During the establishment of WAYANA, our elder son was in Istanbul by chance. Uluğ (Kuzuoğlu), who is originally an academic,
“The Wine Explorer is close to nature and sensitive. He recognizes the vine and the most valuable product of the vine, wine, and realizes that it is worth learning. The alcoholic beverage feature of wine is not very important for the Wine Explorer. He is aware of the multitude of wine grape varieties and understands that each has its own identity. He values this identity and discovering each one is an effort that the Wine Explorer never tires of pursuing.”
France has become the determinant of the wine world. The French have earned this position by their own efforts, and climate conditions and international political developments have also been on the French side in this process. (You can also read the impact of climate conditions which was in favor of France in another article.) Since they are the determining power, French wine community has naturally settled at the center of wine grapes. So much so that more than half of the grapes in the ‘Noble Grapes’ group consisting of 18 varieties are French, and the rest are from France’s neighbors, Germany, Italy and Spain.
On the other hand, the grape varieties used in the overwhelming majority of wines in the world are no more than fifty. So how many varieties of wine grapes are there in the world? In the giant work called “Wine Grapes” that we use as a source, 1,368 varieties are registered by name. Let's not forget that, as in every research, there are additions to this number after the publication date. The simplest example is our country. 26 grapes are mentioned in this source from Turkey. There are currently 60 grapes that we serve wine from.
The goal of Wine Explorers is very clear: There are at least 1,368 varieties of wine to be tasted. They are scattered all over the world. Some are easy to access, some are impossible to access even if you want to, because their wines are not always made. But when you look at it as a whole, you have a marathon race ahead of you. Wine Explorers are the ones who volunteer to run this marathon. Things are easier in the Turkey leg of this marathon of Wine Explorers. Because it is possible to find all the wines made from endemic Turkish grapes in WAYANA. But if you really want to do it the hard way, we have preparations for that too. We will share these preparations with you as they progress.
We are preparing mini sets of four wines for Wine Explorers. We have started serving the first of them: WINES OF IVY-LIKE VINES. Exciting, isn't it? The wines produced by Kerasus and Neferiye are not in vineyards but in nature. You harvest the grapes by climbing the branches of the vine wrapped around oak or pine trees. These sets are introduction sets, the wine quantities are limited to 15 ml. In other words, a kind of aperitif before starting the meal. We will expand the mini tasting sets to include all Turkish grapes.Beware Wine Explorers!
