A lot of people are surprised when they first come to Turkey and they discover that it is a wine producing country. There is nothing better after a long day of sightseeing to sit on your balcony and enjoy a glass of Turkish wine, while doing so you can be amazed to learn that Turkey is one of the earliest wine producing areas in the world.
I was reliably informed though, that Turkey struggles to produce a good grape. Turkey is a very fertile country with lots of water underground, because of this, the grape vine does not have to work as hard and therefore does not produce a good grape. There are some areas though, that manage to pull it off with modern technology and you will find four main wine producing areas in Turkey.
Brands of Turkish wine
Pamukkale Wine
You have probably heard of the area of Pamukkale as it is also known as Cotton Castle. Pools of water are cascading down the mountain side with hardened calcium. Well, Pamukkale it is also the most famous Turkish wines producer and has been going since 1962.
The average price of a bottle is 30TL ( 12 pounds or 20 dollars) and they produce all the famous types such as Merlot, Sauvigon Blanc and Chardonnay. 30% of all the Pamukkale Turkish wines are exported abroad to Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Denmark and Japan.
Website address – http://www.pamukkalesarap.com/
Newspaper review – Pamukkale Wine In The Media
Foreign website address – http://www.pamukkalewein.com/seite/our_wine.htm
Sevilen Wine
This wine has been in production since 1942 and lately the company also branched out into producing cider in Turkey. Today, they produce wine from two areas which are Izmir on the Aegean Coast and the Anatolia Plateau
Kavaklidere Wine
This Turkish wine producing company was founded in 1929 and produces grapes in the Anatolia region. They export to European, American and middle east markets so you may just find one of their bottles in your local supermarket.
They boost of their wine accomplishments which has earned them 500 medals. This may be due to the fact that they teamed up with a french wine producer in order to improve the quality of their vines and grapes.
If you go onto their website then there is a rather impressive historical picture gallery of their vineyards and Turkish wines production over the years.
Website address –http://www.kavaklidere.com/gallery.aspx
Sirince Wine
I mentioned Sirince in an earlier post as the village is open to tourists. To be honest, I prefer other brands of Turkish wine to Sirince. The wine produced in this village seems to be very intense and at times you could compare it to alcoholic undiluted fruit squash juice. There does not seem to be a website specifically for Sirince wine as there are a number of producers however one supplier on the Aegean Coast is Akberg Wines.
Website address – http://www.akbergwines.com/
Facebook Group – Artemis Sirince Wine.
Turkish Wine Producing Areas
Many thanks to Karen from Circus Cafe in Altinkum, for helping me with this post on Turkish Wines
You’re not deterred by the review, Geri?
Have you tried ringing any of these numbers? They should be able to help you with an English distributor http://www.sevilengroup.com/en/contact.aspx
Hi, can you help, I am looking for Sevilen winery, if they have a distributor in the UK, have emailed them it bounced back (inbox full)
would appreciate your help.
thanks
Geri
Yeah, that is why I compare their wines to “alcoholic undiluted fruit squash juice!”.
Elmali is on my bucket list though so the winery would be good. Tried to get there on my last trip but never made it.
Natalie, great stuff, thanks for bring Turkish wines to the attention of your readers.
FYI…Sirince is famous for its fruit wines, not for its great wines.
If you have an opportunity to visit Elmal? in your travels, stop in at the Likya Winery:
http://www.bougainville-turkey.com/likya-winery/
While there, visit Tekke village, an Alevi community and if you are really lucky you might be there during the Abdal Musa ceremony, not to be missed:
http://www.bougainville-turkey.com/abdal-musa/