Villa Doluca Klasik
As I’ve had uneven luck with them in the past I don’t tend to buy a lot of wines from Duluca. Nor did I buy this one. It’s interesting having partners in wine tasting shenanigans as E&M often buy wines that I wouldn’t. Sometimes for very good reasons but they’re still new to the Turkish wine scene so we forgive them.
I was intrigued by the Villa Duluca Klasik when I saw that, accompanying the Öküzgözü-Shiraz blend was Alicante. Alicante, being a region in (central I think) Spain known for producing Monastrell wines, is not a name I see here often and I eagerly opened the bottle to see how it would affect the wine’s flavor.
Unfortunately I had a hard time with this Villa Duluca Klasik. For one thing, E&M were cooking a curry heavy with lime juice which, while delicious, inhibited my ability to smell much of anything other than lime and curry. Maybe that was for the best. At least E&M 
weren’t volunteering nose descriptors that would go better with a Lisa Frank illustration than with wine.
The Monastrell effect did not come through the feel of the wine. The Villa Doluca Klasik was very low on the tannin scale, nor did it have much of any finish which lead me to believe that the largest percentage of grape (that and it being listed first-like top billing in a film) was the Öküzgözü.
Despite being a dry wine, there was an odd sweetness and thickness (one that had nothing to do with lovely tannins coating the tongue) which may have come from the Alicante as Monastrell wines are known for their blackberry syrup notes. The whole drinking experience was interesting if not especially tasty. With each sip the wine kind of burst on the tongue then dissipated-much like a raindrop. An alcoholic one. Wouldn’t that be fabulous?! Not wine rain though; think of the stains. Vodka. Yes. I would put buckets on my terrace to catch it.
So in the end, while not offensive (and there are some that are so!) it wasn’t particularly good either. If I had a phone that allowed apps and I could use Vivino (which E&M do in my stead) this would be in the 1.5 Star range for me.