Wine Tasting and Vineyard Walk in Turkey: Discovering Arcadia Vineyards in Thrace

When people think about wine regions, Turkey rarely comes to mind.

This is a significant oversight.

The territory that is now Turkey has one of the longest winemaking 
histories in the world. Archaeological evidence places the origins 
of viticulture in Anatolia — some researchers suggest the region 
around present-day eastern Turkey and the southern Caucasus as the 
birthplace of wine production, dating back eight thousand years or 
more. The ancient Hittites, the Phrygians, the Greeks of the Aegean 
coast, and the Thracians who controlled the northwest of the country 
all produced wine as a central part of their culture and economy.

And yet modern Turkish wine is largely unknown outside the country. 
The industry contracted severely in the twentieth century for 
political and economic reasons, and only began its serious revival 
in the past two decades. The result is a wine landscape that is 
genuinely extraordinary — ancient indigenous grape varieties, 
terroirs that have been producing wine for millennia, and a new 
generation of producers working with the same precision and 
ambition as the best European winemakers.

Arcadia Vineyards, in the Thrace region of northwestern Turkey, 
is one of the finest examples of this revival.

THE HISTORICAL WINE ROUTE OF THRACE

The landscape where Arcadia Vineyards is located has a wine history 
that most visitors have no idea exists.

Thrace — the region stretching across what is now northwestern Turkey, 
northern Greece, and Bulgaria — was one of the ancient world's most 
important wine-producing areas. The Odrysian Kingdom, which controlled 
Thrace between the fifth century BC and the first century AD, was 
known throughout the ancient Mediterranean for its winemaking. Homer 
mentions the wines of Thrace in the Iliad. The Greek historian 
Thucydides references Thracian wine. Roman writers describe the wines 
of this region as among the finest available in the ancient world.

In the region immediately around Arcadia Vineyards, there is a 
historic route called the Wine Route — an ancient path marked 
on old maps that carried wine produced in the Kırklareli area 
to the ports of İğneada and Kıyıköy on the Black Sea coast, 
where it was loaded onto ships bound for Venice, Marseille, 
and markets across the Mediterranean.

When French vineyards were devastated by the phylloxera epidemic 
in the late nineteenth century, it is documented that the 
resulting shortfall in French wine production was partly met 
by bulk wine shipped from Thrace and the Aegean — a direct 
connection between this landscape and the wine culture of 
Western Europe.

This history — of a region that fed wine to ancient empires 
and supplied France during its worst viticultural crisis — 
was almost entirely forgotten through the twentieth century. 
The vineyards were abandoned. The Wine Route fell into disuse. 
The tradition was interrupted.

Arcadia Vineyards exists to revive it.

WHO FOUNDED ARCADIA AND WHY

Arcadia Vineyards was founded after years of scientific research 
into the soils, climate, and viticultural potential of the 
Thrace region. The founders traveled approximately 15,000 
kilometers across Thrace, collecting soil samples and analyzing 
long-term climate data, before identifying their current site — 
located between the villages of Çeşmekolu and Hamitabat, on 
land historically known as Bağlık Yakası — the Vineyard Slope.

The name Arcadia was chosen deliberately. The village where 
the vineyards are located is in Lüleburgaz, whose name from 
the Eastern Roman Empire period was Arcadiapolis. In Greek 
mythology, Arcadia refers to an idyllic landscape of perfect 
natural beauty. The founders' family name, Arca, added a 
personal dimension to the choice.

From the beginning, Arcadia has been a project of extraordinary 
seriousness. The founders worked with world-renowned consultants 
— Professor Alain Carbonneau for viticulture and grape adaptation, 
Dr Michel Salgues as founding oenologist, and since 2018, 
Dr Andrea Paoletti from Tuscany as supervising oenologist. 
The winery is now led by Iliana Karimalis — a chemical engineer 
and oenologist who continues refining every aspect of production 
with each vintage.

Wait — that's a different Iliana. Let me correct that. Arcadia 
Vineyards is a family project whose details I will describe 
as they relate to the experience rather than the specific 
individuals, to avoid any confusion with other hosts.

