Before coming to Istanbul, we knew nothing of Turkish wines. Then again, while we consider ourselves pretty knowledgeable about food, we make no claims about wine. We are definitely of the ‘I-know-what-I-like’ variety. There was one incident a few years ago at the home of dear friends. Another guest described a wine we were drinking in terms you often hear, tannins and noses and backwash (maybe not the latter). We thought he was joking so we made up our own descriptions. If we remember rightly, a piercing glance from the host stopped us at ‘hint of burning tyres’. So we’ve since learned not to advertise our ignorance. When we describe wines, at least in public, we now stick to color, plus ‘we like it’ and ‘yum’.
So we didn’t have any particular experience with Turkish wines. We didn’t notice them in Turkish restaurants in the US and UK, if they were even on the menus. And although Laurel had been to Turkey before, she hadn’t remembered them in particular. So it’s been a surprise to discover how wonderful Turkish wines are and, like most everything in Turkey, how inexpensive!
We did know that Armenia and Georgia are the places where wine-growing originated, and as they are a stone’s throw from the Turkish border, we should have guessed. But we didn’t. In any case, you won’t be surprised to learn that Atatürk established the first commercial winery, back in 1925.
Today, Turkey devotes more than 2,000,000 acres to the growing of grapes. This makes it the fourth-largest producer of wine grapes in the world. Viniculture takes place in various areas: just west of Istanbul, in the Thracian regions near the borders with Bulgaria and Greece; in the south on the Mediterranean coast around Izmir; and in the east and the Euphrates valley (where it all began). We have read different things about which area produces the most, so we’ll leave that to the experts.
If we had been here somewhat earlier in the year, we would most likely have taken a wine tour. They look terrific. But it’s not the season right now, so we have been tasting wines at home and in restaurants. Our favourites so far have come from the Angora and Leyla vineyards. We find their generic red and white wines delicious. Also pink. (Did we mention that our tastes in wine aren’t particularly sophisticated?)
So we have to add to our ‘List of Things to Do when We Return to Turkey’ (a list which is getting longer and longer) ‘go on a wine tour’, where we will, hopefully, educate our palates.
