History of Likya Wines

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Likya origins

The first wine city in the world is being re-born after 4500 years
In English the word wine comes from the Hittite Wiyana. The wine town which was named Wiyanawanda by the Hittitites and Oenoanda (Oinoanda) by the Lykians is only 16 miles from the ancient town centre as the crow flies, has been re-united with the vineyards. This project is the returning to life of the Wine City, under the administration of the Özkan family. The wine is produced from its own vineyard’s late harvesting grapes, chateau style, at 1100 meters altitude, where it is hot during the day, and using the coolness of a micro air-conditioning unit at night.

The wine produced by Özkan Petrol Products Ltd. Sti-Kizilbel Viniculture and Wine production and Sales branch in Turkey, goes into the market under the parent name of Likya, from Elmali, which is a different and a new district of Antalya. The family set up the first vineyard in the year 2000, by the side of the Avlan River, and named it the Arykanda vineyard because of its proximity to the ancient city of Arykanda, and will be producing the Likya-Arykanda series from this vineyard from next year.

The importance of viniculture is evident from the winery that has been excavated at the Lykian ancient town of Arykanda. Later, a modern winery was set up on the shoulder of Karagöl, with the same ‘chateau system’ of producing the wine from its own grapes, in 2007, and named Oenoanda-Kizilbel. The project for the establishment of this facility, which was set up with the help of French and Italian technologies, conforms to the natural flow philosophy. Production is carried out in heat-controlled, stainless steel tanks, uses a fully-automated, filling and labeling production line, a fully fitted and functional laboratory and a bottle washing system, and is extremely hygienic. The Lykia-Kizilbel series will be produced from the vines processed after this year. The Özkan family does not believe that they will be able to get quality wine from young vineyards, and have waited with patience for the vineyards to become 8 years old. The project, for which the family has received support and consultancy from Prof. Dr. Hasan Çelik from the very beginning, produces Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, Kalecik Karasi, Öküzgözü, Bogazkere, Malbec, Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier from red grapes and Chardonnay, and Sauvignon Blanc from its white grapes, in an area of 250.000 square meters. Further, using strips produced from a grapevine that was discovered and is believed to be around 200 years old, it has been working for the last 5 years to gain a new quality grape into Turkish viniculture.

The French wine producer Francois Gaboriaud, from Bordeaux, is providing consultancy for the wine production. With these vineyards, not just Antalya, but the whole of the Mediterranean Region has gained a place in the Turkish Wine Regions map.

Saint Nicholas – 'Santa Claus'

Myra was a leading city of the Lycian Union and surpassed Xanthos in early Byzantine times to become the capital city of Lycia. Its remains are situated about 1.5 km north of today's Demre, on the Kaş-Finike road. Saint Nicholas, who is known throughout the world as Santa Claus, was born in Patara, which was an important Lycian city along Turkey's Mediterranean coast.

Hittite was the first nation in the world to successfully produced wine over 4500 years ago. Lycians continued their wine producing traditions and now we at Likya Wines produce our quality wines in the same region where Santa Claus was born. We will be presenting our first Christmas Wine selection for the UK market in September 2010 which will be available at our online shop.

Vineyard

The wine is produced from its own vineyard’s late harvesting grapes, chateau style, at 1100 meters altitude, where it is hot during the day, and using the coolness of a micro air-conditioning unit at night. The family set up the first vineyard in the year 2000, by the side of the Avlan Lake, and named it the Arykanda vineyard because of its proximity to the ancient city of Arykanda, and will be producing the Likya-Arykanda series from this vineyard from next year.