Your September 2026 Turkish Wine Horoscope
Well. August sure was eventful. Advertising alcohol has been banned in Turkey for over 10 years. At the time of the initial ban, social media platforms like Instagram were still very new and not so popular. As such, the law really only accounted for websites as online platforms and for years now, Instagram has been a bit of a loophole. July saw that that language tightened specifically stating that alcohol producers and sales points (shops, bars, restaurants, etc) could no longer post images of branded alcohol as that would be considered “advertising.”
Beginning August first, that ban was extended to private individuals. Anyone reported violating the ban faces heavy fines. A lot of us have many questions. For me, chief among them is whether or not I can post (branded) pictures here and whether or not I can even post tasting notes on my website anymore. I’m looking into that.
That’s a very long intro to say that your horoscope this month is a little different than we’re all used to. You’ll see what I mean. 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)
You’ve picked a fight with a parking spot, an email, and possibly a vending machine this month, and you’ve won two out of three. Patience has never been your thing, but this September it’s practically extinct. You want the answer immediately, and you want everyone to notice how right you were. Plus that vending machine still owes you a dollar.
Power Move: Turning a two-minute task into a full-contact sport
Your Vibe: A sprinter stuck in a marathon-shaped month
The grape for you …
Vasilaki has a harvest timeline similar to many of the other Bozcaada grapes. Despite that, this grape performs at its best when harvested a little on the early side. Like you, it has little patience and prefers to rush onto the next stage as quickly as possible. If you’re looking for a grape that matches you sign this month, look no further than Vasilaki.
Taurus (April 20 – May 20)
You’re getting unusually interested in making your surroundings work better for you, Taurus. That drawer you keep avoiding? Fixed. The awkward setup at home? Rearranged. The thing you’ve been tolerating because changing it seemed like too much effort? Finally dealt with. You’re discovering that a small improvement can make your whole day feel noticeably better, and now you’re looking around for the next thing to fix.
Power Move: Getting oddly excited about a better system
Your Vibe: Domestic engineer with very strong opinions
The grape for you …
Grapes grow up, right? But in the days before trellises and wires, how did they do it? They, like you, made their environment work for them and find things to climb, like trees. A lot of grapes in the wild still grow this way. In Italy, it’s called vite maritata (married vines) and there’s a whole movement to bring back this style of grape growing. Italy isn’t the only one. Vite mariata vines live in Turkey too, namely rare grapes like Panik that grow in Bodrum.
Gemini (May 20 – June 20)
You’ve got a suspiciously good answer for everything lately, Gemini. Someone brings you a problem, and your brain immediately finds the angle they missed. The tricky part is knowing when to share your brilliant observation and when to let people discover it themselves. Your restraint is impressive. Your urge to say “Actually…” is less so.
Power Move: Letting a good idea marinate before announcing it
Your Vibe: Smirking two steps ahead
The grape for you …
Some grapes, Boğazkere for example, enjoy a little marinating themselves. They macerate to extract phenols and tannins, hang out in aging vessels like clay or oak to soften said tannins, and wait in their bottles to add extra depth. Everyone else is waiting impatiently in the wings, swigging immature wine. Boğazkere, like you, is forward-thinking and knows that patience will pay off and people will eventually come to the same realization you had.
Cancer (June 21 – July 22)
A strange desire to make a decision has arrived. Something that’s been sitting in limbo suddenly gets a firm answer, and the relief is immediate. No more reopening the question, asking five people what they think, inventing a brand-new concern to keep the debate alive, or checking whether everyone else agrees. Apparently, certainty feels pretty good when you stop demanding a perfect reason for it.
Power Move: Putting the decision down once it’s made
Your Vibe: Decisive with suspiciously little drama
The grape for you …
Don’t you hate it when people ask you which grape they should have with something? I sure do. Yes, there are some pairing principles to guide the choice, but so much of it is subjective based on a person’s taste. One grape you can almost universally suggest (for a pairing or just enjoyment) is Barburi. There might be some monsters out there who don’t like it, but I happily haven’t met them yet.
Leo (July 23 – August 22)
You’re feeling oddly desirous of making something much more fun than it needs to be. A routine plan gets an unnecessary upgrade, a boring task acquires a ridiculous soundtrack, a mundane errand becomes an excuse to dress up, and even paperwork starts looking like it could use some flair. Productivity may not improve, but morale is doing spectacularly well.
Power Move: Turning the ordinary into something worth enjoying
Your Vibe: Easily entertained and impossible to bore
The grape for you …
So many people overlook Sultaniye. It’s just a table/raisin grape, right? Wrong! Sultaniye may be “ordinary,” but only because it’s planted in such great quantity—especially in Turkey. There’s growing awareness here and abroad though that Sultaniye, aka Thompson Seedless, is capable of greatness. If you haven’t already, take this month to get to know this grape a little more. Dance around your home to your own soundtrack while cleaning with a vacuum in one hand and Sultaniye in the other.
Virgo (August 23 – September 22)
There’s a growing appreciation for the pleasure of being pleasantly surprised. A plan goes slightly off-script and turns out better than expected. An unexpected message makes your day. A last-minute change gives you a reason to try something you wouldn’t have chosen yourself. A random recommendation ends up being exactly what you needed. For once, not knowing exactly what’s coming feels like part of the fun.
Power Move: Saying yes before asking for every detail
Your Vibe: Curious with a soft spot for surprises
The grape for you …
We all got a big surprise in February when we learned that the rare Marmara grape Kolorko wasn’t actually a Turkish grape at all. It’s Hungary’s Furmint! Who knew?! Well, none of us obviously until Paşaeli and José Vouillamoz conducted DNA testing on a group of Turkish grapes. That Turkey shares grapes with Greece (and probably Bulgaria, Georgia, and other neighbors) makes sense. Vines don’t respect borders, especially not those put into place after the vines were already planted. But Turkey and Hungary don’t share a border which made this a particularly surprising discovery. Let yourself be pleasantly surprised this month with Kolorko aka Furmint.
