Let me present you my two favourite Turkish sparkling wines! Christmas is near and New Year’s Eve is coming fast. And you don’t want to spend a fortune in french champagnes all starting above 400/500 TL and more per bottle.

My two favourite are Vinkara “Yaşasın” (meaning “Long Live” or “Hurray!” in Turkish) and Suvla “İyi Ki” (meaning “glad to find it”). They’re both produced with the traditional method and are both blanc de noirs.

Vinkara “Yaşasın” was the first Turkish sparkling wine produced in Turkey to use traditional method (two fermentations that occur only in the bottle) like in Champagne.

It’s a blanc de noirs which means black grapes were used to produce a white wine. Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier are used in Champagne but here, at Vinkara winery, they used a local black grape originally from Central Anatolia called Kalecik Karası.

For your information, Kalecik Karası grapes make very good red wines quite close to a Pinot Noir and also wonderful rosé wines.

This sparkling wine has a pale yellow straw colour and a vibrant nose with fine pearls.

On the nose, you can feel yeast, bread, apple and citrus.

It’s full and slightly oily. It’s also very dry for a blanc de noirs.

Flavours are rich and complex with apple, pear, brioche and grapefruit in the medium long finish.

It’s really nice and the price is fair at 179 TL at almost every supermarkets in town.

My other favourite is another blanc de noirs made from Karasakız produced by Suvla winery. As you may know, Suvla is the master of Karasakız. They produce rosé, red and sweet red wines made of it and the quality is really high.

It’s also produced with the traditional method which also means the cost of production is higher.

The region of production is Eceabat in the western part of Turkey.

The difference in taste with Vinkara Yaşasın is that this blanc de noirs is less dry in taste and has more fleshiness.

The colour is white gold with fine bubbles and a refreshing nose full of fresh bread and white flower notes.

On the palate, it’s vivid and bright, very refreshing. It’s almost off dry in taste.

Flavours are rich with notes of quince, orange zest, honeydew melon, honey and cinnamon.

The mineral long finish is really nice.

You will find this one in the Suvla boutiques for 189 TL.

Those are not the most expensive ones produced in Turkey. Suvla has another sparkling wine much more expensive. So has Arcadia winery but I found them aggressive in taste and too bubbly. Not refined enough for that price.

Kavaklidere winery just launched for its 90 years’ anniversary a new sparkling wine made of 100% Chardonnay, a blanc de blancs that I haven’t tried yet. I’m curious about this one.

I hope this post will help you make the right choice before the coming celebrations.

Cheers!