Kayra Vintage Shiraz 2012
I’ve had this bottle of 2012 Kayra Vintage Shiraz sitting on my wine rack for so long that I had to wipe off about an inch of dust when I pulled it out not too long ago to celebrate the brief return my awesome Australian neighbor. Shiraz/Syrah is not often a wine I choose. I find that it is often lighter and more cherry driven than I generally prefer wines to be but I do from time to time enjoy a jammy wine and Shiraz usually ticks that box.
Kayra, based out of Elazığ, Anatolia is not a winery I talk about a lot even though I have featured more than a few of their wines. Part of that is because they produce under quite a few labels including Kayra Imperial, Kayra Vintage, Kayra Versus, Buzbağ Reserve, Terra, Allure, Leona, and Buzbağ. Terra I generally like a great and the Leona Muscat is still one of my favorite Turkish Muscats. As I have had
so many good experiences with Kayra wines, including this Shiraz we’re going to talk about, I really need to make more of a point to actively look for more wines under these various labels. For the time being though let’s talk about this Kayra Vintage Shiraz.
Ruby red and clear to the rim in the glass the nose is full of cherry, berry, dried fruits, tobacco, and dried herbs. On the palate medium tannins and medium acid produced a smooth, well-integrated drinking experience with initial flavors of cherry, berry, and tobacco. As the Shiraz opened the tannins smoothed out and flavors of fruitcake, blackberry, currant, and dried herbs became more pronounced.
I made a truffled porcini mushroom risotto the evening we had this wine and they went very nicely together so I suspect that the Kayra Vintage Shiraz would also hold up well against red meats. I did enjoy this one, rather more than I thought I would at the off, but I think I would put this in the list of food wines. On its own I do not believe I would like it quite so much.