Hi everyone,

I opened a bottle at sunset today that made me think this could be an interesting question for the sub. The wine is called “Gök, göğe bakalım” 2023 from Yaban Kolektif. “Gök” means “sky” in Turkish, and the name comes from old, ungrafted vines in a small village called Çömelek, near Mut in the Mersin region of southern Turkey.

The label literally says “aşısız, yaşlı asmalardan,” which means “from ungrafted, old vines.” It is 14% abv, 75 cl. The project is called Yaban Kolektif and they work with tiny heritage vineyards around Turkey, often old bush vines that would otherwise disappear. And some of them are more than 100 years old.

It pours a bright, clear lemon color, and on the nose it immediately gives off this mix of ripe summer fruit and a kind of gentle herbal freshness. There’s also a faint salty note that made me think of warm air coming off the sea. On the palate it feels lively and refreshing, with enough body to give it some presence but still very easy to drink. It doesn’t taste like any other international grape.

A bit of context if you are curious about Turkish wine:

- Turkey has a huge number of indigenous grapes, (up to 800!) but many of the old vineyards are tiny family plots.

- Yaban Kolektif is one of the producers trying to bring these local varieties back into commercial wine, by working directly with growers who still have old vines in the ground.

- A lot of these vineyards are still ungrafted, which makes them pretty unusual in the post-phylloxera world.

So I would love to hear from you all, have you tried any Turkish wine? Have you ever heard of Turkish wine before?

Cheers from Istanbul ????