Libra (September 23 – October 22)
You’ve discovered a sudden appreciation for things that make life feel a little more luxurious. A nicer coffee cup makes the morning feel more civilized. Sheets that don’t feel like sandpaper make bedtime considerably more appealing. The good candle finally gets used instead of being reserved for some imaginary special occasion. Even a ridiculously soft towel starts feeling like a completely reasonable household priority. Small upgrades seem far less frivolous when they make an ordinary Tuesday considerably better.
Power Move: Being slightly unreasonable about personal comfort
Your Vibe: Low-key luxurious with excellent taste
The grape for you …
Low-key luxurious with excellent taste perfectly describes the jewel of the Black Sea: Narince. This grape has proven over the years to be terroir expressive, bright and linear in steel, round and rich in barrel, interesting with skin contact, and fabulous when bubbly. Despite how many personalities it can show, basic Narince with no fancy happenings in the cellar still has that low-key luxury aspect to it.
Scorpio (October 23 – November 22)
A strange fascination with the backstory of everything takes hold of you. A passing comment sends you wondering how something came to be, and suddenly the surface-level explanation feels woefully inadequate. You start asking better questions, and the answers are considerably more interesting than the original story. Naturally, this makes casual conversation a little dangerous because you now want the full version.
Power Move: Asking the question nobody else thought to ask
Your Vibe: Intensely curious with excellent follow-up questions
The grape for you …
Let’s talk about Acıkara‘s fascinating backstory. Located in the heights of the Taurus Mountains above the Mediterranean, Likya knew there must be native grapes floating around there somewhere. They’ve put a lot of effort into rescuing grapes over the years, and their first was Acıkara. But I’ve promised you a fascinating backstory! How do you find grapes in the wild? You ask the people who spend a lot of time there. In this case, a shepherd led them to wild vines that turned out to be Acıkara.
While that might sound strange to people not in Turkey, what you have to understand is that people here still free range graze their animals. Shepherding is very much an active profession here.
Sagittarius (November 23 – December 22)
You feel an oddly specific desire for a change of scenery creeping in this month. The usual route feels a little too familiar, so a detour suddenly seems necessary. Even a small change in surroundings makes the day feel more interesting, and suddenly the idea of doing something the usual way seems deeply overrated. Familiarity has officially become a little boring.
Power Move: Taking the scenic route when there’s no reason not to
Your Vibe: Restless in the most entertaining way
The grape for you …
Grapes migrate as much as people do. In fact, people migration is often how grapes move around, like Çal Karası. As with Kolorko, it’s thanks to Paşaeli and José Vouillamoz that we know this grape, from the Aegean’s Çal, is identical to Crete’s Liatiko. Talk about taking the scenic route! While Çal Karası and Liatiko may be the same, they grow in sufficiently different climates with different soils and growing conditions that they give their own expressions in the glass.
Capricorn (December 23 – January 19)
Nobody asked for a competition, which makes winning one considerably more satisfying. A harmless challenge becomes weirdly compelling, and suddenly there’s a personal record to beat. The stakes remain laughably low, but the determination is very real. Nobody needs to know how satisfying it is to win something that technically didn’t matter.
Power Move: Keeping score when nobody else knows there’s a game
Your Vibe: Mildly competitive with excellent self-control
The grape for you …
It could be monopoly or getting up the stairs first, you approach every little contest with the intensity and control of a military sergeant. That’s why your grape match is Bozcaada’s Çavuş. Unlike most grapes, Çavuş needs a pollinator, automatically putting it at a disadvantage. Like you, this grape thrives under pressure though and little inconveniences like this don’t bother it in the least.
Aquarius (January 20 – February 18)
The way something is arranged suddenly becomes very important. The order of a task matters. A particular shortcut makes infinitely more sense. One preferred method seems obviously better than every alternative. Even the placement of an object can start feeling slightly off when it isn’t where it belongs. Once the preferred method is established, changing it feels like unnecessary bureaucracy. There’s a very good chance nobody else understands why this matters so much, and that’s perfectly fine.
Power Move: Refusing to explain a perfectly reasonable preference
Your Vibe: Lovably particular with unconventional standards
The grape for you …
While some grapes are perfectly happy to grow pretty much anywhere (Cabernet Sauvignon), some are very particular about they’re location. They’ll grow outside their preferred conditions, but they won’t be themselves. Emir is one of Turkey’s most particular grapes. It not only wants but needs the conditions of its home in Cappadocia: loose volcanic soil, dry conditions, cold, near extreme elevation. That’s what gives us the zingy, green, almost salty Emir we know. Yes it can (and does) grow elsewhere…but if you’ve tried Güney Emir, you know it’s not the same. Be particular. Be Emir.
Pisces (February 19 – March 20)
Someone else’s strange little habit suddenly makes perfect sense. A conversation takes an unexpected turn, and an idea you’d previously dismissed starts looking surprisingly useful. You find yourself enjoying the novelty of seeing something from a different angle, especially when it challenges an assumption you didn’t realize you were carrying. The resulting perspective is sticking around.
Power Move: Keeping an open mind when your first reaction says otherwise
Your Vibe: Intrigued by unconventional thinking
The grape for you …
What’s more unconventional in the grape world than a grape that has not one, but two full harvests every season?! From Turkey’s southeast, Bilbizeki gets harvested twice. The first harvest takes place in August. Roughly half the grapes on the vine are ripe at this time, while the others may have just reached fruit set. Sometimes a full month passes before the rest of the grapes are good to go. That’s a pretty strange little habit for you!
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