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Turkish Wine

HomeTurkish Wine (Page 51)

  One of the wineries making up the Urla Bağ Yolu, Mozaik Winery sits in a place of idyllic, pastoral heaven. Vineyards run alongside paddocks keeping pace with the racing horses that are raised next to the winery. Trees dot rolling hills providing shade for grape and horse alike while airy stables dwarf the small onsite tasting room. Everything looks so calm and easy that at first glance you would think that the vineyards, winery, and stables simply appeared. However, it was hard work and passion that built everything. Planting the Seeds of a Dream In 2006 Ali and Melis Emin founded Mozaik Winery’s vineyards and the Mahrem label in the Urla

  LA Wines holds the record for being one of (if not the!) largest organic vineyards in Turkey. Wines at this beautiful Izmir estate are made with the same amount of care given to the vines. However, what I find the most delightful about this winery is its willingness to experiment and color outside the box. Istanbites and I recently had the chance to sit down with one of LA Wines’ winemakers, Ali Boz, and learn the history of this winery. Keeping it Clean In 2010 Lucian Arkas purchased the company Idol Wines. While he renamed the vineyards LA Wines, as a nod to the work done before him he kept the

  Pamukkale Wines is a family company started in 1962 by Fevzi Tokat. Tokat began with a fairly small capacity of 100,000 liters. Pamukkale has since grown into one of Turkey’s largest wineries. Now looked after by Yasin Tokat, the winery produces 3.5 million liters of wine every year. It’s main goal: to offer the best quality wine to the wine lovers at the best prices. The winery sources grapes from a variety of locations in Turkey. It’s “home” vineyards located in the Aegean Region of Çal are made up of clay-loamy, limestone, pebbly soil at an altitude of 850 meters above sea level. This area has been the home

  Together with Talay, Amadeus, and Çamlıbağ, Corvus is one of Turkey’s Aegean region wineries located on the island of Bozcaada. Corvus came about in 2002. Like many winery owners in Turkey, this was a second career for founder Reşit Söley who moved to Bozcaada to open his winery. He named it Corvus, which is Latin for “crow” because of the vast amount of crows that also make the island their home. Söley makes wine from a variety of both international and indigenous grapes. In addition to Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, Merlot, Syrah, Cabernet Franc, the winery also cultivates the island varieties Çavus, Vasilaki, Kuntra, and Karalahana. Corvus buys in fruit from other

  When the Yürüt family began to make wine, they didn’t know that they would one day be sharing their dream with a considerably large crowd of wine lovers. Their initial curiosity led them to research, read, discover, and eventually establish Bodrum Winery. Erhan and Füsun Yürüt began making wine at home in the 1980s. While initially everything was a trial and error method, their interest grew leading them to attend wine making courses, tasting events, and tour vineyards. Eventually they devoted themselves entirely to what was once a simple hobby. In 2010 they officially turned the hobby into a full-blown business in Kızılağaç, Bodrum. When Grapes Go on a Holiday At first

  Turkey is home to hundreds, if not thousands of vitis vinfera grapes not found anywhere else. As with many winemaking countries some grapes are more popular than others. It is easy to find wine here made from grapes like Narince, Emir, Kalecik Karası, Öküzgözü, and Boğazkere. But Yapıncak not so much. Very few wineries work with this grape. Really only Suvla, Paşaeli, and Sevilen. Yapıncak  Never heard of this grape? Not surprising. The Yapıncak grape is difficult to grow and prone to low yields even in good years. Its continued existence is down to the few winemakers who continue the struggle to cultivate it. Grown around Turkey’s Marmara sea, largely in Eceabat, Yapıncak

  Good wine shouldn’t have to be expensive. Unfortunately that is not always true in Turkey. Someone asked me recently to recommend a wine under 25 TL (about $6). And I really couldn’t do it. Double that price and we can talk. There are very few wines here priced under 40 TL ($9) that I will drink. It’s not that I’m a snob (well really I am but that’s a different topic). I just prefer to drink wine that a) tastes nice and b) won’t kill me. For every rule there exists and exception. While I still refuse most wines that live at the 25 TL mark there are a

  My love affair with Ayda Winery began last fall in my local bottle shop. I’m in this shop a lot. Like, a lot a lot. So when there’s a new bottle somewhere I zero in on it pretty quickly. With the Ayda Winery VinAida collection it wasn’t difficult at all since they were sitting right there on check out counter. Actually I think they might all have been samples for the store owner. There was only the one set and the shop doesn’t carry them*. They let me buy a couple bottles anyway. I think they get a kick out of the odd foreigner who gets so excited about

  The wine world recognizes some eighteen “noble” grapes. The most common among them being: Riesling, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Syrah. What makes them noble? In a nutshell, availability does. These 18 varieties have wide-spread appeal and can be found in most major wine-producing areas in the world. Not for nothing, but I like the way VinePair puts it: “… these grapes are the gateway drugs.” The Noble Grapes of Turkey   None of Turkey’s native grapes is included in the list of noble (or international) grapes. Not surprising as by and large the grapes are cultivated only here in Turkey. However if Turkey had its own list of noble

  While I have many favorite wineries in Turkey, Prodom holds a special place in my heart. The first year I lived in Turkey I lived in a conservative neighborhood a fairly far distance from the heart of the city. Alcohol was not easy to come by. And good wine was even more rare than that. So for a year I was convinced that all Turkish wine was crap. Then I moved to the city center where there is not only wine on grocery store shelves but also proper wine shops and wine bars. It was at one of these bars where a friend of mine took me that I had