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Your October 2026 Turkish Wine Horoscope

 

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We had a pretty mild summer in Istanbul. Even so, the arrival of autumn felt abrupt and very definite. Significantly cooler temperatures, clouds, and rain, rain, rain. Hopefully this isn’t what the whole season will bring. How utterly depressing if so. Perhaps our October horoscopes will give us a little glimpse into what we might expect this season…and what we’ll be drinking while we face it. 

And remember, if you’re not somewhere with easy access to any of these, don’t hesitate to reach out (to me, the universe doesn’t always respond to email) for alternative flavor vibes.

Aries (March 21 – April 19)

October has you treating your calendar like a personal insult. Every blank space looks suspicious, every invitation sounds like a challenge, and somehow you’re already planning what you’ll be doing three weekends from now. You’re craving momentum, but you’re also discovering that not every problem needs to be solved before lunch. Annoying, obviously. You’re still finding plenty to do.

Power Move: Rearranging your entire weekend because one interesting thing popped up
Your Vibe: A lit match with a suspiciously detailed itinerary

The grape for you …

Papazkarası has waited quietly, patiently even in the background for years. Chamlija was one of the first wineries to invite it into the spotlight. Edrine gave us a couple wines, Arda’s Gala series further highlighted it, then Gürbüz, and Saranta… Papazkarası has happily accepted all these invitations to shine, but it wasn’t done. Arcadia has recently showed us that this grape has more to do, more to give: bubbles. Yes. There are now Papazkarası bubbles. 

It doesn’t seem to matter what you like in wine: red, oak (or not), pink, white, or bubbles; Papazkarası is doing it all!

Taurus (April 20 – May 20)

You’ve reached the point where “I deserve nice things” has become a legitimate budgeting philosophy. You’re craving comfort, good food and drink, attractive surroundings, and approximately zero unnecessary complications. Fortunately, you’re also getting better at saying no to plans that sound exhausting before you’ve even put on pants. Someone may call this being stubborn. You call it having standards.

Power Move: Upgrading your plans until staying home requires reservations
Your Vibe: A luxury hotel with a strict no-drama policy

The grape for you …

You DO deserve nice things! That includes nice grapes like one that carries a hint of luxury in its very name: Emir. You think you have standards? Emir has so many standards that it refuses to act properly if it doesn’t get to grow where it wants to. Emir demands the high elevation, cold, dry climate, and inorganic, sandy volcanic soils of Cappadocia. Will it grow elsewhere? Yes. But you can tell its standards weren’t met in how it tastes. 

Gemini (May 20 – June 20)

The grape for you …

Funny word that, “variety.” It can mean multiple things from “diverse/ity” to “kind of grape.” In Turkey, our variety of varieties is immense, meaning nothing you drink ever has to feel predictable. That’s where grapes like Kanlıkara come in.

Kanlıkara is one of those oddball grapes that only shows up in one-two wineries (Neferiye and Mor Salkım). It also doesn’t grow the way most of us picture grapes growing. Because it was left on its own for long, not cultivated commercially, Kanlıkara grows as a “married” vine, growing up trees in the wild in Bodrum. 

Cancer (June 21 – July 22)

You’re collecting ideas faster than you can possibly use them, and somehow each new one feels like the one that’ll finally organize everything. Your brain is bouncing between plans, possibilities, random questions, and one deeply unnecessary rabbit hole you absolutely intend to investigate. Focus is negotiable. Curiosity is running the department.

Power Move: Adding one more idea to an already overloaded plan
Your Vibe: A brain with twelve browser windows open and music playing somewhere in the background

The grape for you …

Curiosity is a great thing, especially when it leads to asking the right questions and looking at what possibilities exist. Like the questions Paşaeli has been asking about native Turkish grapes which led them to Yapıncak. And even more, the possibilities wineries like Paşaeli, Suvla, and Sevilen have seen in this grape.

