Exploring the Wine Routes of Turkey: Urla Bağ Yolu (The Urla Wine Route)
- Andrea Lemieux
- Aug 31
- 8 min read
The Aegean coast in Turkey is more than beaches and kite surfing! Welcome to Urla, host of some of Turkey’s most prestigious wine real estate. Join us for an exploration of the Urla Bağ Yolu.
Turkish winemakers today are increasingly interested in making terroir-driven wines with native and international varieties, and celebrating both the commonalities and diversity in their respective regions. One of the ways they are doing this is by banding together in regional organizations and wine routes.
Wine tourism is still a largely unexplored aspect of tourism for many reasons. Advertising alcohol is illegal. Which means advertising wine tastings in tourism brochures is also a no-no. Wineries navigate the challenging local regulatory regime by advertising "vineyard tours" but campaigns are still small and cautious.
The Wine Routes of Turkey
Turkey is currently home to six wine routes, spanning three regions: Thrace, Marmara, and the Aegean. The routes include: Trakya Bağ Rotası, Urla Bağ Yolu, İç Ege Bağ Rotası, Güney İzmir, Çal Bağ Yolu, and Lidya Antik Bağ Yolu.
For the most part, these are loose associations of wineries within the same geographic area. Some, like the Trakya Bağ Rotası and the İç Ege Bağ Rotası cover huge areas, and in the former case, several geographic regions.
Each route offers unique flavors and opportunities to visit wineries, explore the country’s gastronomy, and even enjoy each region’s more traditional tourism.
In July, Fine Turkish Wine took you through the Trakya Bağ Rotası. This month, we explore the Urla Yolu.
Urla Bağ Yolu Members
Members currently include:
Urla Şarapçılık
USCA Şarapçılık
Urlice Vineyards
Mozaik Şarapçılık
MMG Şarapçılık
Perdix
Çakır Bağcılık ve Şarapçılık
HUS Şarapçılık
İkidenizarası Şarapçılık
Statera
The Urla Bağ Yolu
On the Aegean Coast in Western Turkey, about a 40-minute drive from Izmir and maybe 20 from the beautiful beach town Çeşme, Urla offers more than wineries. The town of Urla has museums, shopping, and restaurants, and gorgeous beaches dot the coast from Izmir to Çeşme. In addition, on Sundays, Zafer Caddesi - a central boulevard in the locality - turns into the Urla Sanat Sokağı; an open-air market where stalls sell design objects, antiques, and handmade goods.
But we’re here for the wineries!
The majority of the wine route’s wineries are concentrated around Urla, with a couple being a little farther out. This is one of the easiest of all the wine routes to explore due to the vineyards being largely within a 15-minute or less drive from one another. There are also helpful signs along the route to not only mark the vineyards but to point you in the correct direction.
Established by Can Ortabaş, the undisputed patriarch of the region, Urla Şarapçılık sits smack in the middle of the Urla Bağ Yolu. As with many wineries in Turkey, Urla Şarapçılık cultivates a wide variety of traditionally French grapes, including Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Grenache, Mourvedre, Chardonnay, and Sauvignon Blanc. But then they step outside the box with Italian grapes Nero d’Avola and Sangiovese. Then come the native grapes! Urla has Narince, Beyazkere, Bornova Misketi, Boğazkere, and Urla Karası.
The winery is home to not only a beautiful, modern tasting room, but also the aptly named Two Rooms Hotel. As the name suggests, the hotel is just two rooms! Divided by a beautifully appointed common space filled with comfortable seating and even a large boardroom table for meetings, this is a luxurious place from which to launch your wine route explorations.
In 2003, Can and Serpil Şener and Eda Aylın Genç abandoned city life and other careers in favor of wine and their new winery, USCA Şarapçılık. Set in the village of Kuşçular, USCA Şarapçılık's vineyards feel both the west and north winds of the Aegean’s surrounding gulfs. Part of a growing trend in Turkey, USCA farms all its grapes organically in an effort to begin as they mean to end, with quality. Grapes, both domestic and international, grow here, including Bornova Misketi and Foça Karası, along with Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, Grenache, Chardonnay, and Viognier.
The husband/wife team behind Urlice Vineyards, Reha and Bilge Benisü Öğünlü. oversee everything from vineyards to the cellar on their own. Both proponents of the Slow Food movement, they don't rush their wines but rely on clean winemaking and good cellaring practices. Their wines, made from Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Syrah, are powerful expressions of what passion can achieve. Visitors here can enjoy both their wines and foods to pair in the winery's onsite restaurant.
What Ali and Melis Emin intended as a future retirement project turned into full-blown careers. Located on the same grounds as the Emin's vast horse breeding farm, Mozaik Şarapçılık turns out some 60-70,000 bottles annually. Greatly influenced by a love of Italian wine, Mozaik offers some of the most unusual grape varieties in Turkey. In addition to Syrah and Petit Verdot, wines - under the winery's Mahrem label - are made from Sangiovese, Montepulciano, Tannat, Marselan, Rebo, and Ekigaïna.
MMG Şarapçılık clings to the side of a mountain above the Urla coast. This small winery boasts an on-site restaurant, the ŞatoInn, with a panoramic view of the valley. ŞatoInn’s deck overlooks the estate’s seven hectares of terraced vineyards, where the Güner Atalay family cultivates: Bornova Misketi, Kara Misketi, Mourvedre, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Merlot. With an annual production of about 25,000 bottles, MMG Winery has room to grow and plans to do it.
The family behind Perdix had no previous experience in the industry before opening their super slick winery outside Urla. Farming organically and working with mostly European grapes, including Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, Boğazkere, Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc, and Bornova Misketi, Perdix aimed for Turkey’s upper price segment from the beginning.
