Top 100 wines of Turkey
Discover the top 100 best wines of Turkey as well as the best winemakers in the region. Explore the varietals of the wines that are popular of Turkey and the best vintages to taste in this region.
Turkey, located on the Anatolian peninsula between the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, produces more grapes than any other country in the world. However, only a very small proportion of these grapes are made into wine; as a predominantly Muslim nation, Turkey's per capita Alcohol consumption is very low.
The lack of wine production in Turkey is highly ironic, as wine historians believe that viticulture and winemaking originated in this Part of the world. Archaeological projects in Turkey and neighboring countries in the Levant have uncovered evidence suggesting that primitive VineBreeding was part of life here more than 6,000 years ago, which explains the abundance of wine grapes (vinifera).
The most commonly used wine grapes in Turkey are those used as table grapes, the only use they could be put to during the seven centuries of Ottoman rule. Ampelographic research has suggested that Turkey is home to between 500 and 1000 distinct varieties of vinifera grapes.
Although Turkey's wine history is one of the oldest in the world, the modern Turkish wine industry is very Young. Turkey only began producing wine again in 1925, as a symbol of the nation's modernization and westernization.
The founder of the Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, established the country's oldest winery. The largest winery in modern Turkey is owned by tobacco giant Tekel (whose name translates as "monopoly"), now a subsidiary of British American Tobacco.
Turkey's transcontinental location, between the deserts of Arabia (its eastern neighbours are Syria, Iraq and Iran) and the seas of Eastern Europe (the Mediterranean, the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea), results in significant climatic variations within its borders. While the western coastal regions have a temperate Mediterranean Climate, with hot, Dry summers and milder, wetter winters, the northern regions (on the Black Sea) have significantly higher humidity in summer and colder winters.
Marsanne is a white grape variety that originated in Montélimar in the Drôme, several centuries ago. Marsanne is also found in Cassis, Savoie, Languedoc-Roussillon and Saint-Péray in the Ardèche, where it produces remarkable sparkling wines. The warm, sunny climate of the Rhone Valley, Languedoc-Roussillon and Provence, as well as the dry, stony soil, are ideal conditions for its development. Its bunches are quite large and provide small, juicy berries that are sensitive to grey rot and strong winds. These two grape varieties complement each other perfectly: together they give light wines with little acidity, aromas of yellow fruit, white fruit and flowers with notes of honey and liquorice. This is for example what the appellations Saint-Péray, Hermitage, Crozes-Hermitage, Saint-Joseph, Côtes-du-Vallée du Rhône, Corbières, or Cassis express... which represent about 700 hectares.
wines from the region of Turkey go well with generally quite well with dishes of beef, veal or pork such as recipes of beef miroton, flank steak with shallots in red wine sauce or baeckeoffe.
The Francs de Pied (Ungrafted Vines) group, which last met two weeks ago at Pasquet’s Liber Pater winery in the Graves, consists of a growing circle of vignerons who work with ungrafted vineyards planted to native varieties. The list includes Francs de Pied president Loïc Pasquet himself, vice-president Egon Müller (Mosel), and secretary Andrea Polidoro of Cupano (Montalcino) and Contrada Contro (Marche); as well as Gocha Chkhaidze of leading Georgian winery, Askaneli; Thibault Liger-Belair (Bur ...
Franzese was known as the ‘yuppie don’ in the 1980s after rising to the rank of caporegime in the Colombo crime family. Fortune Magazine placed him at No. 18 on its 50 Biggest Mafia Bosses list, and he gained a reputation as one of the mob’s biggest earners since Al Capone. He was portrayed by Joseph Bono in Goodfellas. Franzese became a born-again Christian during a lengthy prison sentence for racketeering, and he managed to walk away from the mafia without going into protective custody. He is ...
Inside the January 2022 issue of Decanter Magazine: FEATURES: Aperitifs: how to do them well The art of starting it right, with drinks tips from Kate Hawkings Vintage preview: Chablis 2020 Andy Howard MW picks 33 of his top wines from a classic year in the region Producer profile: Château Angélus Jane Anson visits one of St-Emilion’s four finest grand cru classé estates Bordeaux & Burgundy vintages for Christmas Panos Kakaviatos & Charles Curtis MW select the perfect vintages and appe ...