TNWG Wine Times: Ep 46: Wines of Turkey
- aplofthouse
- Aug 11
- 6 min read
Hello and welcome back to another TNWG Wine Times edition!
Hands up, who has missed me? Nope, I thought not.
Ok well, we will be doing our usual focus on what is upcoming, I have a few EVENTS to keep you updated on as well as outlining for those who have an interest in Turkish wines or are heading off for summer sun in Turkey, where and what you should be drinking. Do let me know your summer stories and of course, for any late bookers for 2025 or early 2026 - give me a shout and we can sort out your travel (see The Northern Travel Guy).
ANNOUNCEMENTS/EVENTS
First up for those that aren't already aware, we have the SHEFFIELD BUSINESS RUNNERS AND WALKERS Social Event - Thursday 17th July.
This is for EVERYONE. It can be for those who are runners, walkers, padel players or just want to come and network.
Here’s the plan: SBR SOCIAL: 📍 Leahs Yard Sheffield🕕 6:00pm – Meet
🕡 6:30pm – Wine & Cheese Tasting Experience (with The Northern Wine Guy)
🕗 8:00pm – Music Bingo (with Silje)
🕘 9:00pm – The After Party! hashtag#WeAreSBR
🎟️ Tickets: £33 (wine, cheese, fun & a charity donation to Weston Park Cancer Charity)
Link for your ticket today here: https://thegreatescape.resova.co.uk/items/view/166
Next Event: Watch this space, but likely the End of July we are heading to Kelham for a Wine and Cheese Event - open to all!
No more Wine and Cheese Networks until September - I will open the September event shortly BUT I think it is only fair that we look at a 'Wine, Walk and Waddle' so mark your diaries Sheffield. Looking at Friday 8th August for those keen!
💥 Wines of Turkey 💥
📚 History 📚
You talk about Turkish wine and in today's environment, lots of people have never probably
heard of it. It isn't referenced often and we don't see a lot of it in the UK. However, Turkey, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan all contributed to the beginnings of Vitis Vinifera (the vines we have in Europe). Let's face it, sunlight hours is not an issue!
💡 Here's a fact for you - Turkey ranks 4th in the world for acres under vine and yet only 5% of those grapes are made into wine! BOOM!
🚫 There are a lot of restrictions on wine in Turkey, retail sales are banned between 10pm and 6am, no alcohol advertising allowed, no consumer wine tastings for example too. Domestic consumption is low as a predominantly Muslim country with tea, Raki and beer coming before wine.
Milestones in Turkish wine production came in the 1990s with Doluca Wine Company as the oldest wine producer and Kavaklıdere Şirketler Grubu starting to produce Okuzgozu, Bogazkere and Kalecik Karasi wines. There are now somewhere between 175-200 wine producers.
🗺️ Wine Locations in Turkey 🗺️
Having spoken about the restrictions above, wine tasting is available in every wine producing region in Turkey and in Istanbul there is a good wine bar scene too now - especially in the last few years.
The largest wine region is the Aegean wine region, near the famous city of Izmir. Then in size, the second most productive is the Mid-Eastern Anatolia region. Followed by Marmara and the Mid-Southern Anatolia.
🍇Grape Varietals 🍇
In the country's centre, know as the Cappadocia, it is known for its White Emir grape, there is also in Tokay the white Narince grape and in Ankara, the red Kalecik Karasi grape.
If you are heading East to Anatolia's Elazig and Diyarbakir regions then look for Okuzgozu (which you can more readily find in the UK) and Bogazkere.
There are some newly established regions, touched upon above, the vineyards now at 1,800m in altitude on the edge of the Lake Van in the Eastern Anatolia, which are producing indigenous grape varietals that are coming to the fore. If you are really into exploring then I recommend speaking to the Heritage Vines of Turkey project, who have focused on reviving the Silifke and Mut districts - ancient vineyards with non-irrigatable sloped terrains where you can find Akuzum, Gok and Patkara varietals.
There are international grape varietals grown such as Syrah, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Gamay, Cinsault.
However, the spotlight red grape varietal is Okuzgozu - 'eye of the bull' in Turkish. It is made in a range of different styles - from juicy fruit forward, medium bodied red wines to complex oak encompassed age worthy wines.
