Locals Toil As Experts Toast Turkish Wine Renaissance

The Arcadia vineyards produce up to 150,000 bottles a year (Credit: AFP)

As the evening light falls on her vineyards in northwestern Turkey, Zeynep Arca Salliel pinches the grapes and tastes the skin. It is harvest time.

Aided by an Italian wine expert, the 50-year-old took up winemaking professionally in the 2000s, aged 30, after the lifting of a state monopoly on alcohol sales that favoured large producers.