ISTANBUL // A Dutch businessman of Turkish descent says he is preparing to bring a new taste to the Islamic world.
Taner Tabak has produced alcohol-free wine, and is about to bring his product to Turkey. He says he is also eyeing Iran, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf region as potential markets.
"It tastes and feels almost the same," Mr Tabak, 35, speaking in a telephone interview from his company Delikatwine in the Netherlands this month, said about "Kevserhelalwine". He wants to bring the alcohol-free wine to supermarkets and hotels in Turkey in the coming months.
Alcohol is legal in Turkey, a secular Muslim country of 70 million people, and wine has become more popular in recent years, even if consumption rates do not compare with those in western Europe.
According to the latest available figures, about 21 million litres of wine were consumed in Turkey in the first half of last year, 1.1 million litres more than in the corresponding period in 2008. All in all, Turks drank about 536 million litres of alcoholic beverages in the first six months of 2009, about 4.5 million litres more than the January-June period of 2008.
While alcohol consumption is climbing, Turkey has also seen the rise of a religiously conservative middle class in recent years, a development that has fanned demand for lifestyle choices in line with a more observant outlook. There have been booms in interest-free banking and in so-called "headscarf hotels" that cater to conservative holidaymakers who prefer facilities such as separate pools for men and women.
That is the market Mr Tabak is pinning his hopes on. He says he plans to sell 200,000 bottles of his alcohol-free wine in Turkey in its first year. During a recent tourism fair in Istanbul, he was inundated by requests for his wine from more than three dozen hotels. "Lots of people tasted it then and said it tasted like real wine," he said about the fair. "That is nice to hear."
As Mr Tabak prepares to take the Turkish market by storm, some wine experts in Turkey say the alcohol-free product will not cause much of a splash because wine-lovers prefer the real thing.
"That is just a fashion, just a wave that will go away again," Esat Ayhan, the owner of La Cave, a leading wine shop in Istanbul, said yesterday. He said Turks were consuming millions of litres of alcohol every year. "Do you think conservative people do not have a share in that?"
While Mr Tabak conceded that Kevserhelalwine does not taste like wine "a hundred per cent", he said it comes close, "maybe 70 to 80 per cent". He offers his product in four types that include a Champagne-style bubbly. At the moment, he sells about 40,000 bottles a year to clients in the Netherlands, Belgium, Malaysia and Indonesia.
Mr Tabak, who was born in Turkey but later moved to the Netherlands and is a Dutch national, said potential buyers include not only Muslims but also pregnant women and motor vehicle operators who want to enjoy the taste of wine but still drive their car safely.
In interviews with Turkish media, he said he had the idea to produce an alcohol-free wine when a Muslim businessman complained about the restricted choice of drinks for him at a reception.
Mr Tabak said his company was aiming to produce a million bottles per year.
Kevserhelalwine takes its name from the 108th sura in the Quran, and Mr Tabak says buyers of his product can be sure that they do not violate any religious laws. He had the wine tested by the Control Office of Halal Slaughtering and Halal Quality Control, or HQC, an institution in the Netherlands that hands out certificates for goods it says have been produced according to the rules of Islam, which prohibits the drinking of alcohol.
The HQC gave Kevserhelalwine the green light last April, according to the wine company's website. "The certificate was very difficult to get," Mr Tabak said. "It took one year, and they have very strong rules." He declined to give details about the production method and his production partners, except for saying that the alcohol-free wine is produced in Germany, a country with a strong wine industry.
"It is an alternative," Mr Tabak said about his wine. He said he is looking at Turkey as a first step and wants to offer Kevserhelalwine in shops, restaurants and hotels in the country. He named Syria, Lebanon and Jordan as well as Iran and Saudi Arabia as potential markets. "There has also been some demand from the Gulf region," he added without providing details.
But Mr Ayhan of La Cave said there had been other attempts to tailor products to conservative customers, all of which had failed. "Two years ago, somebody introduced a halal toothpaste, but nobody bought it."
tseibert@thenational.ae
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
The specs
Engine: 3.8-litre, twin-turbo V8
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Power: 582bhp
Torque: 730Nm
Price: Dh649,000
On sale: now
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Five expert hiking tips
Always check the weather forecast before setting off
Make sure you have plenty of water
Set off early to avoid sudden weather changes in the afternoon
Wear appropriate clothing and footwear
Take your litter home with you
Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor Cricket World Cup - Sept 16-20, Insportz, Dubai
16 Indoor cricket matches are 16 overs per side
8 There are eight players per team
9 There have been nine Indoor Cricket World Cups for men. Australia have won every one.
5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls
4 Batsmen bat in pairs, facing four overs per partnership
Scoring In indoor cricket, runs are scored by way of both physical and bonus runs. Physical runs are scored by both batsmen completing a run from one crease to the other. Bonus runs are scored when the ball hits a net in different zones, but only when at least one physical run is score.
Zones
A Front net, behind the striker and wicketkeeper: 0 runs
B Side nets, between the striker and halfway down the pitch: 1 run
C Side nets between halfway and the bowlers end: 2 runs
D Back net: 4 runs on the bounce, 6 runs on the full
57%20Seconds
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Disposing of non-recycleable masks
Use your ‘black bag’ bin at home
Do not put them in a recycling bin
Take them home with you if there is no litter bin
- No need to bag the mask
Men from Barca's class of 99
Crystal Palace - Frank de Boer
Everton - Ronald Koeman
Manchester City - Pep Guardiola
Manchester United - Jose Mourinho
Southampton - Mauricio Pellegrino
Company info
Company name: Entrupy
Co-founders: Vidyuth Srinivasan, co-founder/chief executive, Ashlesh Sharma, co-founder/chief technology officer, Lakshmi Subramanian, co-founder/chief scientist
Based: New York, New York
Sector/About: Entrupy is a hardware-enabled SaaS company whose mission is to protect businesses, borders and consumers from transactions involving counterfeit goods.
Initial investment/Investors: Entrupy secured a $2.6m Series A funding round in 2017. The round was led by Tokyo-based Digital Garage and Daiwa Securities Group's jointly established venture arm, DG Lab Fund I Investment Limited Partnership, along with Zach Coelius.
Total customers: Entrupy’s customers include hundreds of secondary resellers, marketplaces and other retail organisations around the world. They are also testing with shipping companies as well as customs agencies to stop fake items from reaching the market in the first place.
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
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Sarfira
Director: Sudha Kongara Prasad
Starring: Akshay Kumar, Radhika Madan, Paresh Rawal
Rating: 2/5
The bio
Favourite vegetable: Broccoli
Favourite food: Seafood
Favourite thing to cook: Duck l'orange
Favourite book: Give and Take by Adam Grant, one of his professors at University of Pennsylvania
Favourite place to travel: Home in Kuwait.
Favourite place in the UAE: Al Qudra lakes