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Küp Calm & Pair On: Turkish Amphora Wines #WinePW

 

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For August’s #WinePW event, host Gwendolyn from The Wine Predator, has invited us to explore amphora aged wines from around the world. You can view her invitation here. If you’re reading this early enough, whether you write about amphora-aged wines or not, please feel free to join our Twitter discussion on August 14 at 8am CST / 11am EST / 6pm GMT+3.

Based on every archeological and history museum I’ve ever visited, pottery is the most commonly found, left behind by previous civilizations item. It’s the old museum bait and switch…promise scandal, murder, human sacrifice…deliver broken pots. The ancient wine industry made prolific use of pottery. Before there were barrels, before someone invented cement, before glass bottles, people used pottery for fermenting and storing wine.

Küp-ing up with history

Küp (pronounced kewp) is the Turkish word for amphora. The pronunciation is not quite as exaggerated as I’m spelling it out to be…but I’m trying to make a pun here, people!

My poor punning skills aside, the point I’m going for is that Turkey has lots of its own pottery shards. Winemaking in Turkey dates back to pre-history. Researchers have discovered wine residue in clay bowls, cups, pots, and amphora. Ankara’s museum houses one of the largest collections of ancient wine vessels (may of them made from clay) in the world. The traditional Hittite wine service vessels (imitations of which are popular tourist purchases) were made out of clay. If you look hard enough, you can even still find, for sale, large wine amphora that date back to the Byzantine period.

Despite this great history, making wine in amphora in modern Turkey is less popular. In fact, only one winery uses amphora: Gelveri.

Gelveri 

Run by Udo Hirsch, a German transplant to Turkey, and his wife, ceramic artist and professor Hacer Özkaya, Gelveri winery is unique in Turkey. Not only for its use of amphora, or even its care for little-known native grapes. Located in ancient city of Güzelyurt (or Gelveri as it was known by the former Greek population), in the hills a 90 minute drive from Turkey’s famous Cappadocia region, the village boasts some of the highest vineyards in Turkey. The vines sit at an average 1500 meters on largely tuff soil and clock in at somewhere between 150 and 200 years old.

Each year Udo and Hacer, who work in the winery on their own, produce only around 5,000 bottles. Partially because on their own they say they can’t handle any more volume. The other reason; they’re working with very small amounts of grapes. Some of which few have ever heard of. In addition to Hasandede and Kalecik Karası, with which most of us are familiar, they also vinify grapes that have no names other than those used by the villagers, such as Keten Gömlek (linen shirt), Kızıl Üzüm (rusty grape), Koku Üzüm, İt Üzümü, and Taş Üzüm. Some of these grapes are so rare that they are only able to make something like 150 to 200 liters of wine with them.

In the winery, all wines are wild fermented, slightly crushed and whole bunch, in large küp which Udo sources from around the country. The youngest hit the century mark while others date back to Roman and Byzantine times. He buries his küp cellars connected to his 300-year-old stone house. In addition to fermenting in the küp, wines age in them until bottling.

Udo has had many careers during his very interesting life. In addition to winemaking, he can add one more here in Turkey. Researcher. Gelveri joins the noble ranks of wineries like Paşaeli, Likya, Urla Şarapçılık, Tomucukbağ, Vinkara, Antioche, and Öküzgözü Şarapçılık in working with little-known and nearly extinct grapes. More than this, Udo actively works with DNA banks and universities in Turkey. Villagers across Turkey grow grapes for table and making pekmez (molassas). Often without knowing or caring what variety they have. Some are known varieties, some are not. His research will help classify many potentially “new” Turkish grapes.

If you’re curious about Gelveri and its wines, you can find my other posts and tasting notes here!

