A Traveller's Guide to Turkey's Native Grapes
Anatolia is one of the world's oldest wine lands, home to roughly 90 endemic grapes. Here's what they taste like — and where a traveller can try them.
Seven thousand vintages deep
Long before Bordeaux or Barolo, wine was being made on the Anatolian plateau. Archaeologists have traced winemaking in eastern Turkey back thousands of years, and the vines never left: villages across Anatolia kept planting the same local grapes their grandparents grew, largely untouched by the international varieties that swept through the rest of the wine world.
That's what makes a grape endemic, or native: it evolved here and, in most cases, grows nowhere else on earth. Turkey counts around 90 of them still in commercial production — whites from windswept Aegean valleys, muscular reds from the far east, delicate pale wines from the hills around Ankara. You can't taste these anywhere but here.
Most travellers never get past the airport shelf. This guide covers the nine grapes worth knowing — and the one room in Istanbul where you can taste nearly all 90, a glass at a time.
The grapes to know
Nine native varieties that map the whole country — from Thracian reds to Cappadocian whites.
Narince
WhIteFresh and citrusy, with green apple, white flowers and a clean mineral finish. Takes to oak beautifully as it ages.
The white every sommelier pours first — Turkey's answer to unoaked Chardonnay.
Öküzgözü
RedJuicy and bright — sour cherry, raspberry and a whisper of spice, with soft tannins and lively acidity.
The name means "ox eye", after its big, dark berries. Juicy, bright and remarkably approachable.
Kalecik Karası
RedElegant and perfumed: red fruit, rose petal and a silky, Pinot-like lightness on the palate.
Rescued from near-extinction in the 1970s — now the connoisseur's Turkish red.
Emir
WhIteCrisp, lean and saline, with green pear and citrus zest — vivid acidity from volcanic high-altitude soils.
Grown in vineyards among Cappadocia's fairy chimneys. Made for seafood.
Boğazkere
RedBold and brooding — dark fruit, dried fig and firm, gripping tannins built for slow-cooked meat.
Literally "throat-burner". Often blended with Öküzgözü to soften its grip.
Misket
WhIteAromatic and floral — orange blossom, grape and honeyed stone fruit, usually finished dry or off-dry.
Turkey's muscat family; the style that wins over white-wine sceptics.
Çalkarası
LIght red · RoséLight-bodied and fresh — strawberry and pomegranate, most often pressed into pale, thirst-quenching rosé.
The summer-terrace grape, from a single valley in Denizli.
Papazkarası
RedMedium-bodied with wild berries, herbs and a rustic, savoury edge — Thrace's historic village red.
"The priest's black" — an old Balkan-border grape enjoying a serious revival.
Sultaniye
WhIteDelicate, light and easy — soft citrus and melon with a gentle finish. Best drunk young and cold.
The same grape behind the world's sultana raisins, at home in the Aegean sun.
One evening. 85 native grapes. Every wine by the glass.
Chasing these grapes across Anatolia would take weeks. At WAYANA, a Turkish-only wine bar in Moda, Kadıköy, every one of 500+ wines is opened by the glass using Coravin — so a single visit can wander from a Thracian Papazkarası to a Cappadocian Emir to an eastern Boğazkere, guided by a sommelier, without committing to a single bottle.
Four wine lands, one country
Turkey's greenest wine country, on the European side near the Balkan border — cooler, wetter, and home to elegant village reds and a wave of boutique wineries.
Sun-soaked hills behind İzmir and Manisa. Aromatic whites, easy rosés and most of the country's vineyard area, cooled by sea breezes.
High-altitude volcanic plateaus where vines hide from harsh winters in tuff-stone hollows. Crisp, mineral whites and perfumed light reds.
The old heart of it all, along the upper Euphrates. Extreme continental climate, ancient vines, and the country's boldest, most structured reds.
Questions travellers ask
Yes — and improving fast. A generation of quality-focused producers has been winning international medals with native grapes you can't taste anywhere else. The best Öküzgözü and Narince now stand comfortably next to mid-range Old World bottles, usually at friendlier prices.
For whites, start with Narince — fresh, citrusy and hard to dislike. For reds, Öküzgözü's juicy fruit and soft tannins make it the friendliest introduction, with elegant Kalecik Karası a close second. A sommelier can line all three up side by side.
That's exactly what by-the-glass pouring with Coravin makes possible. At WAYANA in Moda, 85 of Turkey's 90 endemic grapes are available by the glass, so an evening's tasting can cover more of Anatolia than a two-week road trip.
Most countries allow one or two bottles of wine in checked luggage duty-free — check your own allowance before flying. Taste by the glass first, note your favourites, and pick up bottles from a licensed shop before you leave; this page is a guide, not a shop.
All of Anatolia, one table in Moda.
Sommelier-guided, English-speaking, every wine by the glass. Reserve a table at WAYANA and taste the grapes from this guide in a single evening.
4.7★ · Free cancellation · Caferağa, Moda, Kadıköy