In a story similar to USCA’s, Sevinç and Erol Çakır made a radical transformation in their lives in 2000, abandoning long-standing careers in law to revive Mestan Vineyards in the Kuşçular village in Urla, renaming it: Çakır Bağcılık ve Şarapçılık. After years of work, the Çakır family had its first commercial harvest in 2018. With an on-site restaurant and a few guest rooms, the winery is a beautiful place to have a tasting, catch a meal, or even stay! Like most Urla-based wineries, the Çakırs work largely with Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay with Bornova Misketi being its only native grape.
When it first opened, HUS Şarapçılık was not a part of the wine route but has, over the ensuing years, become a member. Opened in 2017 by wife/husband team Ceylan Ertörer Diaz Leon and Juan Pablo Diaz Leon, HUS has seen many ups and downs since it opened its doors, most notably, the sudden and tragic death of Juan in 2021. Ceylan has continued to push on, releasing beautiful wines from grapes like Emir, Bornova Misketi, Öküzgözü, Boğazkere, Alicante, Grenache, Syrah, and Carignan. She also saw the completion and opening of the winery’s onsite restaurant, serving some of the best food that can be found along the wine route.
Meaning “between two seas” as a nod to its location in the Yağcılar village between the Izmir and Sığacık Bays, is İkidenizarası Şarapçılık. The brainchild of Serhat Akbay, İkidenizarası was created by a group of food and wine-loving partners, including Serhat, his long-time friend Nevzat Sayın, Prof. Dr. Sait Ada, and İbrahim Dilan. Vineyard planting began in 1999, but it wouldn’t be until 2019 when Semril Zorlu, one of Turkey’s top winemaking consultants, came on board that the winery was ready to release its first vintage. A beautifully constructed winery, İkidenizarası now happily hosts guests for wine tastings.
While one of the newest wineries on the wine route, Statera Şarapçılık’s story goes back to 2012. After two decades of toiling in the city, Lena and Alihan Haydaroğlu decided to till the land instead. They took their passion for nature and love of wine to create Statera, a small production winery producing wines from Bornova Misketi, Viognier, Syrah, Grenache, and Mourvèdre.
Wine Route Adjacent Wineries
Not all the wineries in and around Urla choose to participate in the Urla Bağ Yolu. While more wineries have joined the wine route in recent years, there are still a few that have not, including:
Ayda Bağları
Limantepe Şarapçılık
A dentist by training and profession, Ayda Kargılı Kalelioğlu and her husband Uğur began making home wine in 2003. After a few years of making wine as a hobby, Ayda decided she wanted to do things more professionally and on a larger scale. She pursued an oenology certification in France, which she received in 2008, before the two established the appropriately named Ayda Bağları (Ayda's Vineyards). Seated at the top of a road that winds steeply up into the hills above Urla, Ayda and Uğur have built a beautiful, boutique winery with restaurant, guest rooms, and a magnificent view. Their wines, made from biodynamically-farmed Narince, Foça Karası, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir, Merlot, Syrah, and Cabernet Sauvignon, are all barrel-fermented and aged.
First established in 2011, Limantepe Şarapçılık takes its name from the nearby port city located in the İskele neighborhood of Urla. Limantepe (the port, not the winery) dates back to 4000 BC and has historically played a significant role in the wine and olive oil trade. Winery founders Didem and Haluk Çelikel left Istanbul for Izmir and, with the help of Urla Şarapçılık owner and Urla Bağ Yolu president Can Ortabaş, established their vineyards. Open to guests only on Saturdays, Limantepe produces both wine and olive oil.
Planning a Visit to a Winery in Turkey
You can always reach out to us for help - we would be happy to connect you with all the right people for planning out a Turkish Winery Tour! But if you want to go about it yourself, especially because wine tourism is a new concept in Turkey, there are a few things you should check before rocking up at a winery here.
Where is the winery?
This seems like a fairly basic question but the reality is often not so simple. Google Maps is pretty accurate in İstanbul, İzmir, Ankara, and other big cities. But that’s not where the wineries are. Wineries are often located on roads Google doesn’t think exist or in places you would least expect-like an industrial complex (this is true, several are). Make sure you have a good idea of where you’re going before you set out.
Do you need a reservation?
Almost always, yes. Not all wineries in Turkey, not even those part of the wine routes, regularly accept visitors. And the places that do are very popular so you might not get a table if you don’t book in advance.
Can visitors see the production rooms?
This depends a lot on the specific winery and how busy it is when you go. Not everyone has staff dedicated for tours of the production rooms and vineyards so it’s a good idea to ask this when you make a reservation.
Does the vineyard offer wine tasting?
Again this might seem like a silly question. Once again, the reality in Turkey does not always reflect the obvious. Many wineries do offer set tastings but not all. Again, ask when you make a reservation.
Are wine tastings free?
No, there is usually a fee.
Do you have the option to buy wine?
Yes, absolutely. Usually at a lower price than retail.
Does someone at the winery speak English?
Like the answer to most of these questions, the answer is: it depends. Probably calling to try to make a reservation will be your first clue! When in doubt at the winery, smile. Turkish hospitality is famous, and wine people will be happy for your visit, whether or not you can communicate verbally!
Do wineries not part of one of these wine routes accept visitors?
Yes. The majority of wineries in Turkey accept visitors regardless of whether they’re part of an official wine route or not, so it’s also worth looking into visiting wineries in other parts of the country, like Cappadocia, Bodrum, Mardin, Elazığ, Bozcaada, and Ankara.
Andrea Lemieux is an international wine expert with particular expertise in Turkish Wine. She is the author of The Essential Guide to Turkish Wine, the world's only comprehensive English language book on Turkish wine, and she is the founder of The Quirky Cork blog which is dedicated largely to Turkish wine.
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