SEVİLEN WINERY & İSABEY BAĞEVİ
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Another Sunday, another road trip with Doya Doya Geziyoruz, the group we founded with fellow İzmir bloggers. This time, thanks to a kind invitation from our dear Murat Güner, our route first took us to the Sevilen Winery in the Ortaklar industrial district, followed by İsabey Bağevi in Menderes.
Our study entitled “The Majesty of a Plane Tree More Than 350 Years Old” =)
SUNDAY BOYOZ
They say the early bird gets the worm, so that is exactly what we did: we began the day at Dostlar Fırını in Alsancak with steaming glasses of tea and Sunday boyoz. Our favourite this time was boyoz topped with nigella seeds. For some reason, gevrek—İzmir's name for the sesame-coated bread ring known elsewhere as simit—is an everyday breakfast for me, while boyoz always makes me think of Sundays. We were lucky: the sky was clear, and the wonderful İzmir sunshine made the middle of February feel like spring. We happily got up at least an hour and a half early before this lovely trip, just so we could eat boyoz. It is worth it for the boyoz whose true value my İzmir friends only seem to appreciate after moving to Istanbul :)
Is there any better breakfast than a strong glass of tea and an expertly made boyoz?
BARRELS MATTER :)
After this lovely breakfast, we met the rest of the group at Üçkuyular Ferry Terminal and boarded the shuttle that would take us to Ortaklar. Along the way, we chatted with dear Murat Bey about the company's history and, as we say in Türkiye, solved all the country's problems. When we reached the winery in Ortaklar, we were greeted by a factory building whose front had been designed like a medieval castle straight out of a history book.
The winery's atmospheric entrance.
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Comfortable seating beneath the winery's high ceilings.
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We naturally loved this impressive entrance, which gave no hint that an enormous facility handling everything from grapes to bottling lay behind it. After taking a few medieval-style photos, we moved into the production area. It was equipped with state-of-the-art machinery and looked more like a large, modern workshop than a factory. Murat Bey patiently explained every machine and each stage of the process. It is a complicated sequence if you are unfamiliar with winemaking, but don't worry—I won't describe it at length, because I have already forgotten most of it :)
An innocent blogger who wants to see everything with his own eyes.
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Sizing it up like a prospective buyer =)
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Some of the things we learned were genuinely fascinating. One was that winemaking can, in fact, be a dangerous and potentially fatal business. Carbon dioxide released during fermentation can accumulate in poorly ventilated cellars and other confined spaces, creating a serious occupational hazard. Sevilen takes this risk very seriously, and the factory was so well ventilated that the production area felt colder than it did outside :) We were also told at the time that each barrel used to age the wines cost around €1,500.
The barrels that give Sevilen wines their wonderful oak character.
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Can you spot Tuğçe and Gökay in the photo? =)
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İSABEY BAĞEVİ
The newly built tasting room and its green garden.
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Architectural poses on sunny days.
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One of the many advantages of living in İzmir is the warm weather; another is the number of wonderful places you can reach in just half an hour by car. İsabey Bağevi is one of them. I had last visited İsabey Bağevi in 2004 as a guest of British American Tobacco. It welcomed me back without having lost any of its elegance or character. There was only one difference this time: a more contemporary tasting room had been added to the grounds.
Our tasting table.
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Our favourite: 900 Fumé Blanc.
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The cheese and crackers are ready too.
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We held our tasting in this building, which had been completed only six months earlier. We sampled a selection of six bottles, including two reds. Our favourite was 900 Fumé Blanc, once again confirming that we are white-wine people. The rest of the group fell in love with the red 900 all over again. We also learned that veteran wine writer Mehmet Yalçın would be hosting whisky and wine tasting days during March 2016. You can contact İsabey Bağevi for details.
The modern bar in the tasting room.
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Wine and cheese: an inseparable pair.
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Another part of the tasting that we may have enjoyed even more than the wines was the cheese on the tasting platter. We almost abandoned the wine and carried on with the cheese instead :) In the end, we stopped the tasting at just the right point and headed to the main building for lunch. It stands beside the ancient plane tree whose imposing presence makes it clear that it rules the garden.
You can see the two-storey restaurant on the right.
