Gelveri: The Raw Side of Turkish Wine
My first introduction to raw wine happened before I even know what raw wine was. Georgia. Long before it became a Top 10 travel destinations, my colleagues in the international development world were traveling to and raving about the country. And bringing back wine for the office. Since moving to Turkey I have taken full advantage of being only a short flight away and have made several trips. One was in May 2017 for the back-to-back Zero Compromise natural wine and New Wine festivals. It was at Zero Compromise where I met Udo Hirsch.
Wine crosses all nationalities, borders, and cultures
No, you’re not wrong. Udo is not a Turkish name. Udo is a transplant from Germany who arrived to a winemaking life in Turkey by way of the Republic of Georgia. He learned about winemaking, specifically making natural wine in amphora, while living and working in Georgia. Which explains how I was introduced to him at a natural wine event in Tbilisi. Aside from what he learned from Georgian winemakers, Udo has had no formal winemaking training and prefers it that way. As an ecologist, he prefers to keep everything natural. He looks after his grapes and his wine by bending to the whims of nature.
After a long and winding road working across the globe, Udo found a home in the ancient city of Güzelyurt (or Gelveri as it was known by the former Greek population). Güzelyurt lies in the hills a 90 minute drive from Turkey’s famous Cappadocia region and boasts some of the highest vineyards in Turkey. The drive from Cappadocia to Güzelyurt treated us to some of the most magnificent scenery I’ve seen in 
Turkey. Empty, wide open roads stretched before us, rolling gently through vast plains and hills of red earth dotted with greenery.
We parked in the village center and where Udo greeted us. He escorted us the short walk through ancient, winding alleys too narrow for more than a handcart to his home/winery, Gelveri. Here, Udo and his wife, ceramic artist Hacer Özkaya, live and work in a restored cave house approximately 300 years old. While restorations have made the house livable and the winery functional; stepping into their world is like a step back into history.
Drinking history
What you will not find at Gelveri is vineyards. Udo works with the denizens of Güzelyurt whose gardens all hold some amount of grapes. The scattered vines sit at 1500 meters on largely tuf soil and are pre-phylloxera clocking in at somewhere between 150 and 200 years old. Neither Udo nor any of the garden owners irrigate the vine or treat them with sulfur or any other chemicals.
Each year Udo and Hacer, who work in the winery on their own, produce only around 5,000 bottles. Partially because on their own they say they can’t handle any more volume. The other reason; they’re working with very small amounts of grapes. Some of which few have ever heard of. In addition to Hasandede and Kalecik Karası, with which most of us are familiar, they also vinify grapes that have no names other than those used by the villagers, such 
as Keten Gömlek (linen shirt) and Kızıl Üzüm (rusty grape). Some of these grapes are so rare that they are only able to make something like 150 to 200 liters of wine with them.
In the winery, all wines are wild fermented, slightly crushed and whole bunch, in large küp (amphora) which Udo sources from around the country. The youngest are well over a century old and he has some that date back to Roman and Byzantine times. His küp are buried in cellars that are part of the house complex and wines ferment, age, and are stored in them. Every spring Udo and Hacer host a ‘Dionysus Symposium’ to which friends are invited. With everyone gathered, Udo opens the küp so that everyone can taste the wine within. It is now that he decides if the wines are ready, or if they need to remain buried a while longer. After ageing is completed to Udo’s satisfaction, the wines are bottled with no filtering.
That’s what unfiltered looks like!
Preserving Turkish grapes
Udo has had many careers during his very interesting life. In addition to winemaking, he can add one more here in Turkey. Researcher. Gelveri joins the noble ranks of wineries like Paşaeli, Likya, Urla Winery, Tomucukbağ, Vinkara, Antioche, and Öküzgözü Winery in working with little known and nearly extinct grapes. More than this, Udo actively works with DNA banks and universities in Turkey. Villagers across Turkey grow grapes for table and making pekmez (molassas). Often without knowing or caring what variety they have. Like the Keten Gömlek Udo currently uses for wine, many of these grapes have only their village name. Some are known varieties, some are not. His research will help classify many potentially “new” Turkish grapes.
Gelveri Kalecik Karası 2014 Tasting Notes
While I may have heard of Gelveri and even met Udo, I still had not been able to try his wines. Until two friends of my returned from a trip to Cappadocia where they scored a bottle. Of the various wines Udo makes, only one red. The Kalecik Karası.
Very low alcohol (for Turkey) at only 12.5% abv. A sniff revealed bright red fruits, hard candy, apple cider vinegar, and clay. Low tannins and dancing acidity make the mouth water for more. Red fruits and sour cherry flavors roll over the tongue mingling with the distinctive tang carried by wines aged in earthenware.
Despite the lowish alcohol and overall medium body, this wine has some kind of chutzpah that makes it drink bigger than it is.
Gelveri Hasandede 2015 Tasting Notes
All of Gelveri’s white wines are skin contact fermented. Meaning that they all display that deep sunset color from which amber wine earns its name. The Hasandede glows a slightly hazy dark amber. Like the color of the best of the Baltic stones. Initially we were a little knocked over by the wave of vinegar aromas. However, with some vigorous swirling crunchy golden apple, fresh herbs, and earth exploded out of the glass.
Medium body with 13.5% abv, this Hasandede displayed more tannins than I remember the Kalecik Karası doing. From the first instant the wine hit my lips it was very dry with tannins that made my mouth collapse in on itself. Quince, dirty herbs, and ashy fireplace. 
In 2018 Gelveri participated for the first time in the Berlin RAW WINE fair and made a huge splash. Unfortunately for those who enjoyed their wines, they are very difficult to source. Much is sold abroad, largely in Japan, but it is possible to find it in some of Istanbul’s high-end restaurants and shops like Dekante. However, the best way to enjoy Gelveri wines is to visit Udo and Hacer to taste wine in their beautiful winery.