Delving into Syrah with Sagavin
Disclaimer: I received these wines as samples but all opinions are my own.
Explore Sagavin’s two distinct Syrah wines. Discover how vineyard origin and winemaking style shape their bold flavors, and learn the story behind this passionate, small Turkish winery.
Recently, Sagavin Bağcılık ve Şarapçılık kindly sent me several of its wines. I enjoyed pairing Sagavin’s white, rosé, and one of its reds with an Indian eggplant dish. I was really surprised that the red came out the winner in that experiment! Now, it’s time to delve into the last two wines: Sagavin Syrahs. The winery makes two different Syrah wines, sourcing grapes for both from different places within İzmir. But what is the difference between them? Well, you’ll just have to keep reading to learn!
Sagavin Bağcılık ve Şarapçılık
Sagavin began with Uğur Aslan’s passion for wine, which led him to purchase a Boğazkere vineyard in Denizli’s Aegean region in 2017. What started as a hobby soon grew into a commercial winery by 2020.
The name Sagavin combines ‘saga’ and ‘vin’, referencing both epic tales and the Hittite root for wine, reflecting Turkey’s ancient winemaking history.
Despite the challenges of winemaking in Turkey, Uğur, a former banker, is committed to his 20,000-liter winery near Antalya. He produces wines from both native and international grape varieties, including Boğazkere, Emir, Kalecik Karası, Öküzgözü, and Syrah.
Sagavin Syrah, 2022
Syrah grows in most of Turkey’s wine regions. As of the last time I heard any statistics, it was actually the most grown foreign grape. Sagavin sources the grapes for this wine from İzmir’s Güney district, a high plateau in the inner Aegean. Despite the high elevation, this is a hot and sunny place, often resulting in big, high-alcohol wines.
A dense ruby color with rich aromas of blackberry, vanilla, coffee, and a dusting of cocoa powder. Full-bodied with chalky tannins and 14.5% ABV, the palate showed a fruity character with savory accents. Plums and juicy blackberry flavors exploded in the mouth melted into deep tones of coffee before finishing in a surprisingly bright grapefruit peel note.
This vintage was recently tasted and reviewed by Lars Daniëls and Ronald de Groot for the Dutch wine magazine, Perswijn. Daniëls and de Groot gave it an excellent and well-deserved review!
Sagavin Mutena, 2021
There’s a lot to unpack about the Sagavin Mutena. First, let’s talk about the packaging. Not a bottle shape we see a lot of here. I like the squatness of it. It makes it feel old-timey. And can we talk about the label design!! I might be talking to Uğur about copyright usage rights because I think this needs to be my next tattoo!
As with the previous wine, these Syrah grapes came from the Denizli area, but specifically from Çal. Unlike the previous wine, this was barrel-aged and bottled unfiltered. I could see the difference in grapes and treatment in the glass with this wine showing a color closer to garnet than ruby.
The nose ushered in aromas of mixed black fruit compote, dates, vanilla, and dark cocoa powder. The intensity carried through to the palate which showed similar flavors but leaned more towards the dates and dried fruit character with overtones of an almost Amarone-liked flavor profile. Well-built and full-bodied with more integrated tannins than the previous Syrah, good acidity, and a nice, smooth finish. Full-bodied with a whopping 15% ABV.
I tapped both with my Coravin but ended up properly opening and drinking this one the same night I sampled them both. This paired really well with some truffle accented dishes I made and with chocolate.
Sagavin’s wines aren’t easy to come by in Istanbul. If you’re interested in getting your hands on either of these, or the other three wines I posted about previously, I suggest getting in touch directly with the winery. You can always reach out via Sagavin’s Instagram.
And speaking of the winery, Sagavin wasn’t quite on its feet when I finalized and published the first edition of my book, but I’m happy to say that it’s now included in the second edition of The Essential Guide to Turkish Wine! Available soon in bookstores in Istanbul and Ankara (I’m having bandrol issues) but you can get it online outside Turkey or from me directly.
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