The spotlight white grape varietal is Narince - meaning 'delicately' in Turkish - again it is a pretty good all rounder, with oak examples and stone fruit medium acidity type wines to fuller bodied richer styles.
Keep an eye out for both, you can find them in the UK!
🏨Places to Stay for Wine in Turkey 🏨
In the Aegean Wine Region - you can stay on the Eastern side of the Bodrum. Mix up the beaches with wine tasting in a combo type holiday here. The glistening of the blue seas is the backdrop.
Here are a couple of places to stay:
Ever wanted to stay within a cave? Well in the Cappadocia area of Central Anatolia you can do just that! Cave hotels are a big thing - and boy are they fun too. Here are a couple to try:
Tell me they do not look cool? 🤣
🗞️ LATEST DRINKS INDUSTRY ARTICLES 🗞️
I've picked this as my top article this week and the reason is simple, I also believe this too. Not always, if you say you are an organic winery, are you better. Read the article and you will understand more, but my good friends at Te Kano Estate give a great rationale. You can also hear more from them on my podcast (The Andy and Olly Show).
OTHER ARTICLES OF NOTE THAT CAUGHT MY EYE THIS WEEK:
📈 MARKETS IN BRIEF 📉
On the week (as at 2nd July 11:00 LDN) changes:
EQUITIES: ⬆️ FTSE 100 up 0.58%; ⬆️ DAX up 0.7%; ⬆️ S&P 500 up 1.5%; ⬆️ Nikkei 225 up 2.1%; ⬆️ Dow Jones up 3.3% (yet to open today).
COMMODITIES: ⬆️ Brent Oil up 1.5% ; ⬆️ Crude Oil up 1.6% ; ⬆️ Gold up 0.4%; ⬆️ Silver up 0.8%; ⬆️ Copper up 5%
BONDS (in yield terms): ⬇️ UK 2yrs lower 0.005%; ⬆️ UK 10yrs higher 0.063%; ⬆️ German 10yrs higher 0.048%, ⬇️ US 2yrs lower 0.034%; ⬇️ US 10yrs lower 0.002.
💹Markets have been torn between Trump's outburst on tariff discussions and holding countries to account on tariff deadlines and geopolitical actions and developments. Equities in the very near term appear to have eased off their highs, despite the S&P 500 hitting record highs of late, the tension on the July 9th tariff deadline is dictating the market mood for most.
📉 There is continued trade optimism but that can be turned on its head with a headline from the US at this moment in time. So clarity of mind and a more medium term outlook is required. The BOE haven't adjusted rates again which has meant that you can capture savings accounts at around 4.75% currently in the UK which is a good place to park cash, given how well equities have performed of late. I am also long 25 and 26 low coupon UK Gilts, which are capital gains tax free so you only pay tax on the coupon, which is small in comparison to savings accounts.
📈 US equities - you still need to be long, despite the outperformance over the recent few sessions, it would be silly to look at the short term profile and think that you cannot keep being long here. For choice, I am not long USD currency, having been beaten up against the likes of the Euro (biggest winning stream in 2 decades), so reduce any USD currency exposure if you have some here.
🍷 Fine wine - following the reduction through the En Primeur process in Bordeaux, we have seen selective buying especially out of Asia in Bordeaux and Burgundy names as a fine wine market. I think some of the Super Tuscans also offer value, especially if you already are quite overweight France as a country risk. If we look at the best performing names in the last 5 years from Bordeaux, Figeac in both 2011 and 2012 vintages is within that remit. Likewise looking at Burgundy you would not want to avoid exposure to Domaine Bonneau du Martray (2012, 2013 and 2014). Champagne has also had a resurgence with the 80th anniversary of VE Day back in May, aiding the bid tone.
Clearly there is still some way to go to call this an overall resurgence though in the fine wine markets BUT with equities looking toppy and with inflation still an issue, especially for other countries if the USD weakness continues, then alternative assets may well come to the fore once more.
That is all from me this week!
COMMENT, Share, Like etc - here to help and here to give a view.
Best Regards
Andy aka The Northern Wine Guy
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