Turkish wine: a 6,000-year-old industry hiding in plain sight

Anatolia is one of the world's oldest wine regions — older than France, older than Italy, older than almost anywhere with a recognizable modern winemaking tradition. The Hittites pressed grapes here in 1500 BC. Today the country has serious modern producers in Cappadocia, Bozcaada, the Aegean, and Thrace, and an indigenous grape catalogue you can taste nowhere else. The post-2013 ad ban means almost no one outside Turkey knows it. Here's the primer.

The 6,000-year claim, briefly

Domesticated Vitis vinifera was almost certainly first cultivated in eastern Anatolia, near present-day Şanlıurfa and the Caucasus borderland — the genetic evidence and the archaeological record converge on that region as one of the world's primary points of origin for wine. The Hittite tablets of the second millennium BC reference vineyards in detail, including pruning calendars and tax assessments by varietal. Cappadocia's underground cities — Derinkuyu, Kaymaklı — include presses and wine storage chambers carved directly into the soft tuff. The continuity isn't unbroken — the Ottoman period suppressed Muslim consumption — but the agricultural tradition never died, particularly among Greek and Armenian winemakers in Cappadocia, the Aegean coast, and Eastern Anatolia who continued production through the 19th century.

The grapes you can only drink here

Turkey has roughly 1,200 indigenous grape varieties on its national register, of which perhaps 60 are made into commercial wine. Six are the entry points:

• Öküzgözü ("ox eye") — a red from Elazığ in eastern Anatolia, medium-bodied, bright cherry, a workhorse for everyday drinking.
• Boğazkere ("throat scratcher") — Diyarbakır's grape, tannic, structured, the variety that ages well. Often blended with Öküzgözü.
• Kalecik Karası — central Anatolia, near Ankara. Light-bodied, aromatic, the grape sometimes called Turkey's Pinot Noir. Rescued from near-extinction in the 1980s by Ankara University agronomists.
• Narince — a white from Tokat, medium-acid, slightly herbaceous, the white most likely to be excellent at the entry tier.
• Emir — Cappadocia's white. Crisp, mineral, picks up the volcanic terroir audibly. Often used for sparkling.
• Kavaklıdere's Çalkarası — a rosé grape from the Aegean. Most rosés are forgettable; the better Çalkarası bottles are not.

The producers that matter

The Turkish wine industry is dominated by four large producers and rounded out by 50+ boutique wineries that have multiplied since the 2000s. The four majors:

• Kavaklıdere — founded 1929, the largest and most omnipresent. Their Côtes d'Avanos and Selection ranges are good value; their Pendore single-vineyard bottles compete internationally.
• Doluca — Thrace-based, the second-oldest. Their DLC and Karma ranges are reliable; their Sarafin estate (Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay) is well-regarded.
• Kayra — Eastern Anatolia, with the consultancy of California winemaker Daniel O'Donnell since the 2000s. Their Vintage Boğazkere is the standard-setter for that grape.
• Vinkara — Kalecik, near Ankara, with a focus on Kalecik Karası. Their Yaşasın sparkling is the country's best traditional-method sparkling wine.

Among the boutiques: Suvla (Gallipoli peninsula, French-trained winemaker, the country's most acclaimed Cabernet Franc), Pasaeli (Aegean, indigenous-varietal focus, Karasakız from Bozcaada), Urla Şarapçılık (İzmir hinterland, ambitious estate), Diren (Tokat, Narince specialist), and Lükens Şarapçılık (a recent micro-producer making the most interesting wines from Bozcaada vineyards).

Where to taste — the four wine regions to visit

Cappadocia

The volcanic-soil region with the deepest historical roots. Two producers are open for tastings: Turasan in Ürgüp (book ahead, 200 TL tasting flight, professional cellar tour) and Kocabağ in Uçhisar (smaller, more rustic, walk-in tastings). Several smaller wineries are open seasonally; ask your hotel concierge. Drinking Emir or Kalecik Karası in a cave restaurant in Göreme is the best argument for Turkish wine you'll get in a single evening.

Bozcaada

The Aegean island off the Çanakkale coast — a single-purpose wine destination. The whole island is vineyards, and four producers run tasting rooms walkable from the village center: Talay, Çamlıbağ, Corvus, and the smaller Yunatçılar. The Karasakız grape is the local specialty. Visit between May and October; the island closes in winter.

Şirince (near Ephesus)

The Greek-Ottoman village in the hills above Selçuk has been a fruit-wine and grape-wine destination for a century. Most of what's sold to day-trippers is sweet fruit wine of variable quality — but the grape wines from local producers like Lucien Arkas (in nearby Torbalı) and Urla Şarapçılık are serious. Combine a Şirince visit with a tasting at Urla on the way back.

Thrace and the Gallipoli peninsula

The country's most internationally-styled wines come from here. Suvla, Barbare, and Gali have estate tasting rooms reachable by car from Çanakkale. This is the region planted to Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, and Syrah; if you want a Bordeaux-grammar Turkish wine, it's coming from here.

The 2013 ad ban and what it broke

In 2013, Turkey passed Law 6487, banning all alcohol advertising — print, broadcast, online — and prohibiting alcohol brand sponsorships of any cultural or sporting event. Producers can no longer mention their wines on social media, run tastings open to the public without specific licensing, or advertise to international wine media. The law has had a chilling effect on Turkish wine's international visibility precisely as the quality has improved. You will not see Turkish wine in many export markets; you will see it sparingly in international competitions; you will rarely see Turkish producers at trade fairs. The wine has gotten quietly better and the world has stopped noticing.

The consumer effect inside Turkey is significant: wine prices have nearly tripled in real terms since 2010 due to alcohol-tax (ÖTV) increases. A bottle that was 30 TL is now 350 TL. Restaurants have shifted to small-bottle and by-the-glass programs to keep wine accessible.

The bottle to start with

Kavaklıdere Selection Öküzgözü-Boğazkere blend, around 350 TL retail in Turkey. It's the country's most representative wine and the easiest to find. After that, work toward a Vinkara Yaşasın sparkling, a Suvla Cabernet Franc Reserve, and a Pasaeli K2 Karasakız from Bozcaada — and you've covered the country's range in three more bottles.

If you're pairing wine with food, our food guide covers the dishes these wines were built around. Şirince and the Aegean coast are easiest from İzmir; Bozcaada from Çanakkale; Cappadocia tastings from Ürgüp or Uçhisar.

Tagged: culturefoodcappadociaaegean