Not just fairy chimneys and balloons
Cappadocia is world-famous for its spectacular hot air balloons rides, the cave dwellings of Troglodytes, Whirling Dervishes and the rock churches of the early Christian refugees. But Cappadocia wine tours? A hot air balloon flight is an amazing way to view an area that has produced wine for millennia.
Most people will want to combine Cappadocia with a visit to the wineries in the Thrace wine region from Istanbul. A combo of Turkey wine regions like this will show you contrasting regions, grapes and wineries which prove to be very interesting, with some great wines produced between them.
What do our Cappadocia wine tours involve?
We would fly you to Kayseri airport from Istanbul and pick you up for the hour drive to Goreme town. Goreme is a very special place where hotels are literally built into the fairy chimney formations that surround you. If you get up early enough hot air balloon fill the skies.
Goreme is a very laid-back place and a real delight to spend time chilling in, sipping some Turkish wine (and tea of course). We will take you out to visit two or three local wineries which are a little more rustic than those you will see from Istanbul, and introduce you to a couple of new local varieties.
Emir, for example, is a grape which only grows in the Cappadocia region. Emir creates a white which is a perfect match for sushi or salmon and offers green apple aromas and flavors with high minerality. We get to try this wine at the Turasan winery in Urgup village where the team is extremely friendly but certainly less polished than you will find in Napa or Bordeaux, which is part of the charm we feel.
Occasionally there might be tour bus stop by, if we see one there when we arrive we will take you to see fantastic rock formations or the cave churches and then go back after they leave, this flexibility is one of the great advantages of being on a private tour.
We will enjoy a tour of the production area and down in the cellar taking a look at the French oak barrels that Turasan has down there. The guys that show us around do not have great English but you do have a guide to help with translation, as we mentioned we feel that it is part of the attraction that many places we visit are not super-slick, have a sense of humor and are slightly random, but they certainly know what they are talking about.
At Turasan we will enjoy a tasting of several of the wines including Narice, Emir, Kalesic Karasi, and Bogazkere. We will have the chance to open an older bottle from the dusty cobwebs of the cellar if we are lucky and enjoy the suspense of tasting what comes out. Turkish wine will delight your palate and you are trying wines that are not common, or even unknown in your home country.
Another winery we visit is Kocabag. The winery and swathe of vineyards owned by this company are located in Gulsehir some 40 km or so from the tasting room in Uchisar. We will visit both locations plus we will try to arrange a visit to vineyards in Kirsehir, one of seven vineyard plots owned by Kavaklidere, the very well established and most famous of Turkish wine producers.
The Kocabag tasting room and Uchisar visit are low-key (very different from what you might have in Napa or La Rioja) which, apart from trying and maybe buying wine, provides the chance to wander this picturesque little village dominated by its castle. We will leave you some free time to wander this village and enjoy the old, winding streets around the castle.
Apart from your wine time, we will suggest several non-wine activities for your time in Cappadocia. The hot air balloon flight is something you should definitely do, it requires a very early start but the payoff is amazing. Also one of your evenings we recommend two versions of Turkish music and dancing spectacles. One of these experiences is very much more spiritual and solemn than the other, which is more fun and light-hearted. Ask us about the Whirling Dervish and “Turkish night” with dinner options, we can explain our take on them.
