Turkey

Asia

A vast vineyard, most of it eaten rather than drunk, over one of the oldest wine landscapes on earth.

Anatolia is a strong candidate for the birthplace of viticulture, and Turkey has one of the largest vineyard areas in the world. Only a small percentage of it becomes wine: most of the crop is eaten fresh or dried as sultanas. Domestic alcohol consumption is low, taxation is high and advertising is restricted, so the industry works within tight limits.

The native grapes are the reason to look. Öküzgözü and boğazkere from the east around Elazığ and Diyarbakır are usually blended, the first for fruit and acidity and the second for tannin and structure. Kalecik karası from central Anatolia is lighter and aromatic, comparable in weight to gamay. Narince and emir are the whites, from Tokat and Cappadocia.

Cappadocia grows vines in volcanic tuff at altitude, and Thrace, on the European side near the Greek and Bulgarian borders, is the most maritime and the most internationally planted region.

What the label says

NoneNo appellation system
Turkey has no legal appellation hierarchy. Regional names on labels are producer statements.

Signature grapes

our choice

Key regions

  • Thrace
  • Aegean
  • Cappadocia
  • Elazığ
  • Diyarbakır
  • Tokat
  • Denizli

A dashed outline is a region we describe but do not yet hold a page for.

Grapes that originate here

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Worth knowing

  • Most of the Turkish grape crop is eaten or dried, not fermented.
  • Öküzgözü and boğazkere are usually blended with each other.
  • Anatolia is one of the original centres of grapevine domestication.

More in Asia

Sources

The description, the reading of the classification system and the choice of signature grapes are ours. Region and grape records are built from Wikidata (CC0) and Wikipedia infoboxes (CC BY-SA 4.0). American AVA boundaries come from the TTB (public domain).