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Tasting Through Turkey’s Vineyards with Akberg

 

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My adventures with Turkish wine importer, Fine Turkish Wine, continue! Well at least the writing of them does, the adventures themselves ended in November. And it’s taking ever so much longer to write about these visits than it took to make them! After two days in Trakya (aka Thrace), visiting first Arcadia, then Arda and Gürbüz Winery we headed for the Aegean.

In this region, our first stop was Kuzubağ,  next to Heraki, then Kastro Tireli for a multi-winery tasting, and finally for our last stop in the Aegean, we made it to Akberg.  So, buckle up, you’re in for another long post. 

Akberg

Akberg winery already had a long history in Turkey before the 2020 vintage that put it on the map. But, it wouldn’t be until Güney Köse took over the winery that it stepped into the world of fine wine production. 

Akberg’s first quality label, Büyükbağ, which means “large vineyard”, reflects the company’s vision of working with independent growers across the country. The winery feels strongly about preserving a grape’s native terroir, rather than trying to force them to grow in alien lands. As such, Akberg sources grapes from all over the country. Narince from its home in Tokat, Papazkarası from Thrace, Çalkarası from Çal, and so on. Part of Akberg’s new journey also includes the preservation and revitalization of Anatolia’s ancient grapes. As such, it was the first winery to give us wines from previously unknown grapes like Osmanca, Erciş Karası, and Kecimen. 

When we visited, Güney had just returned from London where he accepted and award from IWSC as Best Red Wine Producer for his and Akberg’s innovation, creativity, and dedication to bringing lost grapes back to life. 

We had the opportunity to visit some of Akberg’s nearby vineyards with Güney, winemaker Ergün Güney, and senior engineer Yeşim Kapi. But Since this is already a crazy long post, I’ll write about those vineyards and all of Akberg’s Osmanca wines in a future post.

Lethe Erciş Karası, 2024

I have been terribly remiss in not posting about a series of Erciş Karası wines I recently tasted through. I like to think I’ll get around that eventually. But for now at least I can tackle the 2024 barrel sample we tasted with Güney. 

Akberg sources its Erciş Karası grapes from the municipality that lends its name to the grape: Erciş. Located on the northeast shores of Lake Van in Turkey’s northeastern Van province, the 35(+)-year-old goblet vines grow in clay and sand soils at about 1,750 meters above sea level. These are among the highest vineyards in Turkey. 

After fermentation, the wine spent (or was still spending actually as we had a barrel sample) several months in 300 liter French and American oak barrels. Güney speculated that the finished wine would likely be partially blended with some of the un-oaked Erciş Karası meant for the Büyükbağ line.

The barrel influence was prominent, mixing with lush plums and mulberries and an underlying earthiness. Bold and fruity with concentrated flavors, fine tannins, and enough acidity to balance the boldness. 

Büyükbağ Öküzgözü, 2024

From Erciş Karası we moved onto Öküzgözü. Following its practice of sourcing grapes from their homeland, Akberg works with growers in Eastern Anatolian Elazığ province for its Öküzgözü grapes. 

Personally, this isn’t my grape. There are a couple wines floating around that I really like, but generally I don’t care for the overt fruitiness of this variety. For those who do like that style though, this is your wine. Akberg’s Büyükbağ Öküzgözü is a fruit bomb. It tastes like how you would look after getting pelted by purple and red dust at a Holi celebration. In fact, one of the things I learned on this visit, is that is what Akberg is going for with its Büyükbağ labels. Not the Holi thing, but the madly swirling colors on this line’s labels reflect the tasting notes.

So, what does being pelted by purple and red dust at Holi taste like? Grape pixie sticks, blueberry jam, cherries, and pomegranate. It’s a juicy wine with light tannins on the front palate and a big, in your face, Öküzgözü character.

Lethe Öküzgözü, 2024

Onto the Lethe Öküzgözü which, if I wrote my notes correctly, was whole bunch fermented and spent about eight months in French and American barrels. The wine that came out of those barrels showed a whole different side of the ox’s eye grape. 

This was mulled wine if mulled wine weren’t sweet. Big plummy and black cherry flavors mingling with baking spices and a dash here and there of mahlep and sweet vanilla. Tannins were surprisingly grippy for this generally more medium variety. 

Lethe Papazkarası, 2024

You know I love me a Papazkarası. I’ve enjoyed Akberg’s Büyükbağ Papazkarası since it first came on the market and I was excited to dive into the Lethe version.

Akberg’s grapes come from, of course, Edirne. Papazkarası, like many grapes, has a couple few clones floating around in Thrace. Some, like the Papazkarası Arda works with, produces a lighter-bodied, paler wine with lower alcohol. Others, like Akberg’s give a more deeply-colored wine with higher alcohol. Even knowing that, it was shocking to learn that the ABV on this was 16.2%! The legal limit in Turkey for unfortified wine is 15% so Akberg had to get special permission to sell this vintage. 

