Tirêya Hov: The Wild Grape of the Zagros and the Vine That Fed the World

Sherko Sabir
May 31
6 min read

Tirêya Hov: The Wild Grape of the Zagros and the Vine That Fed the World

In the river valleys and forest margins of the Zagros mountains — in the oak woodlands of Kurdistan Province and Kermanshah and Ilam, in the rocky slopes above the rivers that run down from the Kurdish highlands toward the lowlands of Mesopotamia — a vine grows wild that this series has been approaching for one hundred and forty-six articles without naming directly. Vitis vinifera subsp. sylvestris: the wild grape, the ancestral vine, the plant from which every bottle of wine on earth is descended. It climbs the oak trees of the Zagros using its tendrils, produces small, tart, dark-skinned berries in summer, and has been growing in these mountains since before human beings began to pay attention to it. The moment they did pay attention — the moment they began to select, to propagate, to tend — is one of the great transitions in human history. And it happened here. Genetic studies of wild grapevine populations specifically from Kurdistan Province, north-west Iran — the heart of Rojhelat, the Kurdish east — have confirmed that the Zagros mountains hold some of the world’s most genetically significant populations of Vitis vinifera sylvestris. Grapevine domestication is dated to approximately 6,000 to 8,000 years ago, with the primary centre of origin in the Caucasian and Middle Eastern regions: specifically the Taurus and Zagros mountains and the Transcaucasian zone. The village of Hajji Firuz Tepe, in the Zagros foothills of north-west Iran — adjacent to the Kurdish province of West Azerbaijan (Azarbaijan Gharbi) — has yielded the world’s oldest confirmed chemical evidence of winemaking: tartaric acid residue in pottery jars dating to 5,400–5,000 BC. The Kurdish mountains did not just give the world wheat and the olive and the fig. They gave it the grape. This is the one-hundred-and-forty-seventh article in the series. The series has covered the grape in three forms: its molasses (dûşav, article one-hundred-and-thirteen), its dried leather (pestil, article one-hundred-and-twenty-four), and its sugar crystallised in the şekirklo tradition. Now Sherko covers the vine itself — wild, climbing the Zagros oaks, the ancestor of all of them.

Key Takeaways

• Tirêya hov (wild grape, Vitis vinifera sylvestris) grows in the Zagros mountains of Kurdistan Province and across the Kurdish highland zone

• Grapevine domestication: 6,000–8,000 years ago in the Taurus/Zagros/Caucasus zone — the Kurdish mountain region

• Hajji Firuz Tepe (Zagros foothills, NW Iran): world’s oldest confirmed wine evidence, 5,400–5,000 BC

• Every bottle of wine in the world descends from this wild vine — the Kurdish mountains gave the world its grape

Quick Facts

Kurdish Name: Tirî (grape, Sorani/Kurmanji); tirêya hov / tirêya kêvî (wild grape); the domesticated grape is tirî baştin

Species: Vitis vinifera subsp. sylvestris (wild) → domesticated to Vitis vinifera subsp. vinifera (sativa), parent of all cultivated wine grapes

Origin Zone: Taurus and Zagros mountains + Transcaucasia; specifically confirmed in Kurdistan Province, north-west Iran (Rojhelat)

Earliest Wine: Hajji Firuz Tepe, Zagros foothills, NW Iran: tartaric acid residue in pottery, 5,400–5,000 BC

The Wild Vine in the Zagros Oak Forest

The wild grape (Vitis vinifera sylvestris) is native to the same oak and pistachio forests of the Zagros that this series has visited for mushrooms, for resin, for wild garlic, for rhubarb. It is a woodland vine: it grows up into trees using its tendrils, spreads across the canopy in summer, and drops its small, tart berries in autumn. Genetic research has specifically documented wild grapevine populations in Kurdistan Province, the Iranian Kurdish highlands of Rojhelat, establishing that this area holds significant genetic diversity within the wild vine species. The Zagros populations of Vitis vinifera sylvestris are not peripheral survivors of a once-wider range; they are among the core populations, in the heartland of the species’ origin zone. The domestication of this vine — the transformation of Vitis vinifera sylvestris into Vitis vinifera vinifera, the cultivated wine grape — involved a series of human selections: choosing plants with hermaphroditic flowers (which can self-pollinate, producing more reliable fruit sets), selecting for larger, sweeter berries, propagating by cuttings to preserve desirable traits, and eventually establishing planted vineyards rather than simply harvesting the wild vine. This process took thousands of years and happened multiple times across the Taurus and Zagros and Caucasus zone. The oldest confirmed wine evidence — pottery jars containing tartaric acid residue, the chemical signature of fermented grapes — comes from Hajji Firuz Tepe, a village in the Zagros foothills of north-west Iran, adjacent to the Kurdish heartland of Azerbaijan Gharbi. The date: 5,400–5,000 BC. The vine that was first tended in the Kurdish mountain zone was the vine that became every Bordeaux and Barolo and Riesling and Georgian amber wine and Lebanese red that has ever been poured.

