Urla Wine Route

How to Complete

3 steps curated by Wine Memories

1. 🍷 1

   Taste the Grape That Came Back from Extinction

   wine $$

   Urla Karasi was dead. Then winemakers brought it back. Now you can taste why they bothered.

   Urla Karasi is an ancient grape variety that disappeared from this coastline - EXTINCT, gone. Then in the late 1990s-early 2000s, Turkish winemakers on the Urla Peninsula began hunting old vines and old agricultural records. They found it. They also resurrected Foça Karasi and Gaydura - three extinct grapes back from the dead. These grapes grew here in the time of the ancient Greek colony of Klazomenai, 2,500 years ago. You are tasting continuity across a 2,500-year gap. At Urla Winery (Urla Şarapçılık, on the Urla Bağ Yolu, less than 1 hour from Izmir by car), ask specifically for the indigenous grape flights - the tasting room staff explain each variety with visible pride. Ask: 'Can I try the Urla Karasi?' The FREE tasting includes their standard range; indigenous varieties may have a small fee.

   🔄 BACKUP: If you cannot do the full winery visit, the Urla Wine Trail (Urla Bağ Yolu) is walkable - 10 wineries, formed in 2016 when Urlice, USCA, and five others joined forces.

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2. 🍷 2

   Ask Why Urla Beat Bordeaux at Its Own Game

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   Three Decanter Platinum medals don't happen by accident

   Decanter World Wine Awards Platinum is the highest possible score - fewer than 1% of wines entered receive it. Urla Winery received THREE in 2020, plus a Gold. International wines from France, Italy, Spain dominate those lists. A boutique Turkish winery on a peninsula most wine drinkers have never heard of beating them is a genuine upset. The secret: this coast was making exceptional wine before Bordeaux was anything but swamp. The ancient Greek colony of Klazomenai (on this exact peninsula, 2,500 years ago) exported amphorae of Urla wine across the Mediterranean. In the Urla Winery tasting room, ask the staff: 'What did you change to win Decanter Platinum?' The answer will be about land, not technique. Ask to taste the Sauvignon Blanc: crisp, citrus, green apple, stone fruit, minerality - the DNA of this specific peninsula.

   🔄 BACKUP: The winery has an architectural award (Arkitera Architectural Award) alongside the wine awards - the building itself is worth seeing.

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3. ⛰️ 3

   Walk the Ancient Greek Colony's Coastline

   Optional

   adventure Free

   The same coast where Greeks planted vines 2,500 years ago is still producing wine

   The ancient Greek colony of Klazomenai occupied this exact peninsula. Archaeological excavations have found wine amphorae from Klazomenai across the Mediterranean - these vines were once among the most traded wines in the ancient world. The same Aegean light, the same limestone and clay soils, the same sea breeze hitting the vines - it has been making wine here, unbroken, for 6,000 years. After your tasting at any of the wineries on the Urla Peninsula (most are within 1-2km of the Aegean), walk toward the coast. Face the Aegean. You are standing in one of the oldest continuously wine-producing regions on earth. Find a vineyard row and look at the vines - the rootstock of old vines in this region goes back decades, sometimes a century, rooting through the same soil the Greeks cultivated.

   🔄 BACKUP: The Urla market town itself has excellent seafood restaurants where you can pair local wine with fresh Aegean catch - the traditional way to drink Urla wine.

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Insider Tips

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  Urla Winery is the pioneer

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  Several producers offer tastings

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  The region is rapidly developing

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  Book ahead for weekend visits