The guest of the ninth event in our Producers at Wayana series was Kavaklıdere Wines. Almost as old as the Republic of Turkey itself, Kavaklıdere is originally from Ankara, taking its name from the district of the same name. But to truly grasp the magnitude of this producer, we needed a tasting like ours — and a guide like Yasemin Taşlıca to present Kavaklıdere. We understood this by living it.

In the opening sentence, we said this was our ninth tasting, but it’s worth making a small correction. In the third tasting of this series, we made an exception and hosted not a producer but the Lydia Ancient Vineyard Route. The idea of holding the Kavaklıdere tasting in October also came up back then. Because the Pendore Vineyards of Kavaklıdere were members of that route, and during that tasting, Sina and Yasemin laid the foundation for this event’s framework.

Briefly About Kavaklıdere

Founded in 1929, Kavaklıdere was forced to move outside the city as Ankara turned into a metropolis. The current Akyurt facility is the result of that necessary and radical transformation at the time. It still remains the main production site today.

However, as time went on, other steps became necessary. The first of these was the Cote d’Avanos vineyards and production facility in Cappadocia. Adorned with shades of beige, Cappadocia was brought to life and fertility by the emerald-green vineyards of Cote d’Avanos. The volcanic soil structure of Cappadocia has a distinct influence on the vines and grapes.

The third stop was the Pendore Vineyards and production facility in Manisa, which takes its name from the region’s ancient title. Here, one encounters a variety of soil types, including the volcanic soil of Kula. Another feature of Pendore is its section dedicated to vine sapling cultivation. The certified nursery serves both Kavaklıdere and other producers.

To these three main centers, we must add Thrace, where new vineyards have been planted, as well as two château winemaking locations in France.

Kavaklıdere Tasting at Wayana

When preparing the content for the Kavaklıdere tasting, the goal was to serve multiple purposes. The first was geographical diversity, meaning examples from all regions would be represented — and they were.

The wines in the first part of the event were from the Cote d’Avanos and Prestige series. The tasting began with examples made from the Emir grape in different wine styles: we tasted both its white wine and sparkling version.

Next, we sampled the Kalecikkarası grape, first as a rosé, then as part of a mini vertical tasting with two subsequent wines. The 2019 and 2022 vintages of the Prestige Kalecikkarası fulfilled this role. The sixth and final wine of the first section was a Bordeaux blend from the vineyards in France.

The second part followed an open-tasting format, where participants walked around with their glasses and sampled whichever wines they wished. This section featured a white from the Vin-Art series, a rosé and red from the Egeo series, a white from the Selection series, and one red each from the Pendore and Prestige series.

Kavaklıdere’s Wine Segmentation

Kavaklıdere groups its wines into five main segments:

• Signature: 1929 and Cote d’Avanos Natural Sparkling
• Super Premium: Pendore-Cote d’Avanos-Prestige-Tatlı Sert-Altın Köpük
• Premium: Egeo-Selection-Misket-Emir-Vin&Art
• Popular: Ancyra-Çankaya-Yakut-Lâl-Primeur-Rosato-Pembe Köpük-İnci Damlası
• Basic: Angora-Myrina-Dikmen-Kavak-Roza-Tigris-Leyla-Amore

Our Visits to Kavaklıdere

In our Producers at Wayana series, visiting the production facilities of our featured producers has become both a habit and a pleasure. The main reason we do this is that it directly helps us do our job better. Because the tasting events carry a responsibility — we aim to introduce our guest producers to participants in the best possible way. And the only way to do that is by getting to know our guests deeply.

We made a working visit to Kavaklıdere’s Pendore Vineyards before the Lydia Ancient Vineyard Route tasting in April. We toured the wide estate among the vineyards and discussed the effects of the frost disaster that had struck the whole country at the time. Pendore is a collection of terroirs with various soil types. With its production facility, vineyards, and nursery, it is an impressive operation.

We visited Kavaklıdere’s Cote d’Avanos right before the tasting. Our longtime friends Sanem and Faruk, both winemakers at Kavaklıdere, hosted us. When Caner and Ahmet joined, the conversation deepened, and our focus turned to the vineyards. Ahmet, who has been involved in the establishment of all Kavaklıdere vineyards over the past thirty years, shared colorful stories that helped us understand both the workflow and how experiential learning enriches institutional knowledge. Hearing how the loss of vines in the early days of Cote d’Avanos taught them the price of abandoning ancestral viticulture techniques too quickly, and how they later developed a hybrid system blending goblet and trellised methods, was a story worth hearing.

Later, we followed the journey of the grape within the facility, almost rolling like a grape ourselves through the production area. The operational scale of processing grapes parcel by parcel in such vast lands, and distributing them according to Kavaklıdere’s wide range of wine segments, was remarkable. At the final stop of the visit, our hosts prepared pre-bottling samples for us to taste. We wrapped up this colorful visit with pleasant fatigue and bid farewell to the team.

Tasting Day

We work hard to deliver the Producers at Wayana series properly. But no matter what, hearing the producer’s story directly from them always has a unique impact. The presence of Yasemin Taşlıca at the Kavaklıdere tasting created exactly that effect. As a knowledgeable host, her insights allowed our participants to understand Kavaklıdere much more deeply.

We started the tasting by welcoming everyone with a sparkling wine produced using the tank method from Cote d’Avanos. The following six wines were paired with our tapas according to their acidity and flavor profiles. In the second part, we held another open tasting with six wines selected from different series and had long conversations with participants — we probably left no question unanswered.

Final Word

We truly love the Producers at Wayana event format. It gives us the opportunity to see producers not only as mechanical places that make wine but also as living, dynamic, and emotional entities.

If you haven’t joined these events yet, you definitely should.