Urlice Vineyards

One of the original wineries starting the current Urla Wine trend.

Working since 1997 as an organic vineyard, located just 1.5 km from the sea in a kind of wind swept valley adjoining two small bays (see the location map below).

They are distinct for their international variety red wines that are always oak aged for at least 2 years and then bottle conditioned for a further 18 months, though they do produce white wines as well.

The owner Mr. Reha is most often around - and is an interesting person to chat with as his life experience has taken him to work in the US and back to Turkey, and he is a visionary when it comes to wine and winemaking. Also don't miss a chance to see their simple but interesting cellar

Urlice Vineyards Wines

The vineyard of Urlice grows only four varieties of grapes, all international types. They are Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, and Chardonnay.

As mentioned above this is a boutique winery with very low production but an attention to their own unique expression of organic wine. This is evident as the current wines available are 2016 to 2019 reds and 2021 whites and roses.

The white is Chardonnay is unoaked and is considered to be a lighter more citrusy Chardonnay similar to a Sauvignon Blanc - a distinction of the terroir here and the producers work.

As far as rose' there are a few though I haven't tried these. They make a Vin Gris which is said to have an apricot hint to it. There is also rose' made from Merlot I believe which is known to have distinct lemon and strawberry balanced by notably acidity in the finish, sounds delightful.

Their Cabernet Sauvignon is notably tannic, though there is a hint of organicoriginality to it. I think their CS is a good expression of Urla regions style and with all their reds the oak is very present in the early years of a vintage, but becomes better integrated after 5 or so years of age.
The Merlot as I recall was not as distinct as the CS and Syrah / Shiraz which is also robust, acidic and full bodied.
There are also Bordeaux style blends of CS and Merlot, and CS and Syrah with my preference for the later.
All the reds here are robust, tannic and tend to stronger palates and need to be well decanted. I've drunk a few not decanted and didn't enjoly them as much.

Urlice Vineyard Cafe

Urlice Vineyards operates a cafe where they do their wine tastings and serve some tasting and interesting dishes. The selection is short but the food is good and satisfying. Their menu is published is online here.