Study and careerTurkey

Acıkara: the forgotten red grape of Lycia

A nearly lost Anatolian red, brought back on a high plateau above Antalya. Where Acıkara grows, what science says about it, and how it tastes.

Alper Billik · Advanced Sommelier

Updated October 2026 · 3 min read · Edited with AI

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Acıkara in one minute
A mountain climate in the south
What the science found
Likya's Arkeo Collection
How to taste and serve it
Questions people ask

The short answer: Acıkara (say "AH-juh-kah-rah") is a native black grape of Anatolia that had almost disappeared. It is grown again on the Elmalı plateau, 1,100 metres up in the Taurus Mountains above Antalya, by the Özkan family's Likya estate. A 2024 study presented at the OIV World Congress found it deeply coloured and rich in phenolics: a grape built for serious red wine.

Acıkara in one minute

Name: Acı Kara means roughly "bitter black" in Turkish.
Where: Elmalı, in the highlands of Antalya province, southern Türkiye. The ancient region was Lycia.
Who: Likya, a family estate run by the brothers Burak and Doruk Özkan, reviving native grapes since 1998.
The grape: small, round, blue-black berries with colourless flesh.
The wine: deep red-violet, medium-plus body, with prune, cherry and spice.

A mountain climate in the south

Elmalı sits at the same latitude as the beaches of the Turkish Riviera, but at 1,100 metres it behaves like a mountain valley. The study's vineyard, planted in 2002 on stony, red, calcareous soil, sees the temperature fall by as much as 18 to 20 °C between day and night. Warm days ripen the fruit; cold nights hold the acidity. That is the whole secret of high-altitude wine, and it is why a southern Turkish red can taste fresh.

History runs deep here. About 50 km away lies Oinoanda, which Likya notes was called Wiyanawanda, "the land of wine", in Hittite tablets from around 1500 BC.

What the science found

Researchers from Çukurova University studied Acıkara grapes from Elmalı, harvested by hand on 3 October 2022, and made wine from them. They presented the results at the 45th OIV World Congress in Dijon in October 2024. Their main findings:

What they measured	Result
Sugar at harvest	231.2 g/L
pH and acidity at harvest	pH 3.43, 5.1 g/L total acidity
Anthocyanins in the skin	640.25 mg per 100 g (dry weight), 15 compounds
Total phenolics in the wine	2,212.33 mg/L
Anthocyanins in the wine	1,852.16 mg/L
Aroma compounds in the wine	54 (7 major, 47 minor), led by esters

Sugar at harvest: Result231.2 g/L

pH and acidity at harvest: ResultpH 3.43, 5.1 g/L total acidity

Anthocyanins in the skin: Result640.25 mg per 100 g (dry weight), 15 compounds

Total phenolics in the wine: Result2,212.33 mg/L

Anthocyanins in the wine: Result1,852.16 mg/L

Aroma compounds in the wine: Result54 (7 major, 47 minor), led by esters

In plain words: a lot of colour, a lot of structure, and fruity aromas from esters. The team's own wine was cold-soaked for 48 hours, fermented over 15 days and put through malolactic fermentation. The study also notes that Acıkara is now being planted in the Aegean region.

Likya's Arkeo Collection

Acıkara is part of Likya's Arkeo Collection, wines from native grapes once thought forgotten. The estate says 13 distinct genotypes have been scientifically confirmed in its work: nine are already bottled and four more are being propagated. The vineyards are farmed organically.

How to taste and serve it

Look for: a near-opaque, violet-edged colour. It is one of the darkest reds you will pour.
Smell for: prune, cherry and spice, the notes the study's tasting panel found.
Serve: around 16 to 18 °C in a universal glass, opened a little ahead.
Food: grilled lamb, kebabs, aubergine and tomato dishes, aged mountain cheeses.
On a list: sell the story and the feeling: a grape that was almost lost, from a place the Hittites called the land of wine.