Thanks to someone going down a very necessary rabbit hole with Yapıncak, we’ve got options showing off Yapıncak in stainless steel, in oak, and as bubbles.

Leo (July 23 – August 22)

Somehow, you’ve become the person everyone expects to have the answer, the plan, and possibly a backup plan with better lighting. You don’t mind being relied on, but there’s a limit to how much unpaid executive leadership one person can provide. This is a good time to insist that someone else take the reins occasionally, especially if their idea involves dinner and you don’t have to make the reservation.

Power Move: Delegating a decision and immediately judging the outcome
Your Vibe: Executive presence with a strong preference for being entertained

The grape for you …

Enter a grape many people didn’t know had executive presence…or that many people didn’t know even existed: Mazrona. From Turkey’s southeast, Mazrona has grown around Mardin and Şırnak for truly we don’t know how long. High elevation and extreme heat and dryness have created an inhospitable environment for this hardy grape. Much in the same way the Assyrian people persist in making wine with it despite an environment inhospitable to them and wine. If you know Mazrona at all, it’s likely as the blending partner of one of the region’s other white grapes, Kerküş/Karkuş. However, it’s recently stepped into the spotlight on its own, proving that it has big boss energy and doesn’t need to rely on another grape to be fabulous. 

Virgo (August 23 – September 22)

Somewhere along the way, “I’ll just take care of it” became your unofficial job title. You notice what other people miss, then somehow end up fixing things you had nothing to do with creating. You have a knack for making the correction look effortless, which is probably why people keep handing you things to fix. Competence is a blessing, but it does have a way of attracting extra assignments.

Power Move: Fixing one tiny detail and improving the entire situation
Your Vibe: Finesse and very good stationery

The grape for you …

You’ve got finesse coming out of your ears this month. That’s why Kalecik Karası is such a good match for you. Kind of like you, it provides structure and elegance without looking like it’s even trying. No wonder it’s one of the most popular native grapes in the country! Kalecik Karası can be counted on to handle anything from blanc de noir, rosé, and red to blends and oak, and (always my favorite anyway) bubbles. Who wouldn’t want to vibe with this grape?

Libra (September 23 – October 22)

Your social calendar has opinions about how you should be spending your free time. A casual invitation turns into dinner, dinner turns into drinks, and somehow you’re home at midnight with plans for next weekend. You’re enjoying yourself far too much to complain, especially when everyone seems unusually entertaining lately. Sleep can file a formal complaint.

Power Move: Turning a quick drink into an entire evening
Your Vibe: Trouble in a very flattering outfit

The grape for you …

Your October reflects how a once neglected grape must feel when it has a sudden boom of popularity. Gök languished in obscurity for years. In 2017, Urla Şarapçılık released a Gök as part of its Discovery Series. The grapes for that wine came from Mediterranean winery Tasheli, which then for years was the only winery to work with it. Then oh-so-popular and cutting-edge winery Heraki released a Gök, with follows-trends- once-they’re-proven-profitable 7Bilgeler following closely at their heels. 

All that to say…you and Gök are having a moment! Enjoy it. 

Scorpio (October 23 – November 22)

You’re keeping a few things to yourself, and frankly, everyone can tell. There’s something satisfying about knowing more than you’re saying, especially when somebody else is doing an excellent job of revealing far too much. You’re picking up on details other people miss, and you’re in no particular hurry to announce what you’ve noticed. Let them keep talking. You’re having a perfectly good time watching where the conversation goes.

Power Move: Letting someone underestimate you and enjoying the show
Your Vibe: The raised eyebrow that says more than the entire conversation

The grape for you …

Playing the game in a low-key manner and keeping some things to yourself isn’t a bad plan. In the wine world, maybe you just don’t care about being a trendsetter. Or you work with a grape so rare that you don’t want other people jumping all over it and buying out your source. This seems to be how Gordias approaches things. They’ve certainly picked up on a detail others have missed: Fesleğen. This is one of those grapes that hasn’t quite “made it” yet. No other wineries seem to be trying to work with it and few drinkers are running off to buy it.

