Tasting New Favorites and Old at Arcadia
Last November, I had the chance to re-visit Arcadia Bağları in Thrace with US importer, Fine Turkish Wine. Zeynep generously opened so many of their wines for us. Previously, I covered some of those in a post about the Arcadia Odrysia wines. Now, it’s time to take a second look, and talk about some of the others, including two of the new bubbles!
Arcadia Bağları
Arcadia Vineyards is a father–daughter dream brought to life in Lüleburgaz, once known as Arcadiapolis—an apt setting for their “earthly paradise.” Inspired by Zeynep Arca Şalliel’s early love of wine and her desire to work with soil, she and her father Ozcan turned shared late-night visions of a perfect bottle into reality. After extensive soil studies guided by viticulturist Alain Carbonneau, they established a sustainably farmed 200-hectare estate producing terroir-driven wines from both native and international grapes. Since their first vintage in 2009, Arcadia has grown to include the Bakucha Hotel and Spa, gourmet dining, sparkling wine production, and even privately owned micro-estates cared for by Arcadia’s agricultural team.
I learned some interesting things during the visit. From previous talks with Zeynep, I knew that Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot had been grown in Turkey (in what is now Istanbul no less!) since about the 17th Century. It turns out that her grandfather owned two such vineyards around Erenköy in the 1910s-30s! So, wine was in her blood before she even knew it!
Arcadia Mahiada Blanc de Noir, 2021
I must say that I was more than a little excited when Zeynep offered to open the new Mahiada for us. I’d seen it on Instagram but hadn’t found it anywhere in Istanbul. I’ve been waiting for someone to make bubbles with this grape.
This is a 100% Papaskarası, blanc de noir. I already love Arcadia’s still blanc de noir Papazkarası, and knew this was going to be fabulous. Zeynep said that they use early harvest grapes for the sparkling. They do a select harvest in the vineyard, leaving a portion of the grapes to ripen further for their red wine. Made in the traditional method, the base wine goes into the bottle for the second fermentation and spends 36 months on the lees before hand riddling and disgorgement.
The wine didn’t so much spill into glasses as it did foam over from bottle to glass. As the bubbles danced nimbly in the glass, they burst to reveal aromas of white fruit, citrus, and shortbread wrapped in a nuanced stone fruit perfume. On the palate…the acidity! Wow. The mouth-filling, prickly mousse, tasting of crisp green apples and happiness, dissipated to bone dry and linger lemon-lime citrus flavors.
This new series from Arcadia takes its name and label inspiration from the highest peak in the Strandja Massif, called Mahya Dağı or Mount Mahya in English. The peak tops out at 1,031 meters.
Arcadia Mahiada Rosé, 2018
Then Zeynep opened the Mahiada Rosé and I swear I felt the earth move in excited anticipation. This vintage was a blend of Papaskarası and Öküzgözü (although going forward it will be a varietal Papaskarası).
Rather than beginning with a blanc de noir base wine and adding a touch of still red wine after disgorgement to achieve a rosé, Arcadia’s Mahiada uses a still rosé as the base. Like the blanc de noir, this one spent 36 months with the lees before hand riddling and disgorgement.
Vivacious bubbles chased each other around the beautiful salmon-colored wine, tickling my nose as they burst. One whiff and I was in love. Roasted strawberries, brown sugar, biscuit, and savory balsamic notes enveloped my senses, enticing me to take a sip. I could have finished the entire bottle right there.
Speaking to its greater age, this had a rounder, softer mousse than the other. Gorgeous acidity, gorgeous flavors echoing the nose, just a gorgeous wine. A truly gastronomic wine that I was just itching to pair with food. And we all know how much I hate doing that. I deeply wanted to buy a bottle of this and was sad that it wasn’t available for purchase.
We don’t have that many traditional method sparkling rosés. There’s the original, Vinakra’s Yaşasın and Suvla’s İyi Ki, but otherwise it’s all blanc de blancs or blanc de noir (mostly the former, I think). All to say, it’s nice to see another rosé on the market.
Doğal Fermentasyon, 2024
I’ve written about this wine before and continue to love it.
The 2024 blends Papaskarası and Öküzgözü (it was either 60/40 or 55/45), but from 2025, it will be 100% Papaskarası. With the growing popularity of the grape and the number of wines in which Arcadia uses it, they’re grafting over their Öküzgözü.
