Winemaking is not an easy or secure job anywhere, let alone in a country in which the government actively throws up roadblocks to the profession, such as is the case in Turkey. Winemakers in Turkey therefore, rarely enter the profession with hopes of riches, accolades, or fame. They do it because of their passion for wine, because they cannot deny its pull, and because they love it. It is that love that not only compelled Akın Gürbüz to become a winemaker, but made him a great one. As he says: “To be a good winemaker, you need to give it your heart and love it.”
Akın Gürbüz grew up among grape vines. His family owned five hectares of vineyards planted to Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc, Yapıncak, and Cabernet Sauvignon. They did not make wine, but sold the grapes to large area wineries. It was not until the early 90s while at university that Gürbüz was really introduced to wine. It was an introduction that not only began a love affair with wine, but that would put him on his path.
In order to pursue his passion, Akın moved to the US to study winemaking at UC Davis. On arrival, he learned that his English was not strong enough for the program. Undaunted, he deferred starting and moved to the east coast to improve his English while he worked to save money. And eventually his determination got him to California where he completed UC Davis’s lauded winemaking program. He transitioned from student to winemaker overnight, gaining experience at a number of California-based wineries. He then moved to New Zealand with the sole goal of gaining experience with Sauvignon Blanc and returning to the sunshine state.
Akın may have remained in California forever at that point, however, luckily for the Turkish wine industry, he was lured back to Turkey in 2010 by Tekirdağ-based winery Barbare. After Barbare he went on to build a reputation for himself as a sought-after winemaking consultant, working for a series of premiere boutique and small production wineries including: Urla Şarapçılık, Chateau Kalpak, Likya, Doseluna, Bodrum Wiery, Chamlija, and Eskibağlar.
While consulting for these wineries and supporting a still nascent quality Turkish wine revolution, he built his reputation as one of the country’s leading winemakers. Soon consulting was not enough for him.
Akın’s real dream, that which prompted him to leave for America all those years ago, was to open his own winery.
In 2015, he realized that dream and opened Gurbuz Winery. If there is a winery classification smaller than ‘boutique’, that would have been his first vintage! Almost 10 years later and Akın still giggles when he recounts that his inaugural vintage netted him not just a small amount of wine, but one with an inauspicious number: 666 bottles. As it turns out, 666 was not a bad number for him with individual customers and private collectors snapping up the entire amount. His production remains on the low side, but with about 50,000 bottles a year now, we are lucky to have a small allocation of that production for the Texas wine market now!
Grapes for his wine come not only from those original five family hectares, but from privately held vineyards he manages, as well as from new vineyards he plants. Every bit as much at home in the vineyard as he is in the winery, he mucks in with his workers in the field where everything is done both by hand and as organically as possible. Akın never stops working, evidenced by how crowded his Instagram is with pictures of him harvesting, making wine, and planting new vineyards. His holdings have increased from the family five to 25 hectares scattered around lower Thrace and the upper Marmara. So too has the variety of grapes he works with expanded since his first vintage. Gurbuz Winery now offers wines made from native Bornova Misketi, Kalecik Karası, Karalahna, Öküzgözü, and Papaskarası as well as international varieties Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Merlot, Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, and Shiraz.
Big egos and winery ownership often march hand in hand in the wine industry. Not so with Akın, who is one of the friendliest and most down to earth people you could hope to meet. Visitors to Gurbuz Winery are treated to one of the best tasting experiences in the country. You do not get a formal lecture on wine or a disinterested list of facts here. Akın’s energy and openness draw you in while his enthusiasm and obvious love for what he does will make you a fan even before you sip his first wine.
We are proud to carry a lovely selection of his wines at the Fine Turkish Wine Bottle Shop + Tasting Room in Houston's Montrose District. We hope you come join us for a taste!
Andrea Lemieux is an international wine expert with particular expertise in Turkish Wine. She is the author of The Essential Guide to Turkish Wine, the world's only comprehensive English language book on Turkish wine, and she is the founder of The Quirky Cork blog which is dedicated largely to Turkish wine.
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