Kelly's Visit: Wine tasting in Izmir

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After a less than successful weekend in Bozcaada, Mike and I were determined to take Kelly wine tasting in Turkey.  Since we had gone wine tasting at Urla Winery in Izmir earlier this summer, we knew it was possible.  We wanted to try new wines, so we took Kelly to three other wineries in Izmir.

Our first stop was Urlice, which was a super cute and small (10,000-12,000 bottles a year), but absolutely delicious. We were greeted by a woman our age who spoke broken English but was able to describe all of the different wines we tried, as well as give us a tour of the cellar where all of the wine was being made.  I recommend the Rose here because it was unique and not like your normal Rose.

The wine tasting room

some of their bottles

How cute is this little reindeer?

The view of their vineyards

Our second stop was Usca Winery, which was a little bit bigger.  Their tasting room was huge and Kelly and I were dreaming of her future wedding there.   The wine was delicious and we even got some cheese to go along with it.  The woman who helped us do the tasting didn't really speak English, but we managed juuuuuuust fine :)

Our last stop, MMG, was our favorite and where we spent the most time.  This winery was owned by a former Turkish neurosurgeon (yup, you read that right!) and was all family owned and run.  Unlike the other wineries who bring in people from France and Italy to make their wine, this was done all by him and his children.  

We sat down on the balcony and were amazed by the view.  The owner told us that there had been a fire about a year ago that had covered this whole valley and wiped out his entire olive tree supply for his olive oil.

Then, they brought us out some cheese, grapes and crackers and began the tasting.  You could tell that the doctor made his own wine because he was really able to talk about the process and the flavors involved.

Our new favorite neurosurgeon

The neurosurgeon's daughter

This little guy was hanging out outside of the winery.  They said he showed up a few days before and they think someone owned him for the summer and then abandoned him, which is pretty common.  So sad. He was so happy and just kept peeing everywhere when he got excited.

This big guy was huge and probably weighed over 200lbs.

We had so much fun hanging out at this winery and it was absolutely beautiful.  The family was so nice and knowledgeable of the wine making process. 

We walked away from the entire afternoon of wine tasting with six new bottles of wine between the three of us and were very happy to have finally showed Kelly a successful wine tasting day.