On a crisp October day, Baran Sahin and his family of 10 head to the family’s small vineyard in the village of Cirali, some 62 miles from the southeastern city of Diyarbakir.

“Vintage is not easy but it is fun,” Sahin told Al-Monitor, explaining that when he was a child, his family had 20 acres of vineyards. “The vineyard would yield some 1,400 liters [369 gallons] of grape juice. There have always been vineyards in our village, and we went harvesting together. It is a tradition.” 

Cirali is an old Zaza Kurdish village of 200 people in Diyarbakir province's Lice district. There is an elementary school, but little else. Village elders say the community dates back 250 years and, as far as they can recall, they have always had vineyards around the village and in the district. Many of the vineyards, like Sahin's, have gotten smaller over the years and become less productive due to divisions of the land among heirs and basic neglect.

Wine making has a long tradition in the region, but it is now a declining one. The fertile land in Turkey's southeast has been home to many varieties of grape, including dark blue and thick-skinned Bogazkere and the white, longish and slightly sour Hanim Parmagi, literally “lady’s fingers.” According to Turkey’s Ministry of Agriculture, more than 30 types of grapes are grown in the southeast, and some of them, like Bogazkere, are extremely good for wine making.