Tomurcukbağ Trajan Rezerv, A Vertical Tasting
While not the most widely planted native variety, Kalecik Karası holds a firm position as one of Turkey’s Big Three black grapes. However, in the early 1970s, Kalecik Karası was very nearly extinct. Enter Prof. Dr. Y. Sabit Ağaoğlu. At the time, Prof. Dr. Ağaoğlu was working on a Ph.D. in agriculture at Ankara University. For his thesis project he decided to make a clonal study of the Kalecik Karası grape.
From a few dried vines he not only earned his Ph.D. but also created a vineyard. And since he already had the vineyard, he and his wife decided to go ahead and make wine. They named their winery Tomurcukbağ after their daughter and have been quietly making wine in Kalecik (near Ankara) for years now. Prof. Dr. Ağaoğlu is widely regarded as the godfather of this grape. Over the years he has helped other wineries, namely Vinkara – his neighbor in Kalecik – plant their Kalecik Karası vineyards.
His wine, bottled under the label “Trajan” falls into that nebulous “natural” category. His vineyards are organic, hand-harvested, nothing is added or extracted during the winemaking, and wines ferment with the yeast that comes in on the grapes. He does not age his wines at all in oak. While natural wine may not have been the phenomenon it is now when he first started making wine, his desire to make wine like this had nothing to do with popularity or marketability. He wants people to taste the vintage variation each year.
I’ve had this wine a few times in the past and was so thrilled when one of my favorite local bottle shops started stocking it. And they didn’t get just one or two vintages. No. They got five. I knew immediately that I had to use these for my tasting group’s very first vertical tasting!
Trajan Rezerv, 2013
Appearance: very very pale garnet
Alcohol: 12.8%
Nose: The nose on this wine defines funky earthy. So much barnyard, tack room, saddle leather, earth, clay pot. Was there fruit? If there was it was buried far far under the saddles and earth.
That is his actual press
Palate: Light-bodied with medium acidity and essentially non existent tannins. Flavors had a lot of the earthy horse barn tang found in the nose along with green peppercorn, bitter green herbs, and a bare red hint of fruit.
Trajan Rezerv, 2014
Appearance: medium intense garnet
Alcohol: 14.2%
Nose: A completely different wine than the 2013. The nose featured more prominent fruit (sour cherry, mulberry) along with mint, eucalyptus, and bay leaf.
Palate: Medium plus acidity, medium-light body and barely there tannins on the palate. Savory herb and sour cherry flavors matched the aromas from the nose.
Trajan Rezerv, 2015
Appearance: medium pale, brick red
Alcohol: 13.5%
Nose: This vintage smelled reminiscent of the the 2013 with freshly turned earth, tack room, and hints of barnyard. However, the nose here also revealed a tangy cranberry-like fruit.
Palate: Medium-light bodied with medium acidity and low tannins. Palate flavors reflected the nose. While the aromas and flavors here recalled those of the 2013, this one found more balance and they earthy horseyness complimented rather than over overwhelmed.
Trajan Rezerv, 2016
Appearance: deep, intense garnet
Alcohol: 14.8%
Nose: More expressive on the nose than the previous vintages, the 2016 revealed cherry and berry fruit, green stem, florals, and eucalyptus.
Palate: Despite the very high alcohol the wine maintained the same medium-light body as all its predecessors. This was the most tannic of the lot. Although that doesn’t really say much as the most one could say about this was that there were some tannins. Cherry and mulberry flavors with a pleasantly bitter and peppery arugula flavor on the finish.
Trajan Rezerv, 2017
Appearance: very pale garnet
Alcohol: 13.7%
Nose: Prune, barnyard, and tack room made up the nose on this, the most recent vintage available of the Trajan Rezerv.
Palate: Medium-light body with medium acidity. Green stick tannins carried fresh cranberry and mulberry fruit, earth, and mushroom flavors on the palate.
Overall, I was fascinated that the odd year vintages fell into one broad flavor profile and the even year vintages another. The odd years all shared an earthy-animal character whereas the even years showed more fruit.
People often consider Tomurcukbağ Trajan Rezerv to be a challenging wine. So I was a little worried to build a tasting event for people around it. While Prof. Dr. Ağaoğlu brought the grape back to life and is THE expert on it, his wines taste like no other Kalecik Karası. Happily I was pleasantly surprised that not only did everyone enjoy the chance to do their first vertical tasting, but that they all really liked the wines! Two of my tasters even cited the 2013 (the most challenging of the bunch) as their favorite of the night!