For this month’s #WinePW, I chose three of Gelveri’s wines: Taş Üzüm, Hasandede, and İt Üzümü. To pair, I made three wildly different dishes:

• Grilled peaches served on a bed of rocket with prosciutto, burrata, and balsamic glaze
• Grilled zucchini and peach biryani with cashews, crispy yellow raisins and dried apricots, and crispy onions
• Young potatoes tossed with samphire, green beans, bacon, and topped with poached eggs

Taş Üzüm, 2018

Taş is Turkish for stone. I remain unclear how this grape came by its moniker. Does it grow in stony soil? Does it look like a stone? For the moment, the mystery prevails. Its appeal as a wine grape though is quite clear. Like all the white grapes with which Udo works, this was fermented and aged on its skins leading to a deep golden leaning towards copper in the glass.

The nose smelled of apple skins, sundried apricots, bay leaf, and caramel. On the palate the acidity was initially quite aggressive but as the wine opened it softened. Medium plus, suede-like tannins added the flavor of orange rind to compliment the reflection on the aromas found in the nose. Surprisingly high alcohol at 14.7% abv contributed to an overall medium body on the wine. The alcohol hit the upper levels of legality but I honestly did not feel it. In fact, I think the Taş Üzüm is one of Gelveri’s better balanced wines.

On the pairing side, this wine worked the best with all three dishes. While a few were more neutral pairings, this worked particularly well with the grilled peach salad.

Hasandede, 2016

Hasandede is a little more widely-known than some of Gelveri’s other grapes. Largely thanks to Vinkara winery which produces it as a white. However, Udo’s ferments on the skins like all his white grapes resulting in an amber wine. I have had the 2016 before, prior to this pairing. Then it was a nice, deep orange. Now…woof. A couple more years in the bottle and this bad boy (literally boy-the grape name translates to “Hasan’s grandfather”) is kind of brown now!

Unsurprisingly earthy on the nose and smelling like the clay pot that birthed it. Golden raisins, orange peel, and burnt caramel followed for a bouquet that was really quite akin to an aged sweet wine! Medium plus, persistent tannins carried flavors reflective of, but less intense than the nose. Very dry on the palate and, like the Taş Üzüm high alcohol (15% abv) but not obviously so.

This one…did not love the food. Mayhaps it was the other way around actually as all the dishes rather overwhelmed the wine.

İt Üzümü, 2018

İt, I recently learned, is a derogatory word for ‘dog.’ Think less ‘dog’ and more ‘cur’ or even blackguard (the latter a word far underutilized, I think). Like the above grape, why or how the grape got that name I do not know! It seems terribly unfair considering how nice the wine tasted!

Medium opaque ruby with a bright purple heart in the glass, I would never guess this wine were raised in amphora based on the color or nose! Raspberries burst out of the glass. But not just raspberries….RASPBERRIES!! Raspberry jam and raspberry hard candy all rolled into one. Medium tannins (less actually than the Hasandede!) dissipated pretty quickly leaving behind a really dangerous wine that tasted a lot like raspberry cordial but, if you’re not careful, would kick you in the face with its 14.9% abv alcohol. This grape is so rare, Gelveri produced only 140 bottles of it.

Didn’t do too badly with the foods but it liked the poached eggs with potato, bacon, and samphire the best.

There’s more amphora to come!

• A Clay-Made Dinner: Ceramic Grill and Amphora Wine by Jeff Burrows on Food Wine Click!
• A Surprising Find: Amphora Wines in Temecula, California by Terrie Oliver Steffes on Our Good Life
• Hundred Suns Wine’s Amphora-Aged Gamay Noir, Flame-Grilled Foods, and Our First Post-Pandemic Dinner Party by Camilla Mann on Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Küp Calm & Pair on: Turkish Amphora Wines by Andrea Lemieux on The Quirky Cork
• Made in Clay From Near and Far: Italy’s Organic Visintini Amphora Friulano Paired with Römertopf Roasted Chicken #WinePW by Gwendolyn Alley on Wine Predator.
• Memories of My First Amphora Aged Wine from Josko Gravner by Susannah Gold on Avvinare
• Tasting and Pairing Amphora Wines by David Crowley on Cooking Chat
• The Mind-Bending Wines of Golden Cluster by Nicole Ruiz Hudson on Somm’s Table
• Tomato and Eggplant Tian paired with Two Amphora Wines from Portugal by Wendy Klik on A Day in the Life on the Farm