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Turkish wine is at risk of drought as economic and climate crises grow | Business and Economy

Mardin and Tekirdag, Turkey While Gabriel Oktay Cili works in his small silver shop in the interior of Mardin in southeastern Turkey, a number of people leave behind damaged jewelry, repaired by a long-lasting burner . But many guests come to order and pick up his sweet, spicy wine.

In the last two decades, a number of winemaking centers have sprung up in Turkey, competing in one of the most thriving companies. Some owners are trying to bring European wine production to Turkey, while others – such as Cili – are trying to revive the ancient winemaking tradition in the region.

Cili, 43, is from Assyria, a member of an ancient Christian sect that has lived in the area around Mardin for thousands of years. He has been making wine for his family and grapes from local vineyards since the early 21st century and now produces at least 1,000 bottles a year.

However, he is one of the few wine producers in Turkey who is now struggling to survive in the face of environmental and economic crises, which are compounded by what he calls political crisis.

Eastern Turkey, like the rest of the country, is experiencing a severe drought. Mardin has been a very challenging, drawing a 54 percent low rainfall last year. Many winemakers in the area are at risk of drought because they do not use irrigated agriculture, relying on natural rainfall and snowfall as this makes the wine tasty and good looking.

When the rains are low, few grape growers can harvest – Cili had already had to add his own grapes and others from outside the region, which he says hinders his control.

In the meantime, ideas for the next ten years in Turkey it looks black while the world is expected to be severely hit by drought, floods, and wildfires.

Cili says this, including Turkey financial problems and government pressure on brewers, threatens its business.

He says the companies need help to change: “The government needs to change.”

Wine production in Turkey

The Mesopotamian plains where Cili produces wine have been the home of Armenian and Assyrian winemakers for thousands of years, including the Ottoman period.

Following the establishment of the Republic of Turkey in 1923, the Tekel government was formed to oversee tobacco and alcohol trade in Turkey. Tekel was secretly formed in 2003 by the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government as part of a debt agreement with the International Monetary Fund and this encouraged the resumption of small-scale Turkish wine producers.

In 2004, it was there less than 50 accredited winemakers in Turkey – available now 184. Home-grown wine production rose from more than 28 million gallons in 2004 to over 66 million gallons[66 million L]last year, and 97 percent of Turkish wine is now consumed indoors.

Although the market is largely dominated by a few large producers – Doluca and Kavaklidere produce more than 50 percent of Turkish wine among them – boutique retailers have been exploding.

Can Topsakal, the founder of Barbare Vineyard, lived in France for many years before returning to Turkey 20 years ago. In 2000, he acquired a property in Tekirdag, in the Thrace region of northwestern Turkey, where he hoped to produce a wine similar to his favorite in France.

They planted the first grape, sent from France, in 2001. Their first harvest was in 2007, and their first harvest was released in 2013.

But in the same year, the ruling AK Party banned the advertising of alcoholic beverages – one of the few things that Topsakal allegedly disrupted his business and reflects the government’s brutality in the industry.

The AK Party has also banned the sale of liquor by retailers within 100 meters of the mosque and after 10pm, and regularly raises taxes on alcohol for nearly 12 years. Excise taxes on alcohol and tobacco rose by 17 percent in January 2021.

In 2020, the government withdrew 12 percent of its tax revenue, or $ 20 billion ($ 1.5bn) from alcohol.

The AK-led government has acknowledged its ban on alcohol and tobacco as a means of counterfeiting and has compared the same procedures and laws in France and the United States.

“There is no way you can protect yourself as a life drinker who has no benefit to the people, but instead it is harmful,” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a statement in 2013.

Topsakal says that although the major manufacturers were house names when the advertising ban was introduced, Barbare and other vineyards for sale elsewhere suffered when they had just started to establish their names.

Despite these difficulties, Barbare was able to form relationships with buyers who bought their wine in bulk and turned the family house into a vineyard into a hotel.

“Now it’s word of mouth,” said Deniz Topsakal, a daughter of Can Topsakal and now the general manager of Barbare. “People come to hotels and restaurants, eat wine, buy wine and send it to friends. This is how we are known. ”

But now many vineyards are suffering because of the financial crisis. rising inflation and a precious metals in Turkey.

The winemakers in the boutique rely on a wide range of exports, which have increased production costs and reduced profits as the lira has done. it’s cheap.

Most of the ingredients needed to make a good wine – up to the corners and boxes – are bought in euros. Oak barrels can cost up to 1,500 euros ($ 1,700) each and can be doubled. When Can Topsakal started making wine at Barbare, the euro was just around 1.50 per lira. The rate has risen to 20 in recent weeks.

The vineyard depends on the hotel’s budget to deal with the financial crisis and, more often, the weather crisis. The couple says they are now breaking.

“We would lose money if there was no hotel,” said Deniz Topsakal. Last year, 25 percent of our crop was lost due to heavy rains.

Barbare vineyards in Tekirdag [Erin O’Brien/Al Jazeera]

‘We gamble here’

Professor Elman Bahar, who specializes in viniculture and wine production at Tekirdag University, says that vineyards need to adopt “smart farming” techniques, adjust harvesting time and yield depending on climate change as a result of climate change.

“Rain comes when you don’t want it, and it doesn’t come when you want it,” Bahar said, adding that rainfall in the region varies from 550-600 mm per year a few years ago, to 700 mm. in 2018, it is 280mm in 2020.

“We used to make annual plans. Now we have to make a plan every week, ”he said.

Hikmet Ataman, chief winemaker at Arcadia Vineyard in Kirklareli, northwestern Turkey, also said that the Turkish wine industry needs to be driven by data to survive in a changing and unpredictable climate.

He said this was particularly difficult because the government’s Meteorological Directorate (MGM) does not provide much weather information to the public; rainfall, droughts, and global warming are regularly reported every year nationwide and regionally.

“We gamble here,” said Ataman, “we do not know what the wine will be like in five years. If the weather gets hotter by 5 degrees, they will all die. ”

Arcadia Vineyards has established a climate center and maintains a good record of soil, rainfall, grape farming, and productivity. This, according to Ataman, allows them to adjust their harvest and boiling time. If some grapes are degraded by cold and hot weather, they change their production to a variety of colors.

However, there is not enough data, he said.

“If the government issues [more detailed] weather data, there would be traders. “People invest and go into companies,” Ataman said.

Meanwhile, other winemakers are said to have benefited from the change in government policy. Lower taxes would allow them to lower their prices; if the advertising ban was lifted or they were allowed to sell online, they could reach more customers.

“Wine is a tradition,” said Cili, a winemaker from Mardin. But some do not think so. To survive, we need help. ”




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