Wineries to Visit in Urla With a Private Guide

Before the population exchange, vines grew on a plot of land in Kuşçular, a village in the hills of Urla. Later they were pulled up for tobacco, and when the tobacco went too, the field lay empty for years. In 2001, Sevinç and Erol Çakır, two lawyers who had left the law, planted vines there again. Many wineries to visit in Urla share a story like theirs: old vineyard country, brought back by a family in the last twenty-five years. A private guide and your own driver let you taste at two of them in one day, with lunch in the old town in between.

How the Urla Vineyard Route Began

The peninsula west of İzmir grew grapes in ancient times, and Foça Karası has grown on these hills for some 2,600 years. The modern revival began in 2006 with Urlice, and Urla Şarapçılık followed in 2008. Today ten wineries belong to the Urla Vineyard Route, each one a family business. Since 2025, the route has been part of the Council of Europe’s network of wine routes. For the grapes and regions of the whole country, read our guide to Turkish wine.

Wineries to Visit in Urla, in Kuşçular

USCA

Serpil Erdurak, a law graduate, bought her first vineyard near İzmir in 2002 and planted vines at Kocadağ, in Urla, the year after. She named her winery after the philosopher Anaxagoras of nearby Klazomenai, who taught that a mind, nous, orders the world; in Turkish, the word is written “us”. USCA farms with an organic certificate and works with four local grapes, Foça Karası, Öküzgözü, Urla Karası and Bornova Misketi, beside five international ones. Its wine expert leads the tastings, and the Cellar tasting takes a small group down among the barrels.

Çakır Winery

A short drive away, the Çakır family laid the foundations of its stone winery in 2017 and brought in the first harvest a year later. They named the first wines Somnium, Latin for “dream”. At Çakır Winery, the cellar, the tasting room and a restaurant share one building among the vines. A tasting pours six wines, and the kitchen leans on the Aegean and Italy, with pizzas from a stone oven.

Hus

Also in Kuşçular, Hus makes its wines on the estate and serves them on a restaurant terrace above vines and olive trees. It appears in the MICHELIN Guide, so it suits a long dinner after the second tasting.

Lunch in Urla Between the Tastings

Between the two tastings, lunch belongs in the old town. At Hiç Lokanta, Duygu Özerson Elakdar and Taha Elakdar cook in a stone building about 160 years old, once a theater. The oil comes from the olive forest they have tended since 2011, and the plates and glasses come from their own ceramics workshop. For more tables on the peninsula, read our guide to the best restaurants in Urla.

Wineries to Visit in Urla With a Private Guide

Our Urla wine tour starts with olive oil, not wine. At Klazomenai, people pressed olives in a workshop of the 6th century BC, with 15 basins carved into the rock. After lunch in Urla, you taste at two wineries of the Urla Vineyard Route. Tell us if you would like USCA and Çakır, the two neighbors of Kuşçular, and we will book both. Your own driver stays with you all day, so everyone in your group can taste. The tastings are for guests over 18.

For estates beyond the peninsula, from Bozcaada to Cappadocia, read our list of wineries to visit in Turkey.

Visit the Urla Wineries With Us

Tell us which grapes you want to meet, the rare Foça Karası at USCA or the Somnium wines at Çakır, and we will plan your tastings in Kuşçular around a long lunch in Urla.