Suvla Kabetepe Rose
I’ve been through Suvla’s Kabetepe red, white. and blush so I figured I should bookend the series and get the last one, the rose. I’m still a little resistant to pink wine but a) it’s only 15 TL and b) it’s Suvla so how bad could it be?
Not very, I’m happy to say.
In the glass the Suvla Kabetepe Rose was a bright rose, salmon color with a lot of berry and floral scents in the nose. It even smelled dry if
that’s possible. On the palate it was low in tannin, with medium acid, and a long dry finish. Crisp with berry flavors, it was refreshing and paired really well with strong cheeses and dried meat.
Am I coming around to the pink wines? What is the difference, anyway, between a blush and a rose? Thanks to Nusret at the Suvla shop I learned this not too long ago. The difference is both simple and huge. A blush is a wine made with red grapes but in a white wine method. So after the grapes are crushed, the skins are removed immediately leaving behind lightly colored juice. A rose wine is made (with red grapes) in the same manner as a red wine (i.e. skins are left with the juice through the fermentation process) but are removed sooner than are skins destined to become red wine. I think this might just be a Turkey thing.
If you think it’s impossible to find cheap but decent wine in Turkey you’re almost right…but at 15TL Suvla’s Kabetepe line is everything you’re looking for. I would advise though keeping this one cold; the warmer it got the more reminiscent it was of church wine…and I don’t know why but we seem incapable of making decent-tasting church wine.