The Kurdish Origin Arc: Wheat, Olive, Fig, and Now the Grape

This series has been building an argument, article by article, that the Kurdish mountains are where the world’s food came from. Article one-hundred-and-twenty-seven (genim) established that wheat was first cultivated near Karacadağ in Kurdish Bakur — the most important single agricultural event in human history. Article one-hundred-and-twenty-six (zeytûn) established that the olive was first domesticated in the Taurus mountains of Bakur — the foundation of Mediterranean cuisine. Article one-hundred-and-thirty-two (hejîr) established that the fig was among the oldest cultivated fruits in human history, with wild ancestors across the Kurdish mountain zone. And now tirêya hov establishes the fourth great origin: the wild grape of the Zagros, the vine that became all world wine. Wheat, olive, fig, grape: four of the founding pillars of human civilisation’s food culture, all traced to the Kurdish mountain zone. This is not a coincidence or an overclaim. It is what the archaeological and genetic record shows. The Zagros and Taurus mountains are a global biodiversity hotspot for cultivated plant origins: the Fertile Crescent, of which they are the northern and eastern edge, gave the world more of its food plants than any other comparably sized region on earth. And the Kurdish people are the people of that landscape. They have lived in it, farmed it, foraged it, tended its wild plants and wild animals since before the first seed was deliberately planted. The wild grape that still climbs the oak trees of Kurdistan Province is not a relic. It is the ancestor of the world’s most celebrated drink, still growing in the hills where it was first noticed.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where did the grape vine originate?

The cultivated grape vine (Vitis vinifera) was domesticated from its wild ancestor (Vitis vinifera sylvestris) approximately 6,000–8,000 years ago in the Caucasian and Middle Eastern region — specifically the Taurus and Zagros mountains and the Transcaucasian zone. Genetic diversity studies have confirmed that wild grapevine populations in Kurdistan Province, north-west Iran (Rojhelat), are among the genetically most significant populations of the wild ancestor species. The earliest confirmed chemical evidence of winemaking comes from Hajji Firuz Tepe in the Zagros foothills (5,400–5,000 BC).

Does the wild grape still grow in Kurdistan?

Yes. Vitis vinifera sylvestris, the wild grape, still grows in the Zagros mountains of Kurdistan Province and the surrounding Kurdish highland regions. Peer-reviewed genetic research has specifically studied wild grapevine accessions from Kurdistan Province (Rojhelat, north-west Iran) and confirmed that these populations are genetically significant. The wild vine grows as a woodland climber in the Zagros oak and pistachio forests, producing small tart berries and representing the same gene pool from which all cultivated grapes were selected.

How does the wild grape connect to dûşav and pestil?

Dûşav (article #113) is the grape’s sweetness boiled down to a dark syrup — the molasses of the autumn harvest. Pestil (article #124) is the grape’s flesh spread thin and dried to a leather. Both are made from the domesticated tirî, the cultivated grape descended from tirêya hov. This article covers the wild ancestor: the vine that climbs the Zagros oaks, the gene pool from which those cultivated grapes were selected. The three articles together — wild vine, molasses, leather — are the complete story of the Kurdish grape, from its Zagros forest origin to its kitchen applications.

Conclusion

Tirêya hov is the one-hundred-and-forty-seventh article in the series, and the one that gives the wild vine its name. Sherko has spent this series going further and further back: from the honey of the zozan, to the wild garlic of the mountain meadow, to the mushroom of the forest floor, to the resin of the bark. Now he reaches the vine that climbs the Zagros oak trees — the wild ancestor of every cultivated grape in the world. Wheat from Karacadağ. Olive from the Taurus. Fig from the Zagros forest margin. And now the grape, from the same Zagros slopes where the oak trees grow and the wild vine still climbs. One hundred and forty-seven articles in, the Kurdish mountains have given the world its bread, its oil, its fruit, and its wine. The vine is still there. The oak is still there. The mountain is still there.