The building has two floors. Because it receives fewer guests in winter than in spring and summer, only the upper floor and balcony were open. In high season, however, the garden and balcony make it ideal for hosting large groups. We took our seats at the table prepared for us upstairs. As the sun slowly set behind the plane tree, it warmed us from within and made our day with its beautiful light.
The elegant table prepared for us in the restaurant.
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Thanks to Öznur from Lezzet Senfonisi for the hat =)
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Murat Bey had arranged a wonderful menu for our group, and dishes we could describe as almost flawless began to arrive. We started with the restaurant's own beef carpaccio. Balsamic vinegar lifted this starter to another level, and we wished it would never end—but it did :) Next came cheese tortellini served with white asparagus. That was delicious too, but the carpaccio won the Oscar while the tortellini took home the Golden Orange.
Wonderful beef carpaccio. Photo: Gurmecan Mehmet.
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Tortellini with white asparagus. Photo: Gurmecan Mehmet.
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Meanwhile, our wine tasting continued with Plato and Güney, made from Kalecik Karası grapes, followed by R Red from the winery's letter series. The Bordeaux blend from the R Red range was wonderful even for us, and we are not usually fans of red wine. Of course, the fact that it was a bottle from the 2012 vintage probably helped. Our main course, steak, was tender enough to melt in the mouth. If you love meat and have not yet visited İsabey Bağevi, add it to your itinerary as soon as possible. If you are coming from outside İzmir, its location around ten minutes by car from İzmir Airport, depending on traffic, makes a visit even easier. While waiting for your flight, you could spend your time here instead of in a cold, impersonal airport lounge. Cumaovası station, on the southern section of the İZBAN line, is also nearby; the line now continues beyond Cumaovası to Selçuk.
Since our visit, İsabey Bağevi has gained international recognition as a MICHELIN Selected restaurant and is included in the 2026 MICHELIN Guide Türkiye. This does not mean that it holds a MICHELIN Star or Bib Gourmand; rather, it is one of the restaurants recommended by Michelin’s inspectors. The Guide highlights the estate’s Sauvignon Blanc vineyards, its terrace beneath a plane tree more than 350 years old, and its Mediterranean cuisine built around thoughtful food-and-wine pairings.
A DIFFERENT PLEASURE IN EVERY SEASON
After finishing on a high note with dessert, we had to leave under psychological pressure from the mothers in our group. If it had been up to Gurmecan Mehmet and us, we would not have left that wonderful table before midnight, but we were bundled into the shuttle by force and deception and sent home :) Before leaving, however, we made Murat Bey promise that we would repeat this beautiful Sunday in spring. I am sure that when spring comes alive, nature awakens and the ancient plane tree fills with leaves, the tables we set out in the garden—and the cheerful conversations around them—will feel like scenes from a Ferzan Özpetek film.
We fell in love with the plane tree.
WHERE IS İSABEY BAĞEVİ?
There are several answers to the question of how to get to İsabey Bağevi. If you are coming from the airport, you can take a taxi. If you are driving from central İzmir, turn towards Gölcükler Village less than a kilometre after the airport junction; İsabey Bağevi is only 400 metres farther on. If you do not have a car—or simply do not want to drive after drinking—the İZBAN commuter rail comes to the rescue. Although the station is within walking distance, take a taxi and you will be there in just three minutes.
Our sunny table and lovely conversations.
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Old Sevilen bottles at the entrance to the winery.
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A few final anecdotes:
*China's nouveau riche are said to drink the famous—and extremely expensive—Petrus wines with cola. These are the same wines that Cem Uzan once made famous and kept in the Turkish public eye for years.
*At the time of our visit, we were told that the producers of Sevilen, Arkas and Urlice wines were working together on a proposed South İzmir Wine Route combining tourism and gastronomy.
*Slow fermentation is said to produce better-quality wine.
*China's nouveau riche are said to drink the famous—and extremely expensive—Petrus wines with cola. These are the same wines that Cem Uzan once made famous and kept in the Turkish public eye for years.
*At the time of our visit, we were told that the producers of Sevilen, Arkas and Urlice wines were working together on a proposed South İzmir Wine Route combining tourism and gastronomy.
*Slow fermentation is said to produce better-quality wine.
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