Doğal Fermentasyon, meaning natural fermentation, is more than a name, it’s how Arcadia makes it. Whole bunch Papaskarası ferments on native yeasts in an open top tank. Careful cap management allowed the wine to not only spontaneously ferment, but do so in something of a carbonic maceration manner. Öküzgözü were destemmed and fermented (spontaneously as well) in a separate tank. After blending, the wine aged for a few short months in second and third use French oak, treated to a limited, delicate filtration, then bottled.
Have I mentioned that Papazkarası is one of my favorite grapes? It is. Arcadia’s Doğal Fermentasyon is one of those wines that, even though this vintage is a blend, really shows off what I love about the grape. The nose almost tickles at the peppery-scented wine as both black and Aleppo pepper sing the notes over a symphony of plums, sour cherry, and black olive, while violets play a haunting melody that weaves in and out of the music. Bright and juicy acidity carry flavors of sugar plums, raspberry, sour cherry, and olive along the silky palate that offers even more violet and pepper notes.
A Cabernet Franc, 2022
From Arcadia’s A series, we started with the 100% Cabernet Franc, aged in light- and medium-toasted French oak barrels for about 12 months.
This is a Cabernet Franc for people who don’t like those green pepper notes that can show up with this grape. This is complex, fruity, and smoky. Initially, it offers black cherry, raspberry, and plum, then you dive deeper into figs and dried dates. Swirl a little, and suddenly the wine shifts to earthy aromas of cedar and earth. All of that tumbles out of the glass on a silky and generous palate, before finishing with chocolate and coffee.
Drink now or age.
A Blend, 2022
The second wine in the A series is a Cabernet Sauvingon-led blend with Cabernet Franc. Grapes are de-stemmed, cold macerated for three days before fermentation, aged for a year and change in new and second use French oak.
A beautiful marriage of the two grapes. You can sense the personalities of both grape individually, but they work so well together, neither vying for dominance. Here you do get the Cabernet Franc green pepper notes which accent ripe black fruits, black pepper, dried herbs, smokey spices, and perfumed violet. Bold and structured with deliciously seductive acidity.
Drink now or age.
Visiting Arcadia
Arcadia happily accepts visitors for tastings, meals, shopping, and stays. It’s one of the only (if not the?) that offers a regular, daily tour of the winery itself, which I believe is at 16:00. Even though it’s daily, you will want to book.
Getting There
Located in Lüleburgaz, Kırklareli, Arcadia is rather in the middle of nowhere, but GPS works great. Which is good to know, because the only way to get here is to drive yourself or book a Thracian winery tour. It’s about a 2-2.5 hour drive from central Istanbul.
Coming from abroad, you’ll want to fly into Istanbul. If you plan to spend time in the city as well, it doesn’t matter if you fly into IST or SAW. But, if you intend to land and head straight out, definitely fly into IST.
Should you not have your own car, my suggestion is to rent one from any of the agencies at the airport. Don’t bother with rental agencies in the city. Agencies at the airport are open 24/7 (in the city 09:00-19:00 at best), and, since the airport is essentially on the way to the winery anyway, you get to skip negotiating traffic in the city. I suggest taking one of the many Havaist shuttles from wherever you live/are staying to the airport.
Staying and Eating
As I mentioned, the winery is a little bit in the middle of nowhere. If you want to sleep on the cheaper side, you can find hotel options in Kırklareli. But, then you’d have to moderate your drinking so you can drive there. Arcadia has a lovely onsite hotel (and spa!) with a pool, beautiful lawn, and all the wine you could want.
Even if you’re not staying, don’t miss the chance to eat here. Arcadia grows a lot of the produce, herbs, and other things they use so the menu changes at least seasonally. If you are staying, the breakfast is equally gorgeous with in-house made jams, honey they harvest, and all the delights of a traditional Turkish breakfast.
Arcadia in America
If you’re in the US and can’t make it to Turkey, a selection of Arcadia’s wines is available in the US through Fine Turkish Wine. Because there’s a winery in California called Arcadia, in the US, all the wines are marketed under the brand name Odrysia.
Fine Turkish Wine currently carries the Doğal Fermentasyon, both of the A series reds, several of the Odrysia wines I reviewed in my previous post, the blanc de noir Papaskarası, the Nareen sparkling Narince…and soon will have the Mahiada blanc de noir!
Fine Turkish Wine is located in Houston, Texas. At the moment, they’re only able to ship within Texas, but hopefully soon will be placing wines in a couple other states.
If you want to learn more about Turkish wine and grapes or discover other wineries to visit here, pick up a copy of my book, The Essential Guide to Turkish Wine, Ed. 2. It’s available in a variety of places in Istanbul, Ankara, and Bodrum and online in the US and UK and elsewhere.
No Comments