/1663592885269.png" style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px; border-style: none; position: relative; cursor: pointer; padding: 0px 1px; box-sizing: border-box;" width="550" ratio="1.81" fr-original-style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px;" fr-original-class="fr-draggable"><h3 fr-original-style="" style="margin: 0px; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-weight: 500; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;">Salute to the roots, respect for the origins.&nbsp;</h3>The materials and colors used in the building also have meaning. Don't colors always tell the identity of a place? Building culture has an important impact in the identity of a place/region. For example, take the white houses of Bodrum. Although we see those colors due to functional reasons such as the materials used and climate conditions, these colors turn into the building culture of that region over time. The materials and color tones used in the architecture of this winery attract my attention and I ask Aslı; why?<blockquote fr-original-style="color: rgb(9, 9, 9); border-color: rgb(41, 174, 125); border-width: 4px; font-style: italic; padding-left: 10px;" style="color: rgb(9, 9, 9); border-color: rgb(41, 174, 125); border-width: 4px; font-style: italic; padding-left: 10px; margin: 0px 0px 1em; border-left-style: solid; box-sizing: border-box;">There is an mud brick wall at the entrance. In our village, houses were always built with mud brick. The soil here is clayey, calcareous and red - in most places. The reddish color of the soil is one of the characteristics of this region, and most of the houses here were plastered with mud using this soil. So we put it on the first wall you see at the entrance of the building. We wanted to show the material of this place in a way that is unique to it. When you look at the wall you can see the straw. This wall reminds me of my grandmother's house; it makes me feel at home. However, when you look at it, we are talking about a rough, mud wall; maybe it is not even aesthetic for some people. But for us it means that this is our own land, it means home.</blockquote><img lazy="loading" src="https://images.aposto.com/1200xauto/2022/8/1/1663593176755.png" style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px; border-style: none; position: relative; cursor: pointer; padding: 0px 1px; box-sizing: border-box;" width="550" ratio="1.81" fr-original-style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px;" fr-original-class="fr-draggable">In Anatolia, mud brick is a traditional building material obtained by mixing straw or other vegetable fibers into clay soil. Besides being a traditional material, it is a natural building material that consumes little energy in both its production and consumption - you say environmentally friendly, I say environmentally sensitive. Seeing these colors right at the entrance is like reading the back cover of a book. You understand where you are, and with whom.&nbsp;Then Aslı shows us the slate stone of Denizli. It is very common in this region, and very meaningful for the locals. Aslı says,<blockquote fr-original-style="color: rgb(9, 9, 9); border-color: rgb(41, 174, 125); border-width: 4px; font-style: italic; padding-left: 10px;" style="color: rgb(9, 9, 9); border-color: rgb(41, 174, 125); border-width: 4px; font-style: italic; padding-left: 10px; margin: 0px 0px 1em; border-left-style: solid; box-sizing: border-box;">Our family always had slate in their houses. Denizli slate stone was used in a large part of this winery. There are masters of slate stone, and those old masters make them. It took months to build these walls because it is art. One by one, they lay those different orange, gray, white stones. It is a great labor. We wanted to keep this craft alive. The wall in the barrel room and some of the walls in the exterior structure are completely made of slate.</blockquote><img lazy="loading" src="https://images.aposto.com/1200xauto/2022/8/1/1663593236718.png" style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px; border-style: none; position: relative; cursor: pointer; padding: 0px 1px; box-sizing: border-box;" width="550" ratio="1.81" fr-original-style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px;" fr-original-class="fr-draggable">No matter how modern the winery is, it seems to salute the history, structure, and past of the region. I think the use of slate in the barrel room is also meaningful; it carries the past into the future, just as it carries the wine aged in the barrels into the future. I don't know if I'm being too romantic, but I really like the idea. Anyway, I couldn't help but find romance in this story.In front of us is the Kalecik Karası vineyard, the glasses are filled with the same grape. While we are talking about these things, there is not even 10 meters between us and the vineyard, it is as if we are inside the vineyard. I don't know whether it was my first time in Çal or Aslı's endless excitement, but I was very impressed by this journey. I am filled with hope; there are new initiatives, unforgotten vineyards, undried grapes.<h3 fr-original-style="" style="margin: 0px; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.85); font-weight: 500; padding: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;">Labels</h3>The images used on the labels are also a nod to their roots. While researching about the region,<a fr-original-style="" href="https://www.instagram.com/eliftanman/?utm_source=aposto" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: rgb(9, 9, 9); text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent; outline: none; cursor: pointer; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: auto; box-sizing: border-box;" target="_blank">&nbsp;Elif&nbsp;</a>came across images of people and goblets on coins. Inspired by them, she created the works below.<img lazy="loading" src="https://images.aposto.com/1200xauto/2022/8/1/1663593318732.png" style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px; border-style: none; position: relative; cursor: pointer; padding: 0px 1px; box-sizing: border-box;" width="550" ratio="2.01" fr-original-style="display: block; vertical-align: top; margin: 5px auto; text-align: center; width: 100%; max-width: 550px;" fr-original-class="fr-draggable">It is as if the labels are saying "Greetings to the civilizations that this region used to house!" There are always 2 people in the images; I see sharing and transmission. The wine glass is being shared, maybe information is being transmitted, maybe an emotion. But the place is the same, we are here, in the same land. Again, the concept of time comes to my mind, an endless flow; like a harvest.Editor's wish:&nbsp;The region where we attended the harvest this week has been home to many different civilizations. Laodikeia, Tripolis, Hierapolis are some of them. It is now a must to walk around there and look for grapes. Maybe we will take a mini tour in the coming months, who knows.

Unforgotten vines, undried grapes.

A Kuzubağ Story

DISCOVER

Thank you for reading!Cheers 🍷<a fr-original-style="" href="https://www.instagram.com/selinosmanogluu/?hl=en&utm_source=aposto" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: rgb(9, 9, 9); text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent; outline: none; cursor: pointer; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; touch-action: manipulation; user-select: auto; box-sizing: border-box;" target="_blank">Selin</a>

LAST SIP

Veraison is a wine publication that imagines the next sip while exploring the wine in its glass. I believe that wine is not only drunk on white-covered tables and I'm seeking a place on every table. In your inbox to draw sensory experience routes every week!