Turkish wines: the grapes to look for
Wine was being made in eastern Anatolia before it was made anywhere else that we know of, and Turkey is still one of the world's largest grape growers. Most of the crop goes into raisins and table grapes, but a modern wine industry has grown up around the native varieties, and two of our stops - Sirince near Ephesus and Cappadocia - sit in the middle of it.
The whites
Emir is Cappadocia's grape, grown at 1,000 metres in the volcanic soil around Urgup. Pale, crisp, mineral, with green apple and citrus - the wine to drink with the mezes on the Cappadocia nights. The name means "lord".
Narince comes from Tokat towards the Black Sea: fuller, white flowers and citrus, takes oak well. Its leaves are also the preferred vine leaves for dolma.
Sultaniye, the Aegean's raisin grape, makes light, easy whites around Izmir and Denizli, which is to say around Selcuk and Pamukkale.
The reds
Kalecik Karasi, from near Ankara, was almost extinct in the 1970s and is now the country's favourite red: light, ruby, red berries and a little cocoa, Pinot-like. Easy to drink with anything.
Okuzgozu ("ox eye", for the size of the berries) from Elazig in the east: medium-bodied, juicy, soft tannins, dark cherry.
Bogazkere ("throat burner") from Diyarbakir: big, tannic, dark fruit, built for lamb. The two eastern grapes are often blended, Okuzgozu for fruit and Bogazkere for structure.
Where to drink it on the route
Sirince, the hill village above Selcuk, is famous for its fruit wines - peach, blackberry, melon - sold in every shop on the main street. They are sweet and fun; the serious grape wines are in the two or three proper producers on the edge of the village. Taxis run from Selcuk.
Cappadocia has wineries in Urgup and Uchisar with tasting rooms cut into the rock. Ask your guide; the Turkish night on the first evening includes local wine, and the better cave hotels keep a decent cellar.
Istanbul has wine bars in Karakoy and Cihangir that pour by the glass from across the country - the easiest way to compare.
Prices and raki
Alcohol is taxed heavily in Turkey, so a bottle in a restaurant costs more than you might expect for the country; a house wine in a good restaurant is still reasonable. The national drink with fish and mezes is raki, aniseed spirit served with water and ice, which turns milky - "lion's milk" - and is drunk slowly over a long dinner. Try it once at the fish market in Fethiye.
Cappadocia and Sirince are on the Fethiye to Istanbul Tour, the Istanbul to Fethiye Tour and every longer route.
