WINE CLUB

Every day we’re asked, “Is there anywhere I can buy these wines?” And the honest answer is usually somewhere between “maybe” and “doubtful.” What we do with our wine program at Galit is truly unique.

We’re proud of the wines we curate, of the growers, winemakers and importers we work with, and of the stories they carry. Most of all, we’re proud to share them with guests who remind us daily how much they appreciate what we pour and why we pour it.

Our program highlights winemakers who are pushing boundaries — in Lebanon, Israel, Armenia, Turkey, Cyprus, Palestine, and beyond. Many of these bottles don’t make it to retail shelves, and some are produced in such small quantities that they rarely leave their home countries. This club is the only way to regularly access them outside the restaurant.

Each month, we’ll send you a curated selection from the winemakers we work with most closely — bottles rarely seen outside the restaurant, with the stories that make them matter.

It’s the same Galit wine program you know, now available to take home.

A little background on November’s picks…

The wines of Pasaeli first arrived at Galit in early 2023—just two bottlings: an unassuming Bordeaux-style blend and an unfamiliar Turkish varietal called Karasakız. This was the one that stopped us in our tracks. Thin-skinned with bright acidity and vivid red fruit—pomegranate, rosehip—and far more structure on the finish than its delicate color suggested. A shimmering ruby in the glass that caught your eye from across the room. What is this? Who made this? When can we get more?

After a few months of waiting, the first cases arrived and we quietly added them to the list. At first, only the most curious guests ordered it, but once the team tasted it, they were all in. The eastern Mediterranean is known for big, muscular reds—but this wine was the opposite: lively, graceful, and perfectly suited to our food. The short version? If you like Pinot Noir, you should try this.

We poured it by the glass whenever we could get enough, featured it on pairing menus, and watched it disappear every time. By late 2024, during one of our quarterly wine trainings—a marathon tasting of new bottles, vintages, and pairings—one of our chefs snapped a photo of the Karasakız bottle and posted it on Instagram. The next day, she got an excited message from Pasaeli’s founder, Seyit Karagözoglu, and soon connected him with our wine director, Scott Stroemer. A few emails later, plans were in motion for a Pasaeli wine dinner at the soon-to-open Cafe Yaya in spring 2025. With their importer bringing more wines to the U.S., this would mark Pasaeli’s Chicago debut.

Fast-forward to today: Seyit is a friend of both Galit and Café Yaya, and we continue to bring in everything we can—Yapıncak, Çalkarası, Sıdalan, Sultaniye, even old-vine Karasakız. Each one is remarkable.

Turkish wine in America remains rare, but that’s changing—and Pasaeli is leading the way. If you’re new to Turkey and its deep, ancient wine culture, this is where to begin.