As the evening light falls on her vineyards in northwestern Turkey, Zeynep Arca Salliel pinches the grapes and tastes the skin. It is harvest time.

Aided by an Italian wine expert, the 50-year-old took up winemaking professionally in the 2000s, aged 30, after the lifting of a state monopoly on alcohol sales that favoured large producers.

Today, her Arcadia estate, two-and-a-half hours from Istanbul in the Thrace region, produces between 120,000 and 150,000 bottles per year, using both international and local grape varieties.

Yet she considers herself "an endangered species".

"The changing climate, the economic crisis, inflation" and a "lack of visibility" have contributed to her troubles.

"We produce quality wines but have had difficulty selling them domestically and exporting them," she said.

Above all, winegrowers say taxes, bureaucracy and sometimes farcical laws are killing their production.

A whole generation of newcomers to the profession, including many women, often trained abroad, has sparked a wine renaissance in Turkey, said Goknur Gundogan, a sommelier and consultant.

Turkey boasts some 250 estates, half........

© International Business Times