Urla Bağ Yolu

The Bağ Yolu, or vineyard route, is the cluster of boutique wineries strung through the hills behind Urla, the spine of İzmir's modern wine revival. Estates here grow both international grapes and revived indigenous Aegean varieties, and most welcome visitors for cellar tastings and long lunches among the vines. It is a slow, car-needed kind of outing best paced across an afternoon, with stops chosen rather than rushed. The reward is serious wine and food in open countryside a short drive from the coast.