Feature: Exploring Turkish Wine Routes - Trakya Bağ Rotası
- Andrea Lemieux
- Jul 1
- 10 min read
Turkish wine tourism is still in a nascent stage. A number of factors continue to hamper its development, but the wineries are enthusiastically embracing it. In many areas, wineries are located in remote places far from anything else, making visiting complicated. However, wineries are rapidly adding restaurants and hotels to facilitate visitors.
Something else Turkish wineries have embraced to entice tourism: wine routes.
The Wine Routes of Turkey
Turkey is currently home to six wine routes. They span 3 regions: Thrace, Marmara, & the Aegean, and 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.
This month, Fine Turkish Wine explores the Trakya Bağ Rotası.
Trakya Bağ Rotası
The Trakya Bağ Rotası, or Thrace Vineyard Route, was the first of these corporations. Member wineries are all based in geographic Turkish Thrace but span three growing regions: Thrace, the Marmara, and the Aegean. Due to broad differences in climate between the three regions, this wine route offers perhaps the widest range of wines and wine styles.
The route covers a huge area. A really ambitious person could maybe do the whole shebang in three to four days. A sensible person would allow longer. Luckily, many of the wineries along this route have restaurants and/or guest houses.
The easiest way to take this route is to break it up into overarching geographic chunks, which include the cities/districts of Edirne, Kırklareli, Tekirdağ, Şarköy, and Gallipoli.
Trakya Bağ Rotası Members
Members include:
Edirne: Arda, Edrine Vineyards
Kırklareli: Odrysia (Arcadia), Chamlija, Gürbüz, Saranta, Vino Dessera
Tekirdağ: Barbare Bağları, Barel Bağları, Chateau Nuzun, Umurbey Winery
Şarköy: Chateau Kalpak, Gülor
Gallipoli: Asmadan, Gali Bağları, Porta Caeli, Suvla, Yükselten
Edirne
Edirne, previously Adrianople, is famous in Turkey for its oil wrestling, the Selimiye Mosque built by architect Mimar Sinan, the Meriç bridge, and its liver. Oil wrestling happens in April only, but the ethnographic museum there has a weird/creepy/wonderful 3-D presentation on it. The various museums, mosques, and an unusual synagogue all make Edirne a popular place for domestic and international tourists.
Arda
Family-owned Arda is a labor of love for the Saç family. Family patriarch Ilyas Saç established the winery in 2007. Daughter Şeniz is the lead winemaker, and son Yavuz and his wife Bahar run it. The Saç family runs the winery with heart and a deep love for all aspects of winemaking, from grape to glass. As Bahar told us once, they're so hands-on and involved in every level that she's the one mopping the floors every day. Since its opening, the winery has added a restaurant and guest bungalows to the premises where all their lovely wines can be enjoyed with local specialties. The winery also often hosts live music and other events surrounding many of the Turkish holidays.
Edrine Winery
While also family-owned, the Edrine winery has a very different feel to it. The Öktem family is business-minded, and wine is a business to them. With a two-million-liter capacity, Edrine pumps out a fair amount of wine every year. Happily, much of it pairs well with the food on offer at the onsite hotel and restaurant.
Kırklareli
Kırklareli, the name supposedly a rough Turkish transliteration of the old Greek name of "forty churches" for the region, is a combination of pastoral and industrial. What makes it special is its inclusion of the Strandja Mountains. This ancient mountain range is home to an abundance of different soil types, many of which are quartz-heavy, that lend that special something to the wines made on and below its slopes.
Arcadia aka Odrysia
Arcadia, known in the US market as Odrysia, was one of the very first wineries to offer not only a restaurant but a hotel. Owner, Zeynep Arca Şallıel, describes the hotel as a "gastro hotel" with world class chefs from Istanbul using only locally sourced ingredients, mostly from the estate. The restaurant, which has only one dinner seating per day, offers ever-changing dishes, based on fresh seasonal produce, with wine pairing suggestions. It’s also possibly the only winery that offers a regular (4 pm daily) tour of the winemaking facilities! With a wide range of grapes and wine styles, Arcadia is not to be missed.
Chamlija Vineyards
If Turkey has an experimental winery, its name is Chamlija. This winery is not only doing some great things with domestic grapes (particularly Papazkarası) but also has a collection of international grapes not seen elsewhere in Turkey (Albariño, Riesling, Assyrtiko, and Xinomavro). Chamlija also likes to push the envelope with winemaking techniques and styles doing everything from whole bunch fermentations to skin contact white wines.
Saranta
Saranta (almost across the street from another winery, Vino Dessera!) works with a mix of native and international grapes and employs one of the country’s best viticulturists and winemakers: Gülçin Akçay. With its luxury (and rather overpriced) hotel, Saranta is an amazing place from which to base a long weekend of winery visits.
Gürbüz Winery
One of the driving forces behind this wine route is well-known UC Davis-trained winemaker Akın Gürbüz’s eponymous winery. Based in Kırklareli, Akın sources grapes from both his own vineyards and contracted growers around Şarköy. This is a visit for which you need to allocate at least twice as long as you think a tasting should last. Akın’s love for wine and enthusiasm often means you move from formal tasting to tank and barrel tastings, and the hours just fly by here!
Vino Dessera
At Vino Dessera, the goal is affordable luxury. Wines here offer some of the country's best quality/price ratio. Working largely with international grapes, it's also home to Turkey's only Barbera-based wine. If you're looking for unpretentious and relaxed, this is your winery. The winery, owner, and staff are all super laid back. And if you're enjoying yourself a little much (is there such a thing?) Vino Dessera has a guest house!
