The Urla Discovery Series
Despite a winemaking history that some scholars say extends back even further in history than the Republic of Georgia’s (renown for claiming to have 8,000 vintages of history), modern day Turkey has little to no domestic wine culture. Under Ottoman rule, Muslims
were prohibited from making and drinking of wine. Combine that with the loss of the Greek and Armenian populations (i.e. those who could make and drink wine) in the early Twentieth Century, it’s no surprise that today’s Turks are just at the beginning of their wine discovery.
While a small handful of wineries have operated here since the 40s, the winemaking boom only really began around the turn of the current century. The passage of so many years between making wine lost the country more than a wine culture. It also took away understanding, knowledge, and availability of Turkey’s own grapes. So when this boom began, what did new Turkish wineries have to emulate? The wines they’d heard about, of course. Cabernet, Merlot, Syrah, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc…essentially the household names of wine.
Boğazkere, Bornova Misketi, Emir, Kalecik Karası, Narince, and Öküzgözü have become fairly well-known now in Turkey with Papazkarası (or Papaskarası) quickly gaining popularity as well. However, according to Turkey’s Tekirdağ Viticulture Research Institute, Turkey is home to more than 1200 grape varieties. So…where are the other 1,193 grapes?
Rediscovering the Past
The vast majority of Turkish grapes live only in the Tekirdağ Viticulture Research Institute’s nursery. More than just the seven named above are used for wine. Unfortunately the number of native Turkish grapes used doesn’t exceed even 40. Happily, there a number of wineries are working on changing this.
One such individual is Can Ortabaş. Owner of the Urla Winery and president of the Urla Bağ Yolu; Ortabaş has partnered with ampelographers, other wineries, and independent grape growers to reintroduce some of Turkey’s nearly forgotten grapes. Together with Umay Çeviker, who won the Geoffrey Roberts Award in 2015 for his work with these grapes and has contributed to The World Atlas of Wine, Wines Grapes, and The Oxford Companion to Wine on Turkey and its varieties, Ortabaş created the Urla Discovery Series.
The goal of the Discovery Series is to highlight not only nearly forgotten grapes but the often overlooked regions whence they hail. The 
series includes three varieties: Gök, a white grape, and Patkara, a black grape, from the Çömelek district of Mersin and Sungurlu, another white variety, from the eponymous town in Çorum. Production for this series was small reflecting the minuscule harvest from private growers. However, thanks to the relationships developed during the 2017 harvest, Urla Winery remains hopeful that it will continue to source grapes from the same vineyards for future vintages.
Istanbites and I learned about the imminent release of these wines when we visited Urla Winery last summer. As soon as they came out I snatched up two sets. When you’ve got unknown wines to taste what else do you do but put on a feast, open your aroma kit, and invite over your best girls for a tasting marathon?
Urla Discovery Gök 2017 Tasting Notes
Delicate, pale lemon in the glass, this first vintage of Gök carried a lot of promise from the very first whiff. Meyer lemon, ripe and juicy pineapple, lychee, tree fruit, white flowers, and black current leaf unfold and mingle in a perfumed cloud. Round, creamy, and medium-bodied on the 
palate with 12.7% abv. Flavors of green apple and quince move into a cheesiness and weight in the mid palate then finish with a touch of mineral.
Urla Discovery Sungurlu 2017 Tasting Notes
Similarly charming was the Sungurlu with its brilliant medium gold color. Very fruity and fresh in the nose with ripe pears, red apple, melon, and cucumber with notes of violet, honeysuckle, and bay leaf. Like an arrow, a zing of acid shot through the core of this medium-bodied wine with 12.5% abv. There was so much happening in the nose but the palate fell a little flat with predominant red apple juice flavors and a musky finish.
Urla Discovery Patkara 2017 Tasting Notes
I have had Patkara before from a different producer. Not my favorite wine so I approached this one hesitantly. This jewel-toned garnet wine radiated light from its core and completely changed my mind about the grape. Aromas of blackberry, black currant leaf, lavender, nutmeg, clove, and salted caramel latte unfolded from the glass. Medium-light bodied with 13.3% abv and low acid, initial fruity and earthy flavors gave way to toasted nuts and coffee. This also drank well after a light chilling.