Sourcing Vine Leaves from Türkiye: Harvest Calendar and Regional Differences
Two regions, two harvest windows
Türkiye's two main vine-leaf programs - Aegean Sultana and Black Sea Tokat - operate on different harvest calendars. Latitude, altitude, and heat-unit accumulation push the two regions apart by roughly a week.
| Region | Typical harvest window | Driver | |---|---|---| | Aegean (Manisa, Salihli, Sarıgöl) | Mid-May to late June | Lower latitude, warmer nights; earlier leaf maturity | | Tokat (Erbaa, Niksar, Pazar) | Late May to late June | Higher latitude and altitude; cooler nights |
For procurement teams ordering in February-March for autumn shipment, the harvest window matters because fresh-cured stock from the new season ships approximately six to eight weeks after harvest. That's the lead-time anchor.
Why leaf is harvested separately from the grape
In a Sultana table-grape or raisin vineyard, leaves are taken from the canopy at a specific point in the growth cycle: late enough to be structurally complete, early enough to be tender, before flower-set demand consumes the vine's resource budget. Leaf and fruit are separate harvest programs with separate teams.
This matters for buyers because leaf-only contracts are not the same as taking a fraction of a table-grape grower's output. We work with cooperatives and producers who run dedicated leaf programs.
Season-on-season variability
Harvest dates move year-to-year. The drivers:
- Spring temperature - a cool April delays leaf maturity by 5-10 days
- Rainfall pattern - extended wet weather raises mildew pressure and shortens the picking window
- Heat unit accumulation - the sum of degree-days from bud-break to leaf-harvest is roughly stable for a given variety; the calendar shifts to deliver it
For 2026, Aegean producers are reporting a roughly on-schedule window after a mild March. Tokat's window may run a few days late if the Black Sea's spring cool-down extends into May.
What this means for ordering
Three practical implications:
- Sample shipments from the new season land in late June or early July. If you need pre-season approval for a Q4 program, request sample from the prior season's preserved stock.
- Container-load programs are easier to plan around a single region. Mixing Aegean and Tokat in one shipment requires aligning two harvest calendars and may add 1-2 weeks of consolidation time.
- Organic and pesticide-free programs add audit time on top of harvest. Plan for 6-10 weeks from order confirmation, not 3-4.
A note on regional naming
International tenders sometimes ask for "Manisa Sultanas" or "Tokat-style" leaves. These are useful regional descriptors but they are not protected designations - any spec sheet using them should also state the variety (Sultaniye / Thompson Seedless) and the harvest-region cooperative name for traceability.
What we ship from Türkiye
Turkish Sultana from Aegean micro-regions and Turkish Tokat from Black Sea cooperatives. Both available in Conventional, Pesticide-Free, and Organic Certified programs.
For specific harvest-window planning or pre-season sample requests, send your timeline via our contact page.