Gelveri
Udo Hirsch
Cappadocia, Turkey
www.gelveri-manufactur.com
Imported by Georgian Wine Ltd.

About 1200 grape varieties grow in Turkey, 800 of them, however, are only known regionally. Our grapes come from small traditional orchards at the foot of Hasan Dag volcano. The fruit gardens are situated at an altitude of 1500 metres. They are exposed to rather extreme temperature changes. Each garden offers four to six varieties of grapes, but often only two or three are suitable to make wine. The average rainfall in Cappadocia is about 350mm. The ground of volcanic tuff is loose, rich in minerals and perfect for water storage. The indigenous vines are up to 300 years old, and on their own rootstock. They are all free from phylloxera. Once a year our vines are fertilized with goat dung.

Instead of pressing our red and white grapes we crush them in a grinder. The juice, skins, pits and stems (40-60%) are then filled into amphorae. The mash ferments and the wine matures in freestanding amphorae (küp in Turkish). Some of our küps are many hundred years old.
Instant fermentation with natural yeast takes place in the cellar and also outside the buildings. While the wine is fermenting over a period between eight and twenty days, the mash is being stirred every three hours. Our küps are opened in early March the following year at the earliest, in June at the latest By then the wine has clarified on its own account. Skins and stems are taken off and the wine is either bottled or transferred to other küps, for further maturing. We do not filter our wines. The proportion of natural sulphur is up to 10mg/lt.
We neither add sulphur nor any other additives to our wines.