Celebrating the Wines of Turkey
September, 2005

Turkey has much to celebrate!

Turkey’s varied landscape and climate makes it ideal for growing and producing many wonderfully diverse and unique wines.

The land, which is now Turkey, is where man first learned to cultivate grapevines. Evidence of this was found in remains relating to early winemaking in the area between Thrace and the Caucasian Mountains. Winemaking moved from this early start and took root in Europe, then the New World without returning to its historical roots for quite some time.

With the formation of the Republic of Turkey in the 1920’s, Turkey began to expand and enhance its winemaking. In 1996, Turkey had the world’s fourth largest area of land devoted to vineyards (567,000 hectares) making it the world’s fifth largest grape producer with 3.7 million tons annually. Because of the very large Muslim population, only 2% of the grapes were used for wine production.

The 1960-1990’s brought Phylloxera and saw the migration of the agricultural population to large cities thus threatening many of the 22 indigenous grape varieties. In recent years, these species of grapes have again flourished along with the introduction of the noble grape varieties (vitis vinifera)

Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot from French vineyards have been planted in the Gallipoli Peninsula on the shores of the Aegean Sea. Leading wineries Kavaklidere and Doluca have invested in modern production techniques. The marketing of these wines domestically and internationally has allowed the wine industry to expand. Turkish wines are being recognized in international wine competitions further advancing Turkey’s growing wine industry.

Turkish winemaking holds a bright future, able to produce robust reds in the Mediterranean climate along the coast, as well as crisp white wines in the central and mountainous regions. It is a country that offers a diverse and exciting viticulture. The modern advancements in winemaking along with the investments being made by Turkish wineries ensures that Turkey will continue to move forward in its quest to improve and expand its wine industry

Currently Turkish wines are difficult to find in local LCBO stores, but as the supply and demand increases we should start to see these wonderful wines on Vintage shelves in the near future.