Turquazz: Busting Myths About Turkish Wine
My third article for Turquazz is now live! What began as a celebration of Turkey’s devotion to jazz and its own Anatolian music has developed into a full-blown exaltation of Anatolian music and culinary arts.
“From the Black Sea to the Mediterranean, from Greece to the Iranian border – what is known as Anatolia has a lot to offer, not only a varied landscape but also a long history and multi-faceted culture. For certain, Anatolia is a place of endless stories once you explore its abundant riches. What we focus on today here are the contemporary approaches to this cultural mosaic that is Anatolian culture. There are two words that spring to mind when mentioning culture: flavour and melody. These words have a crucial place in our brand. The ‘zz’ at the end of our name ‘Turquazz’ is a nod to jazz music, the bravura of musical mastery. Turquazz is a cultural movement which aspires to bring Anatolian music and culinary art, artists and creatives and new audiences together.”
What will I be writing about? Wine! Of course! And for this piece, I look at some common misconceptions about Turkish wine.
Busting Myths About Turkish Wine
I’m a big proselytizer for Turkish wine. If you’ve ever stopped by my website before or seen my Instagram account then this does not come as a surprise to you. But of all the time I spend trying to get people interested in it; a fair amount of my effort goes into correcting misconceptions about it. So here I want to address the most common things I’ve heard.
Turkey Does Not Make Wine
So let’s start with the big one. The number one thing I hear when I start talking to people about Turkish wine is: “Turkey makes wine?!” Yes. Yes it does. Turkey has a fairly robust wine industry with over 140 registered wineries and produces about 8 million liters of wine a year.