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Hi everyone ! I’m back with more Turkish wines from Frankfurt, Germany.

Today I present you a Cabernet sauvignon made by Ayda winery.

Ayda winery is located in Gödence, very close to the Urla wine route – Urla, the Turkish Tuscany they say… and it’s quite true as a matter of fact – On this wine route, certainly the best organized and indicated in Turkey, you can find the following wineries: Urla, Urlice, USCA, Mozaik and MMG. Ayda winery is just a few kilometers to the east of MMG.

It’s not my first bottle from Ayda. If you check my insta or my blog turkishwineisfantastic.com, you’ll see I’ve already tasted their characterful Pinot Noir, their beautiful Syrah and their ok rosé. Ayda winery was founded by Ayda Kargili Kalelioglu and her husband UgurKalelioglu. For those who don’t know, many Turkish wineries were founded by women.

Ayda Hanim was a dentist before she transformed a hobby (wine making) into a real business and a respected one. She studied oenology in France in Toulouse (the city where I was born!!!) and came back in 2008 with a certification in oenology. The couple sold the vineyards in Urla and in 2015 established the winery in Gödence in the middle of a valley surrounded by high mountains on an altitude of 400 meters. It’s very sloppy and the road to the winery is quite narrow and steep.

The soil structure is predominantly made of sandy stone and clay and is very acidic. You can add a natural capacity to keep the humidity and a full load of nutrients.

This winery produces around 14000 bottles a year only and has also a restaurant and 6-room guest house.

Two things in particular make this winery different and interesting. 1. All the wines are fermented in barrels, not a common thing in Turkey. 2. All the wines are vegan certified. That means no animal derived products are used. For the filtration for instance they use potato protein!

Now let’s taste this Cabernet Sauvignon!

Like all the reds at Ayda winery, the wine was transferred from the barrel to stainless steel tanks for filtration before being put back in the barrel for ageing. Honestly this wine doesn’t smell young. You’ve got ripe black fruits like blackberry, blackcurrant, olives, plum, dried herbs and vanilla on the nose. It’s well structured, you have silky tannins, it’s  very confident, very warm. You can definitely feel the warm climate. On the palate, I also noticed flavours cedar oak, liquorice and violets. The finish is long and smooth.

It’s good. I really liked it and it surprisingly went well with the lamb!

Ellerinize sağlık Ayda Hanım!

You can find this wine and more Turkish wines here