Wine: Turkish delights

Published on Sunday 20 June 2010 11:14

An ancient wine culture is being reborn with some fabulous flavours

In the next 50 years, the country that could well make the most impact in new, interesting quality wines – with a point of difference – is Turkey. With a largely Muslim population, Turkey's wine industry has been limited by a lack of a domestic market. Its ancient wine culture might stretch back to 6,000BC, but since the advent of Islam in the eighth century, 97 per cent of grapes grown were for the table.

Kemal Ataturk established the first winery for seven centuries in 1925, so there is a lot of catching up to do. Now French and Australian consultants are pouring in to sort out Turkey's vineyards. Production has risen 330 per cent since 1990.

What I find exciting is not only that the country has suitable climates for viticulture – from Mediterranean, along its Aegean coast and Marmara sea, to more continental in eastern Anatolia – but that Turkey has hundreds of its own fascinating local grapes.

Grape names can be unpronounceable, but translated they are as thought-provoking as "throat scraper" and "bull's eye". Showing most potential to date are creamy earthy narince and vibrant emir for whites – and mulberry-fruited okuzgozu (pronounced uchuzguzer) and plummy bogazkere for reds.

Like every aspiring wine country, Turkey has international grapes: sauvignon blanc, chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon and syrah – the latter showing most potential – but this is not where Turkey's future lies. The Turks must develop the potential of their own grapes.

I tasted wines from five Turkish wineries. The most impressive large winery was Kavaklidere, owned by Ali Bashan, with 540 hectares. Their female winemaker, Asli Odman Gider, is aided by French consultant Stephan Derenoncourt working at their Ankara, Cappadocia and Pendore wineries. White cankaya blend and red pendore shiraz showed promise (along with those in today's taste test).

On the tiny windswept island of Bozcaada, at the mouth of the Dardanelles, a top Turkish architect called Resit Soley has established a boutique winery, Corvus – reviving vineyards neglected for 2,000 years. Its top wine, a bordeaux-blend called corpus, is now served at the Fat Duck in the UK (by their Turkish sommelier). Corvus is the winery to watch.

Turkish delights:

VIN ART NARINCE/ CHARDONNAY 2008 Kavaklidere

Lemony, zesty, creamy, slightly earthy and oily, light vanilla oak notes; a unique taste from vines grown in Cappadocia at over 1,200m altitude.

9

www.tasteturkey. com

PENDORE OKUGOZU 2008 Kavaklidere

Big-berried bull's eye makes mulberry toned, softly tannic, lively acid reds like a cross between an Italian barbera and French gamay.

12

www.tasteturkey. com

CORPUS 2006 Corvus

Immense rich red, pungent black fruits, plummy, very spicy with sweet oak notes, needs a little longer in bottle, but this international-style blend shows excellent potential.

30

www.tasteturkey. com

&#149 This article was first published in The Scotsman on 19 June.