Gordias Boğazkere 2012
I fell a little in love with Gordias wines previously after trying the Kalecik Karası and Narınce. Then one afternoon in Sensus Galata I found MORE. More Gordias wines! Including a Gordias Boğazkere (55TL) and the “throat burner” Turkish grape has long been a favorite.
I really let the anticipation on this one build and took some time to enjoy the deep, purply red color. Then on to the nose; what is that?
Seriously it took me about 10 minutes to figure out what I was smelling. It was so familiar but at the same time utterly elusive-until it hit me; pine forests and leather.
The nose is replete with pine forest and leather with berry undertones. It was fascinating. Not in a, I couldn’t stop inhaling long enough to drink way, but in an I said “This is fascinating” and smiled every time I inhaled way.
There is a lot of leather in the Gordias Boğazkere mouth, nice medium tannins, and a long finish. At first it was a little acidy for me but it opened beautifully to bring up more leather, dark cherries, and chocolate.
Drinking this wine was a true shpadoinkel moment. It is beautiful. In a way every sip weirded me out a little because of the pine and sometimes overwhelming leather (frankly it was a little bit like being back at my dad’s farm sitting in the tack barn which is surrounded by Christmas trees). I still really liked it though. I will definitely buy this again.
Especially since the Gordias Boğazkere pairs so beautifully with foods I like: tomatoes, salt, strong cheese, and the magical truffled almonds from Trader Joe’s that my bestest friend and co-blogger Lauren sent me from the US. She sent me a 6 ounce bag last Christmas and I have managed to conserve them by eating only a few at a time. There are still a few left! However I no longer have to be so parsimonious because she bought me two more bags!