That doesn’t mean it’s not good. Fesleğen is a fantastic grape. It does mean though that you can sit back with all the bottles and smirk at people who don’t know what they’re missing. 

Sagittarius (November 23 – December 22)

Your attention span has developed a strong preference for whatever happens to be most interesting right now. A book gets abandoned halfway through because of a documentary. The documentary loses out to a recipe you suddenly need to try. Then you remember the book again at 11:47 p.m. and decide you’re absolutely finishing it tomorrow. Your brain has its own programming schedule, and apparently nobody else gets a vote.

Power Move: Asking “What’s the worst that could happen?” with suspicious confidence
Your Vibe: A remote control with commitment issues

 The grape for you …

Some wineries have the attention span of a gnat, a little like you this month. A grape becomes popular, they make one thing with it, then move onto the next grape. No bothering to see how that grape might do if fermented or aged in something other than stainless steel or if it would perform well in a different style. Nope, they did it once and they’re on to the next new thing. There are a couple companies guilty of this and any number of grapes getting this treatment, including Van’s Erciş Karası.

The grape has bounced around a couple wineries over the last few years and actually has been made into a couple different styles. Despite proving its worth sticking with, the latest winery to work with Erciş Karası has definitely already clicked over to a new channel. Maybe it’ll snag your attention for a little longer. 

Capricorn (December 23 – January 19)

You’re discovering that being the most responsible person in the room is a terrible way to enjoy yourself. You’ve got things to do, certainly, but some of them can wait while you pursue something entirely impractical. A little bad judgment might even do you some good. Your inner taskmaster is going to hate this development.

Power Move: Browsing flights to places you have no business visiting
Your Vibe: A suspicious amount of enthusiasm for terrible ideas

The grape for you …

Sometimes terrible ideas lead to amazing results. Like some people’s idea to put Sultaniye front and center. This grape has been over looked for so long just because it also happens to be great to eat and make raisins. Despite that, this is a vitis vinifera variety and a few intrepid wineries embraced the terrible idea of making a quality wine with Sultaniye…a “terrible” idea that was actually genius. Hopefully some of your decisions this month will turn out equally well. 

Aquarius (January 20 – February 18)

You’re having one of those stretches where your brain refuses to stay in the lane. A perfectly normal thought can send you somewhere completely unrelated, and suddenly you’re wondering whether pigeons recognize individual humans or why hotel carpets are almost always hideous. The strange part is that these detours are making you more entertaining, not less productive. Your brain has apparently filed a formal objection to linear thinking.

Power Move: Naming a hypothetical band you have no intention of forming
Your Vibe: Mildly chaotic, intellectually entertained

 The grape for you …

Not only would this grape be a fun name for a band, but it’s introduction to the modern wine industry is due to someone with a little bit of an attention span problem. Tilki Kuyruğu is just hitting all the marks this month. Everything about this grape is fun and will happily follow whatever chaotic pattern your brain is on this month. Its name, its vivacious acidity, its bright flavors, its label which I’m still not sure I put here anymore…Tilki Kuyruğu might even spark a few other strange but entertaining thought spirals. 

 Pisces (February 19 – March 20)

Not every feeling needs to become a research project. You have a habit of giving tiny details far more airtime than they deserve, then acting surprised when your brain turns a minor interaction into a three-act psychological drama. This is a good time to let some things remain unexplained. The universe can keep a few secrets without you filing a formal complaint.

Power Move: Leaving one mildly irritating question unanswered on purpose
Your Vibe: Dreamy with a hint of suspicion

The grape for you …

Dreamy with a hint of suspicion? That sounds like something good but not complicated, like Kösetevek. Granted a little research went into learning what this grape actually was…but since then Kösetevek has kind of coasted along. It’s easy and uncomplicated but perfectly lovely. Just the thing for some dreamy drinking.