Anatolia

Anatolia, much of modern turkey, the land lying between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. In Ancient Asia Minor, grapes were harvested in September and October. In business documents of the Old Assyrian trading colonies in Asia Minor (dating to approximately the 19th century bc), this season of the year was called qitip karānim, or ‘grape picking’. The location of the ancient vine-growing areas is uncertain, but they were probably established in suitably warm, well-watered regions throughout the peninsula, as they are today along major river valleys and along the coasts.