This was indeed Papazkarası on steroids. It displayed all the big black pepper spice, fruit, and floral notes you expect from this grape, but 11 months in French and American oak (plus the alcohol level) cranked up the volume. A riot of sweet lilac and violet potpourri mixed with earthy mace and black pepper and a burst of rich, juicy black raspberry and black cherry. Full-bodied and plush with big acidity and elegant tannins.

If you’re one to put away wine and age it a bit, the 2024 Akberg Lethe Papazkarası is a good bet. With the barrel aging and high alcohol and acidity, Güney is predicting this will age 10-15 years.

Büyükbağ Kecimen, 2024

Kecimen is the newest grape Akberg has introduced. It comes from the northern slopes of the western Taurus mountains where it grows at high elevation. 

Sadly, there will be no Kecimen wines from Akberg for the 2025 vintage, so if you see the Büyükbağ or the Lethe, grab it! And keep your fingers crossed that they’ll have better luck getting the grapes from the 2026 harvest. 

Kecimen needs time to reveal itself. According to Güney, there’s a sweet spot somewhere between the half hour and hour three. Too early, and Kecimen is tight, too much air, and it starts to sour. But if you get it in that sweet spot…boy howdy. 

It is spice-driven, with sour cherry and black olives. Grippy tannins but somehow still quite fresh. Then it slowly starts to unfold more earthy notes of tomato leaf, almost briny black olive, and sweet “exotic” spices of mace and ras al hanout.

Kecimen wines are special.

Lethe Kecimen, 2023

If you think you might have heard the name ‘Lethe’ before, you’d not be wrong. River Lethe is one of the rivers flowing through Hades in Greek mythology. It is the river from which the dead would drink to wash away their memories and experience complete oblivion. Akberg chose this name for its premium wines because the winery wants to wash away memories of international grapes on the Turkish market and help create new memories around native grapes. 

As with Akberg’s other Lethe wines, the Kecimen aged for a time in a combination of French and American barrels before bottling. This one needs a little more air than the Büyükbağ, but when it does open…it’s everything from the Büyükbağ and more. Still very spice-driven but think toasted, not sweet spices of mace, black pepper, and Aleppo pepper. Roasted tomato, olive, and dried plum flavors ride in on a wave of supple tannins and linger on a warm, mouth-coating finish.

Lethe Boğazkere, 2023

In the two times I’ve been able to visit Akberg, they’ve been very generous with the wines they open. The wines I’ve gone over in this post represent maybe half of what we were privileged to try. So, by the time we got to the Lethe Boğazkere, either we’d stopped asking winemaking particulars, or I missed noting them. I do know, at least, that they grapes hail from Diyarbakır, and the wine spends time in oak. 

This wine has a great deal of potential. If you see the 2023 anywhere, know it’ll be delicious, but that it’ll be remarkable in a couple years. 

Boğazkere rightfully earns its place as not only one of Turkey’s most tannic grapes, but also one of its most bombastic. Jump into it right away and those tannins will rip up your throat as the name promises. Approach it patiently and you’ll be rewarded with a full-bodied wine redolent with flavor. To that end, the inky black wine almost reluctantly gave up classic Boğazkere aromas of black fruits, spice, and licorice. As we chatted and the wine breathed, it showed dense blackberry, black mulberry, and black cherry before revealing a layer of forest spice, black pepper, and earthy licorice. Muscular tannins hit the palate immediately, carrying the flavors across the tongue before melting in the back palate to reveal a bittersweet finish of chocolate.

Late Harvest Boğazkere

If you like cherry, have I got the wine for you.

I knew about Akberg’s late harvest Osmanca (more on that later!), but the late harvest Boğazkere was a surprise! For this wine, Akberg sun dries the grapes on the gentle slopes around the winery to make an appassimento-style sweet wine. 

This was all sorts of cherry. From cherry compote and dried cherries to mahlep with a burst of sour cherry on the finish. Nicely balanced with the residual sugar taming the tannins and acidity balancing the residual sugar. 

Sadly, at the moment Akberg isn’t set up to receive visitors. That’s a project they’re hoping to channel in the nearish future. In the meantime, it’s possible to find the wines in a variety of shops and bars across the country. In Istanbul, look at places like Grand Cru, Solera, Le Conte, possibly Dekante, Casa Botti, etc. 

If you want to explore Turkish wine or any of the plethora of Turkish grapes mentioned here more deeply, you can always get a copy of the second edition of my book: The Essential Guide to Turkish Wine!