Tekirdağ
While Tekirdağ does sit along the Sea of Marmara, its more northerly location (about two hours from Istanbul) keeps temperatures lower than neighboring district Şarköy. Don't miss the chance to walk around and take in traditional Ottoman wooden houses, the Tekirdağ Museum of Archaeology, and try the Tekirdağ köftesi (meatballs) and semolina pudding during your visit.
Barbare
There are no populist illusions at Barbare. While the wines here also cover several price categories, Barbare's top-shelf wines can be very pricey for the local economy. But oh so worth it. Named for infamous pirate Red Beard, Barbare uses organic grapes and specializes not in the popular Bordeaux grapes, but a style more reminiscent of the Cote du Rhone's Grenache Syrah Mourvèdre blends. Barbare is also one of the few wineries in Turkey to release non-vintage blends. With an onsite restaurant and hotel, this is a not-to-be-missed winery, be it simply for a tasting, for a meal, or for the night.
Barel
Proud hometown boy, Barkın Akın took his family winery, Barel, and turned it into a hotspot in Tekirdağ. In the summer, visitors to the onsite restaurant can enjoy outdoor seating under huge shady trees, and in the winter, the indoor, windowed restaurant is made cozy with a huge fireplace. Like the folks at Vino Dessera, Barkın believes that wine should not be priced out of reach and that anyone should be able to afford a decent bottle. Barel wines cover several price categories, but all of them reasonable and all the wine quaffable.
Chateau Nuzun
Chateau Nuzun was one of the first wineries to use organic grapes in wine production. Run by the charming Nazan Uzun (N+Uzun = Nuzun), Chateau Nuzun turns out only red and pink wines. Her wines are not inexpensive, but are well worth any price tag on them. She is one of the few winemakers in Turkey to not only understand the value of, but also follow through with extended cellaring prior to releasing wines. Her eponymous mono reds and blends are usually not released until six to seven years after harvest, and drink beautifully for years after.
Umurbey
Umurbey (literally Mr. Umur) is not only one of Turkey’s very first boutique quality wineries, it also produces one of the best Sauvignon Blancs in the country. Umur himself does not want to be known only for his white wine. And while he's most famous for that, his reds are lovely too. Umurbey winery isn't set up to receive visitors, but you can make an appointment to visit or stop into the Umurbey Wine House in downtown Tekirdağ.
Şarköy
A little farther down the coast of the Marmara is warm and sunny Şarköy. While only a few Şarköy-based wineries participate in the wine route, there are many more worth visiting. Şarköy has long been a hotbed of winemaking in Turkey, stretching back to the Ottoman period and before. Many of the wineries here sit directly on the water. A strategic position back in the day when ships would moor in front of them to load wine directly on board before sailing off.
Chateau Kalpak
Chateau Kalpak sits more inland than the previous two wineries. But for all that, it enjoys a stunning view across the Marmara. Chateau Kalpak specializes in Bordeaux-style blends, and if that's your thing, they are some of the country's best. Occasionally, you can even get a rare bottle of a mono Petit Verdot or Cabernet Franc.
Gülor
Gülor, like Umurbey, spearheaded the quality wine rise in Turkey. Now grown far too large for its claims of "boutique," the winery nonetheless offers a wide selection of wines, some success, others not so much.
Gallipoli
The Gallipoli Peninsula juts out from the rest of Thrace, forming a barrier along the Dardanelles between the Aegean and Marmara seas. Vineyards here take advantage of breezes from both seas and a largely temperate climate.
Of course, other than winerying, the thing to do here is visit cemeteries and memorials from the battles fought here. You can also hop on a ferry to cross over to the Asian side of Çanakkale and see the Trojan Horse replica gifted to Turkey after Hollywood's 2004 movie, Troy, was filmed in the area.
Asmadan
While the majority of Asmadan’s vineyards sit in Manisa on the Anatolian side of the Aegean region, its main winery, museum, and hotel are all in Eceabat on the lower part of the Gallipoli Peninsula. In addition to a range of native Turkish grapes, the winery cultivates foreign grapes, including a few unusual (for Turkey) varieties like Macabeo.
Gali
Gali, which prides itself on its Pomerol-style Merlot-based wines, is home to beautiful views of the Marmara from its high elevation. However, be warned. The winery is located on a military base. Finding the right military base isn't easy since the peninsula is dotted with them.
Porta Caeli
Porta Caeli winery is home to beautifully landscaped lawns and vineyards that surround the winery and a large hotel. It is overly proud to be the only winery in Turkey working with (in)famous flying winemaker/consultant Michele Roland. If you've ever had one of Roland's wines, you can easily skip this winery.
Suvla
Suvla, with its onsite restaurant and wine shop, is a great stop. The restaurant's notorious lack of good service can be annoying. However, if you have the patience to deal with it, you are rewarded with flight options (the only wine bar to offer these) of the winery’s huge range of wines. Native and international grapes, still, sparkling, dry, sweet…Suvla has it all.
Yükselten
Located on the Saros Bay, Yükselten’s organic vineyards take advantage of the sea breezes and cooling temperatures. Here, the winery plants only foreign grape varieties. Their onsite hotel offers guests comfortable rooms with views that look out over the vineyards to the sea beyond.
Planning a visit to a winery in Turkey
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 really 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 to tours of the production rooms and vineyards, so it’s a good idea to ask about 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.
Can’t visit Turkey this year? Explore the Trakya Bağ Rotası from the comfort of your home with wines from our partner wineries: Arda, Odrysia, and Gurbuz!
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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