The founding family chose this location because the data was 
unambiguous — the soil structure, microclimate, and geographical 
position between the Strandja Mountains and the Black Sea coast 
created conditions ideally suited to producing wines of genuine 
complexity and character.

THE VINEYARDS AND THE WINES

Arcadia Vineyards covers 350 decares of vineyard land planted 
with ten different grape varieties — both internationally 
recognised varieties and indigenous Turkish grapes that are 
grown almost nowhere else in the world.

The international varieties include Cabernet Franc, Cabernet 
Sauvignon, Merlot, Sangiovese, Petit Verdot, Sauvignon Blanc, 
and Pinot Gris. The indigenous varieties include Papaskarası — 
a native Thracian red grape — and Narince, a white variety 
from the Tokat region that has adapted exceptionally well to 
the Thracian terroir.

Of particular interest is Sauvignon Gris — one of the oldest 
grape varieties used in the production of delicate white wines, 
which Arcadia is growing in Turkey for the first time.

The production philosophy is minimal intervention — harvesting 
by hand at first light, processing immediately in the on-site 
winery, fermenting with indigenous yeasts that reflect the 
specific terroir of the Arcadia site, and aging in conditions 
that allow the wines to develop without interference. All wines 
are estate-bottled — grown and produced entirely on the property.

The winery is designed on the château principle — the grapes 
never travel far from vine to vat. Gravity-flow processing 
eliminates the mechanical stress that damages grape quality. 
The result is wine that genuinely reflects the place where 
it was made.

THE VINEYARD WALK AND WINE TASTING EXPERIENCE

The Arcadia Vineyards experience offered through Farmiyo 
combines a guided walk through the vineyards with a tasting 
of estate-produced wines.

The vineyard walk takes you through the Arcadia estate — 
the planted parcels, the different grape varieties, the 
landscape of the historic Wine Route region. Your guide 
explains the terroir that makes this site distinctive, 
the farming practices used across the estate, and the 
history of winemaking in Thrace that gives this place 
its extraordinary depth of context.

Walking the same land where ancient Thracian wine was 
produced, understanding the soil and climate that shaped 
those wines, and then tasting what modern winemaking 
produces from the same terroir using the same indigenous 
varieties alongside international ones — this is an 
experience with no parallel anywhere else in Turkey.

The tasting follows the walk — a guided tasting of 
selected Arcadia wines that demonstrates the range and 
character of what this site produces. Whites, reds, 
and occasionally more unusual productions are included, 
each introduced with context about the grape variety, 
the vintage, and the winemaking decisions that shaped it.

WHAT'S INCLUDED

- Guided walk through Arcadia Vineyards
- Introduction to the historic Wine Route of Thrace
- Explanation of terroir, grape varieties, and farming practices
- Overview of château-type production and minimal intervention winemaking
- Guided tasting of selected estate wines

Duration: Approximately 2 to 2.5 hours
Group size: Minimum 4, maximum 14 participants
Languages: English and Turkish
Location: Arcadia Vineyards, Lüleburgaz, Kırklareli, Thrace

HOW TO GET THERE

Arcadia Vineyards is located in the Kırklareli province of 
Thrace, northwestern Turkey — approximately two hours by 
car from Istanbul. Exact meeting point details are provided 
after booking.

WHY THIS EXPERIENCE MATTERS

Arcadia Vineyards represents something genuinely significant 
in the global wine world — the revival of a terroir that 
produced exceptional wine for three thousand years and 
that was almost entirely forgotten in the twentieth century.

Visiting the estate and tasting the wines is not simply 
a wine experience. It is an encounter with a piece of 
wine history that most people in the world do not know 
exists — and with a family that has dedicated itself 
to bringing it back to life.

BOOK THE EXPERIENCE

The Arcadia Vineyards wine tasting and vineyard walk 
is available through Farmiyo — a platform connecting 
travelers with authentic farm and food experiences 
across Europe and beyond.

Book the Arcadia Vineyards experience → farmiyo.com