Your November 2026 Turkish Wine Horoscope
Normally I love autumn, but the autumn of burning blue skies, colorful, crunchy leaves, crisp air, and cozy sweaters. Not these oppressive grey skies and rain that we’ve got in Istanbul. Also, why is there this insistence on heating public transportation? Bus, tram, ferry, metro…none of them need to be heated, for pity’s sake. Not only are we all crammed in sharing body heat, but people are swathed with layer upon layer. I’ve even seen people the last few days wearing earmuffs. It’s 15 C, not 5. You need earmuffs as much as we need heat on the ferry.
Okay, my rant finished, let’s get on to the important bit…what does this month hold for us? With which grape will you be vibing this month? Read on to find out. Should just knowing the grape not be enough, don’t hesitate to message me for specific recommendations. 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)
Aries, you’re developing a suspiciously strong attachment to being right, and honestly, it’s getting entertaining. This month, you’re finding that one particular idea keeps following you around. Instead of arguing with it, you’re finally giving it enough attention to see where it leads. Turns out, your brain occasionally has excellent ideas when nobody’s asking it to prove anything.
Power Move: Following the idea before talking yourself out of it
Your Vibe: Trouble with a point to make
The grape for you …
Can good, nay excellent wine be made from a grape everyone else discounts? That was the question niggling in the brain of Paşaeli winery about your grape this month, Çal Karası. Overlooked for years, buried in unnamed blends, relegated to cheap meyhane wine, Çal Karası was the grape no one cared about. Until Paşaeli wouldn’t let go of the idea that the grape was capable of more. And they were right. Since their first release in 2010, your November grape has exploded in popularity with over half a dozen wineries now churning out Çal Karası in all possible styles. Go ahead, be troublesome and make that point. You never know how well it might go.
Taurus (April 20 – May 20)
You keep getting pulled toward something that makes absolutely no sense on paper. Naturally, that’s the thing you can’t stop thinking about. This month, you’re giving yourself permission to follow a detour instead of insisting everything has to lead somewhere useful. A weird invitation, random idea, or unexpected change of plans could end up being far more fun than whatever you originally had in mind.
Power Move: Saying yes before you’ve figured out the entire plan
Your Vibe: Happily off script
The grape for you …
You know what makes no sense on paper? Making high quality wine with a grape most people consider only good enough for eating. You know better though. That’s why your grape this month is Sultaniye. Known in North America as Thompson Seedless, most people have no idea that this is a vitis vinifera, aka a wine grape variety.
Go ahead, follow that weird invitation and say yes before you have a plan. Because if it leads to the same great place as a quality Sultaniye, you’re doing really well.
Gemini (May 20 – June 20)
Somewhere along the way, your harmless little side interest has acquired its own research department. You’ve got tabs open that you don’t remember opening, a new opinion on something nobody asked you about, and enough obscure knowledge to become insufferable at a dinner party. The real question is whether you’re going to do anything with all this information or simply become the most interesting person in a very specific niche.
Power Move: Turning your latest obsession into an actual project
Your Vibe: Wikipedia with a social life
The grape for you …
Have you ever considered what could happen if you turn your latest obsession into an actual project? That one little idea that keeps niggling in the back of your mind could lead to a major discovery. Like when Paşaeli’s Seyit Karagözoğlu had the idea that grapes we’ve thought were native to Turkey might be related to grapes from elsewhere. His research project gave us all a big shock earlier this year when we learned that your grape this month, Kolorko, is actually the most lauded grape of Hungary: Furmint.
Just think of what you could discover if you follow a question all the way down the rabbit hole.
Cancer (June 21 – July 22)
Your tolerance for nonsense has developed a very specific expiration date. Someone can get away with a lot when you’re in a good mood, but the minute they start treating your time like an unlimited subscription, the service gets canceled. The funny part is how shocked people get when the person they’ve been taking for granted suddenly has other plans.
Power Move: Making yourself unavailable for someone else’s unnecessary drama
Your Vibe: Customer service has left the building
The grape for you …
A no-nonsense attitude needs a no-nonsense grape this month. That’s Hasandede. That’s not to say that Hasandede is boring or basic, anything but! It means that it doesn’t need to be dressed up in fancy winemaking techniques for it to be good. This is a still sadly overlooked grape with only two, possibly three wineries working with it. I, personally, would love to see it made in a few different styles or learn how it acts in a blend…but the point is that it doesn’t need to do anything more than just be itself.
Leo (July 23 – August 22)
Leo, apparently the universe has decided to test your patience by making someone else the interesting one in the room. Worse, they’re getting attention for something you could’ve done better. Here’s the twist: you’re genuinely impressed. Enjoy the rare experience of admiring someone’s talents without immediately wondering how to outdo them.
Power Move: Giving credit where it’s due without adding a footnote
Your Vibe: Magnanimous with a tiny asterisk
The grape for you …
It is hard to step out of the limelight when you’ve felt its warmth for so very long. But this month you’re playing second fiddle, like a blending grape. That’s what makes Turkey’s most famous blending grape, Öküzgözü, your vibe this month. You can salvage your pride by thinking that a winemaker wouldn’t put you in the mix if you didn’t make the wine better though.
It might just be a blending grape…but at least it’s a famous one?
Virgo (August 23 – September 22)
Virgo, your personal aesthetic is undergoing a hostile takeover by something you would’ve considered absolutely ridiculous six months ago. Maybe you’re suddenly obsessed with cowboy boots or collecting vintage matchbooks. Whatever’s happening, your usual taste has left the group chat, and frankly, the new management has excellent ideas.
