I did not think my summer Tükiye trip would be one for wine tasting, particularly since alcohol is not big in Turkish culture and many restaurants, especially more traditional ones, don’t even serve wine. Knowing all this, I was quite surprised when I found a Turkish wine tour in Cappadocia. I immediately booked it.

For a bit of background, Türkiye actually has a long history of winemaking, going back to some of the earliest wine production in the world, possibly even THE earliest. Türkiye also many, many of its own grape varietals, and, I learned on the tour, that its the 4th largest grapes-used-for-wine producing country in the world. Again, surprise! There are numerous wine producing regions in the country, but we only visited the Cappadocia wine-producing area, which produces some tannic reds that we really enjoyed. While Türkiye has long produced wine, drinking wine, and alcohol in general, is not currently hugely popular in Turkish culture. That being said, some Turkish people, especially the young and city dwellers, drink alcohol and alcohol is neither illegal nor difficult to find. I would say that its disproportionately expensive, but no where near as expensive as we have found alcohol in more conservative countries (such as the UAE, Qatar and the Maldives). For reference, your dinner may cost $13 USD and a local glass of wine may cost $9 USD.

In any case, I will move on with the tour, which we took from 2:00 PM – 6:00 PM after spending the very early morning in a hot air balloon. We were the only people on the tour, and we were driven around in an insanely spacious and nice Mercedes van.

TURASAN

Our first stop was very close to our hotel at a large wine company called Turasan. As you can see form the sign, Turasan has been around since 1943 and its wine is relatively easy to find, at least in Izmir, Cappadocia and Istanbul (where we stayed on our trip). We checked-in for our tasting in Turasan’s gift shop, which had a decent selection of souvenirs, including non-wine related things. Our guide told us this shop is overpriced and hold off on buying souvenirs until later… In any case, after checking in, we went to a second entrance and walked down to Turasan’s cellar for our tasting.

Turasan’s wine cellar was lovely, and perfect for a tasting on a hot Cappadocia afternoon. Numerous tables were set up for tastings in Turasan’s cellar with cool Turkish lighting and a traditional Turkish fire place. We tasted three of Turasan’s wines from 2020 and 2021: two reds and a rose. We weren’t expecting too much from these wines going in, but they were good. The biggest red was particularly good and to our liking. We ordered this wine, and the rose, at restaurants later on in the trip. Turasan also makes white wines, but we asked to taste only the reds and the rose.

We had a few minutes to shop upstairs while our guide paid for our tasting (despite his warnings otherwise). After paying, we were en route to our second tasting, which had more of a boutique feel.

GULOR

Our second winery was Gulor Wines, which was only a few minutes drive from Turasan, but had a very different feel. Where Turasan is a corporate winery, Gulor bills itself as a boutique winery and its wines are pricey, even by American and European standards. We later learned that Gulor is owned by one of Türkiye’s wealthiest women, who has high expectations of this winery, and its not as small as the cellar would have you believe… In any case, Gulor’s tasting room is located in an old lemon storage facility, which was seriously a thing in this part of Türkiye used to store lemons during the winter. I found that pretty interesting! Guests descent a set of stairs and enter a show room for Gulor’s wines. The tasting area that we used is located in the back in an adorable little room complete with a fireplace.

For the tasting, we tasted five wines, which were paired with a delicious plate of cheese, fruit and crackers. Honestly, the cheese was incredible. One of the winemakers walked us through the five tastings and explained lots about the winery. In total, we tried two whites and three reds, and had seconds of two of the reds. We really enjoyed the red and looked to purchase some to bring home, but it was really expensive. We purchased two bottles to drink and left it at that.

A bit shocked by the price of Gulor, we made a stop for some more reasonable (non wine) shopping between Gulor and our final stop. Our guide also asked us if we wanted to stop at a third winery, even though it was on our itinerary (it seemed like our guide didn’t have a copy of the itinerary…). In any case, the third winery was different from the first two, and a very chill experience.

KOCABAG

Our third and final winery, Kocabag, is a small winery also in the Cappadocia area. Kocabag produces numerous red and white wines, which can be easily found in and around around Cappadocia. The label even has a cute drawing of Cappadocia’s fairy chimnies! We tried small tastings of all of Kocabag’s red wines and purchased a couple to take home, as the price was reasonable compared to the quality. The owner, who assisted us with our tasting, was very nice and happy to share his product, but he spoke very little English. A Turkish speaker would be helpful here to get the full backstory. This was the least formal of the three wineries, but a casual and quick stop if you are in a hurry.

STEAL OUR TRIP

Turasan Wine House: Temenni, Tevfik Fikret Cd. No:44, 50400 Ürgüp/Nevşehir, Türkiye. Open daily 9:00 – 7:00. I linked their website, which is opening “soon.” They also have an Instagram here. I would probably reach out via IG if trying to schedule a tasting.

Gulor Wines: Bahçelievler Mah. Şehit Metin Özüarı Cad. No:13, 50650 Ürgüp/Nevşehir, Türkiye. Open daily 10:00 – 8:00.

Kocabag Wine House: Aşağı, Adnan Menderes Cd. No:40, 50240 Uçhisar/Nevşehir Merkez/Nevşehir, Türkiye. Open daily from 9:00 – 7:30. I think you can walk in for a tasting, but, again, English is not guaranteed.

Wine Tour: I linked the wine tour that we took, except we took the shared tour instead of the private tour, which was like a third of the price. We were also the only two people on our tour.