More than a bubble: Turkish sparkling wines win fans

ANKARA – Drinkers are getting into something of a fizz over Turkish sparkling wine.

“We are selling out very quickly. We cannot meet the growing demand especially as the New Year (celebrations) near,” said Mr Candas Misir of the Vinkara winery, near Ankara.

When it comes to celebrating a big occasion, few might think of reaching for a bottle of Turkish bubbly in a market dominated by French champagne, Spanish cava and Italian prosecco.

But Vinkara’s wine – made from a local Turkish grape variety that almost died out in the 1980s – won the gold medal for the Best Sparkling Wine in the World at a competition in France in 2020.

The fruity “yasasin” – which means “hooray!” in Turkish – has a floral aroma reminiscent of fine cremants from Alsace in eastern France.

And Mr Misir is the first to admit that the connoisseurs were initially a bit sceptical about the idea of Turkish bubbly rivalling champagne.

“We received a very cautious welcome at the start,” Mr Misir told AFP. “People were saying, ‘What do you mean, a Turkish sparkling wine?‘“

“However, one taste is enough to make these prejudices fade away,” he added.

Vinkara was the first Turkish winery to start producing sparkling wine in 2009 using the traditional champagne method from its vines around the small town of Kalecik.

Others have since followed with production rocketing.

Despite swinging taxes from Turkey’s Islamo-conservative government to discourage drinking, Turks are making more and more dry white wines, with production tripling over the last 15 years, and five times more sparkling wine being made.

An awakening

The success of the wines is down to their quality, Mr Misir argued, being almost entirely picked by hand using the dark-skinned local grape Kalecik Karasi – or the “black of Kalecik” – which is nicknamed the “Turkish pinot noir”.

On the point of disappearing in the 1980s, it has been resurrected thanks to Turkish researchers and winegrowers.

Mr Burak Demirel, an oenologist and winemaking instructor at Namik Kemal University based in northwestern province of Tekirdag, said the rediscovery of indigenous grape varieties has helped spur the recent success of Turkish dry and sparkling wines.

“Universities and winemakers are doing extraordinary work in Turkey. They have identified more than 800 indigenous grape varieties,” he said.

“This is an enormous potential that Turkey has underexploited for years…today we are witnessing an awakening.”

Ms Andrea Lemieux, a wine expert who has been living in Istanbul for 11 years, said Turkish sparkling wine does not yet have the prestige of its French and Italian rivals, “but the quality is there”.

“People are very price conscious and since they don’t know the reputation of Turkish wines well, they might be hesitant to spend €50 (S$73) on a bottle.”