Power Move: Building an outfit around the most ridiculous thing in your closet
Your Vibe: Accidental fashion icon
The grape for you …
You’re a little ridiculous this month. It’s fun to be ridiculous sometimes. Especially when you do it in your best clothes. That double whammy is your grape this month is Karkuş, aka Kerküş. This grape has so much pigment naturally in its skins that the wine glows a brilliant orange-amber in the glass…all without any skin contact at all.
Ridiculous, fashion icon. That’s you and Karkuş.
Libra (September 23 – October 22)
Someone has apparently decided that your personal life is a community referendum, and you are fresh out of public comment periods. Libra, you don’t owe anyone a detailed explanation of why you’re doing something differently this month. Let them speculate. Their theories are probably more entertaining than the actual answer.
Power Move: Keeping one deliciously unexplainable thing to yourself
Your Vibe: Private life, public intrigue
The grape for you …
Much like you, grapes and winemakers don’t need to explain anything when they decide to try something a little different. Like what different people have done with Sıdalan, your grape for this month. We first knew Sıdalan as a mineral-driven white wine that danced on the tongue with citrus and candied fruits. Then suddenly there were bubbles. Now there’s skin contact (if you can afford that one, that is. Not even I can). Regardless, you, like this grape, have a lot going on that requires no explanations to anyone.
Scorpio (October 23 – November 22)
Your tolerance for predictable entertainment has hit rock bottom. You want a film with an ending that makes you stare at the credits in disbelief, and every recommendation from your friends sounds like something you’ve already seen. So naturally, you’re about to watch a four-hour documentary about a bizarre unsolved art theft at two in the morning. Sleep is temporary. Getting to the bottom of this ridiculous mystery is personal.
Power Move: Turning your morbid curiosity into an excuse to ask the question nobody else dares to ask
Your Vibe: Dark arts enthusiast
The grape for you …
You like the dark arts? You need a grape that you can call into and be enveloped by a plush, dark embrace. Patkara. That’s your grape. With it’s dark fruit and earthy flavors, Patkara is like being embraced by the earth itself. Happily, more and more wineries are recognizing its dark allure giving you more choice. Days are shorter, nights are darker, even the sun is colder this month…a perfect month for Patkara.
Sagittarius (November 23 – December 22)
Your latest brilliant idea requires a skill you don’t possess, equipment you don’t own, and a level of commitment that past experience suggests is wildly optimistic. Naturally, you’re already telling people about it. There’s something deeply satisfying about being a beginner at something nobody expects you to attempt, especially when you refuse to be embarrassed by how spectacularly unqualified you are.
Power Move: Convincing a stranger to join your ridiculous adventure before they ask too many questions
Your Vibe: Enthusiastic amateur with delusions of grandeur
The grape for you …
Once upon a time, a “beginner” with little formal training began making wine out east. Probably a lot of people didn’t think much of his attempts at first…but then not only did he succeed, he did it so spectacularly when he revealed a new grape: Kösetevek. Enthusiastic amateur with delusions of grandeur? That sounds like a negative…but like many enthusiasts, you and Kösetevek are going to traipse through this month laughing at everyone who dismisses you.
Capricorn (December 23 – January 19)
Capricorn, you’ve reached an age where a party invitation comes with a list of questions that would make a wedding planner nervous. Who’s going? How loud is the music? Is there adequate seating? Most importantly, will there be a reasonable opportunity to leave without an elaborate farewell? You’re not antisocial. You simply believe that an evening should have a clearly defined exit strategy.
Power Move: Arriving in your own car so nobody controls your departure
Your Vibe: Socially selective with a getaway plan
The grape for you …
I feel you. Sort of, I actually am antisocial. But when you want to avoid society and stay in for a sedate evening, you should be able to have that. There is a grape for that vibe: Karalahna. Often overlooked, this still rarely seen on the shelf grape is something everyone but you is missing out on. Open a bottle and enjoy a night in by your onesy…or…bring a bottle to the party you couldn’t avoid and lob the empty at the crowd and use the ensuing chaos to make your escape. Win-win.
Aquarius (January 20 – February 18)
Aquarius, you’ve been waiting for the world to catch up with an idea you had ages ago, and now somebody else is getting credit for it. Annoying? Absolutely. Their version is attracting attention, which means yours wasn’t as impossible as everyone made it sound. Rather than retreating into a private corner to perfect your original concept, get yours out there. The world has a terrible memory, and timing is a ridiculous advantage.
Power Move: Launching your original idea before someone else claims the territory
Your Vibe: Futurist with a grudge
The grape for you …
Your grape this month: Kalecik Karası. I hear what you’re thinking: Kalecik Karası? Futurist? Great idea no one’s caught up with? This is Turkey’s second most popular native black grape. What?
Sure, now it is, but it wasn’t always. Back in the day, almost no one paid attention to any of the native grapes, even those we take for granted now. A few voices managed to take grapes like Kalecik Karası from obscurity—near extinction, in fact—to household names (well, here at least). With those voices growing in number and getting louder every year, people are finally catching up with you.
Pisces (February 19 – March 20)
Pisces, an unexpected opportunity to show off a talent you usually keep to yourself is heading your way this month. The catch is that it’ll happen somewhere you weren’t planning to impress anyone, which is precisely why you’ll be so good at it. Resist the urge to downplay the moment with a joke. Let somebody else be surprised by what you can do.
Power Move: Accepting the compliment without turning it into a punchline
Your Vibe: Accidental showstopper
The grape for you …
You and your November have a big thing in common: showing off a showstopping new talent. Although for your grape, Papazkarası, it is not accidental. We knew Papazkarası could do red. We knew it could rosé, and the last few years proved it could do white. You know what it’s doing now? At long last…it’s doing bubbles. And it, like you, will stop traffic with how completely fabulous it is.
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