"Anyone who damages a grapevine must compensate with silver."
The Hittite Laws, the code of the Hittite Empire that saw its Iron Age civilization flourish about 3,500 years ago, included such a provision. For the Hittites, who ruled the Anatolian plateau that today covers most of Türkiye, the grapevine was the foundation of the state and an asset directly tied to security. Among Hittite agricultural statutes, punishments related to grapes were particularly severe; a single grapevine was valued as highly as the price of one enslaved person. Deliberately destroying a vineyard was treated as a grave crime that cut the empire's lifeline and was punished strictly.
For the Hittites, wine was not merely a preference. It was the sole and sacred channel to communicate with the gods. The destruction of vineyards and the resulting loss of wine supply meant they could no longer make offerings to the gods, which they believed would bring a calamity—the loss of divine favor that sustained the state. In practice, the Hittite king is said to have performed a libation ritual each morning, carefully pouring red wine before the divine altar to pray for the empire's prosperity and peace.
At the same time, wine was a core economic resource integrated into the order of governance. Anatolian wine was a top-tier luxury, prized in neighboring Mesopotamia and Egypt. Export revenues became a source of military funds to produce iron weapons and maintain chariot units. In ancient Anatolia, wine was a strategic asset of the empire, where religious reverence and economic practicality converged.
The Anatolian wine narrative does not end there. As it passed through ancient Greece and the Roman Empire and expanded into a commercial industry, its wine culture persisted tenaciously through the Byzantine and Ottoman Empires to the present day. Turkish wine long remained outside the world market's focus for religious and political reasons, but over the past 20 years, large-scale capital investment and modernization in winemaking have brought it back into the spotlight.
Today, Türkiye ranks among the top five in global vineyard acreage and is a "wine gene bank" with roughly 1,000 native varieties. Although its global market share is still modest, high-quality wines made from indigenous grapes are rapidly raising its profile.
Vinkara, a winery in Kalecik near the Turkish capital, Ankara, represents this trend. Established in 2003, Vinkara sits on a plateau more than 600 meters above sea level and has devoted itself to reviving forgotten native varieties. In particular, it boldly adopted the Méthode Traditionnelle—the classic European technique identical to Champagne—elevating the stature of Turkish wine.
Its flagship wine is Yaşasın. In Turkish, it means "hurrah" or "long live life." It is the first Turkish sparkling wine made by the Champagne method. True to its name, it was created to celebrate moments of victory, achievement and joy.
Yaşasın is made from Kalecik Karası, a Turkish indigenous variety. Thanks to its delicate aromas and elegant structure, this red grape is called "the Pinot Noir of Türkiye." It comes in two versions, classic and rosé; the classic is vinified as a white wine using the Blanc de Noirs method, in which the grape skins are removed immediately. After more than two years of secondary fermentation in bottle and aging on the lees, it achieves both the firm structure typical of red varieties and the fine bubbles of sparkling wine.
Yaşasın Classic shows zesty citrus with fresh almond and grapefruit on the nose. On the palate, bright acidity leads, pairing well with oysters, caviar, mussels, cured meats, French fries, fried chicken and charcuterie. Yaşasın Classic won Best of 2026 with the highest score in the sparkling wine category at the Korea Wine & Spirits Awards 2026. The domestic importer is Shira East.