When great honors are celebrated, it is likely that few would think of celebrating them with Turkish sparkling wine. However, Vinkara wine, produced from a local Turkish grape variety that almost completely disappeared in the 1980s, was recognized as the best sparkling wine in the world in a competition held in France in 2020.
Burak Demirel, a lecturer in oenology at Namik Kemal University, said the recent rediscovery of local grape varieties has helped fuel the success of Turkey’s dry and sparkling wine.
“Universities and winegrowers in Turkey are doing an extraordinary job. They have identified more than 800 local grape varieties,” he said. “This is a huge potential that has been underutilized by Turkey for years. Today we are witnessing its reawakening.”
Despite the growing demand, only 30 thousand liters of sparkling wine were exported from Turkey last year. But Turkey grows a huge amount of grapes and is the sixth largest producer of grapes in the world.
“Only four percent of this harvest is for winemaking,” Ali Basman, president of the Wine Producers Association, told Turkish media. “We are far from reaching our potential.”
In the eighties of the last century, the traditions of wine made from grapes in Turkey had almost completely disappeared, but thanks to the hard work of winegrowers and also researchers, they have been revived with new power.
Vinkara was the first Turkish winery to start producing sparkling wine in 2009 from vines grown in a small area around the town of Kalecik using the traditional champagne method.
“We are selling out all the products very quickly. We are unable to meet the growing demand, especially as the New Year celebrations approach,” said Kandas Misir, a representative of the Vinkara winery near Ankara.
The sparkling wine from this winery is quite similar to the fine cremants of the Alsace region.
It is made from Kalecik black grapes, also known as “Turkish pinot noir”.
Misir was initially skeptical of the idea that Turkish sparkling wine could compete with champagne. He believes that the success of this drink is due to its quality, since the grapes used in the production of the wine are harvested by hand.
Since then, Vinkara has been followed by others and the volume of production has grown rapidly.
Despite heavy taxes imposed by the Turkish government to discourage people from drinking the alcoholic drink, Turks are producing more and more dry white wine, and production has tripled in the past 15 years, while sparkling wine production has increased by as much as five times.
Despite the difficulties, Winemaking instructor Burak Demirel is convinced that the future of Turkish sparkling and dry wines is very promising.
“There is a new generation of Turkish producers and sommeliers in Turkey who are doing a lot of research and are at the forefront of the latest developments,” he said.
Wine expert Andrea Lemieux, who has been living in Istanbul for 11 years, also said that Turkish sparkling wine does not yet have the same prestige as its French and Italian competitors, but has the characteristic quality.
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2023-12-30 12:12:30
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