Guest blogger: Serhat Narsap

I met Serhat Narsap DipWSET at the wine competition Concours Mondial de Bruxelles this fall, and again at Berliner Wein Trophy. We (of course) talked alot about wine, and decided that a guest article by Serhat, about Turkish rosèwine, could be interesting for my readers! We hope you enjoy it, and take a look at Serhat`s consumer guide here if you want to learn more about these wines!

Turkey is a very popular destination for sun seekers from Norway. There were around 208330 Norwegians visiting Turkey in 2019. Most of us visit places like Antalya, Alanya and Bodrum.

We all love a bit of wine and when it comes to summer holidays it is a great idea to have a rose wine. In this article, we will learn more about the wines of Turkey and deeper about the rose wines Turkey has got to offer.

There are seven regions in this vast country that is surrounded by seas, to the north, west and to the south. There are many rivers and mountains that create a dramatic natural landscape in parts of the country. All these features are good factors resulting in some best wines of the Eastern Mediterranean region. Grapes are grown every where and wine is made by a staggering nearly 400 wineries. Turkey has a vast area of 512000 hectares of vineyard area. One of the top 5 in the world! However majority of this goes into dried raisins. Let’s look at the rest in detail.

Out of 100 different wine grapes grown, Turkey boasts 40 to 50 indigenous grapes that are commercially grown and turned into wine. Around 60% of the production is red. The rest is white and rose wines. The wines are made with international grape varieties, the local varieties or blends of the two.

One of the gems of Turkish wines are her rosé wines. These wines stand out with their fruit forward structure, a great perfume and full body. Most of them are serious rosés that can match perfectly with local and international cuisine. Serhat Narsap DipWSET, Turkish wine expert from London, tasted 40+ roses wines from the 2019 vintage and compiled his notes in a compact report written for us consumers.

Serhat says “The rose wines from Turkey are impeccable. They have a unique character; the sunshine and fruit encapsulated in your glass. They offer a lot. The prices are also attractive as euro to lira is quite strong.”