The Turkish Aegean stretches from the coast around Izmir far inland, up the valleys of the Gediz and the Büyük Menderes to the plateaus of Manisa and Denizli. No other region of Turkey has as many vineyards, and above all it is the country’s great grape garden: around Manisa grows most of the Sultaniye, the seedless grape that has made Turkey one of the world’s leading exporters of sultanas. On the coast the climate is Mediterranean, with hot, dry summers and mild, wet winters; inland it becomes more continental, and on the plateaus, at 800 metres and more, cool nights keep the acidity in the grapes. The soils range from clay loam to limestone.
Amphorae from Klazomenai
The Aegean has been wine country for millennia. Klazomenai, the ancient city near today’s Urla, had its own type of amphora, in which wine and olive oil travelled as far as the Black Sea, and at Teos near Seferihisar stand the remains of the largest temple to Dionysus in Anatolia, built around 200 BC. When phylloxera devastated the French vineyards in the late 19th century, grape growing around Izmir boomed, until the louse reached western Anatolia too. The village of Şirince, in the hills near Ephesus, recalls a later break: its Greek inhabitants left in the population exchange of 1923, and today it is known for sweet wines made from peaches, blackberries, sour cherries and other fruit.
In the glass
The grapes the region is known for, by sweetness, acidity, tannin and body.
| Grape | Sweetness | Acidity | Tannin | Body |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Muscat | dry to luscious | medium(−) to medium | white, no tannin | light to full |
| Syrah | dry | medium to medium(+) | medium to high | medium to full |
| Merlot | dry | medium(−) to medium | medium(−) to medium(+) | medium to full |
| Cabernet Sauvignon | dry | medium to high | medium(+) to high | medium to full |
| Boğazkere | dry | medium to medium(+) | high | medium(+) to full |
| Öküzgözü | dry | medium(+) to high | low to medium(−) | medium |
Each grape’s typical range worldwide, not in this region alone, on the WSET tasting grid (Level 3, 2022): dry to luscious, low to high, light to full. The dot before each name shows the colour of a typical bottle.
From Sevilen to Urla
Today the region produces the whole range of Turkish wine. Sevilen, founded in Izmir in 1942, grows grapes both near the coast and on the cooler plateau at around 900 metres. Around Urla, on the peninsula west of Izmir, small estates have created a vineyard route and brought back Urla Karası, a red grape thought to be lost. Bornova Misketi, the Muscat of Bornova in Izmir, gives dry wines scented with rose and honeysuckle as well as sweet ones. On the Çal plateau in Denizli, at about 850 metres, grows Çalkarası, a red grape with light colour, little tannin and good acidity that is often made into rosé.
International grapes are widely planted too: Syrah, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc, and several estates also grow Boğazkere and Öküzgözü from the east. Sultaniye itself, though mostly dried or eaten, also gives light, simple white wines.
With vegetables in olive oil
What to drink: a dry Bornova Misketi with Aegean vegetables cooked in olive oil and wild herbs; a Çalkarası rosé with meze and grilled octopus; a Syrah with lamb şiş kebab; a sweet Muscat with dried figs or a nut pastry.