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Adnan Kutman Kalecik Karası Still Going Strong

 

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I don’t write much about Kutman wines (anymore). While the winery continues to put out new vintages, it hasn’t released a “new” wine of late so it’s fallen a bit off my radar. However, I happened to have a bottle of the Kutman Kalecik Karası gathering dust in my wine room. I bought it years ago when we visited for the book interview. At first it just got shuffled around and then it started to get older and I wanted to see how much longer I could age it.  

Finally curiosity got the better of me and I opened my Adnan Kutman Kalecik Karası 2010. But before we get to the wine, let’s have a refresher on the winery since it’s been a minute.

Kutman Şarapları 

The Kutman family is one of the few in Turkey with a long, commercial, winemaking tradition. In 1896 Ali Paşazade Efendi began a winery in the village of Mürefte in the Şarköy district of Thrace’s Tekirdağ. Little could he know what an empire he was starting. Today there are multiple branches of the Kutman family, each with its own wine company. The two largest are Kutman and Doluca. Feyzi Kutman, one of Ali Paşazade Efendi’s sons, took over the original business which today is continued in turn by his son Adnan Kutman and Adnan’s son.

Kutman Şarapları cultivates grapes on 30 hectares in Şarköy but also draws grapes from around the country in order to take advantage of Turkey’s varied terroir. Locally they cultivate a mix of native and international grapes including: Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Cinsault, Gamay, Karasakız, Merlot, Sauvignon Blanc, Sangiovese, Semillon, and Syrah. From around Turkey they also source: Bornova Misketi and Çalkarası from Denizli, Alicante and Sultaniye from Manisa, Kalecik Karası from Central Anatolia and Trakya, Öküzgözü and Boğazkere from Elazığ and Diyarbakır, Emir from Nevşehir, and Narince from Tokat.

Adnan Kutman Kalecik Karası, 2010

The grapes for this wine were (per the bottle) sourced from Trakya (Thrace) and Ege (the Aegean). Although “Ege” is a pretty broad area, a good chunk of which, including where they winery is, I’ve classed as Marmara versus Aegean. Regardless, the wine spent eight to 12 months ageing in (probably French) barrels before final blending and bottling. And then, of course, almost 12 years in the bottle before I opened it!

Semi-opaque and going to brickish garnet in the glass. As soon as I poured some, I could see all the sediment just sticking to the inside of the bottle! What I got from the nose did not overly surprise me for both the grape and the age. It presented very earthy with mushroom, forest undergrowth, old leather, and dried herbs. The palate ushered in similar flavors but with the surprising addition of purple flowers and a nice biter cocoa powder finish. Not a lot of fruit, or any at all really. The wine’s acidity lent a freshness to the flavors I wasn’t expecting and the tannins felt still surprisingly brawny, not something I look for in this grape at all. 

Pretty wow for it’s age, this was a good reminder that Kutman wines have great quality-price balance. And, while I cannot promise a 2010, you can still find some older vintages laying around!

Please Help Turkey and Syria!

In light of the horrific earthquake that has decimated large areas of Turkey’s south east and northern Syria, please consider donating to one of the relief efforts if you are able:

Animal rights organization Haytap is helping animals affected by the earthquake, and displaced people who need a place to stay with their pets.

Donate to search and rescue efforts in Turkey via Akut and Turkish Red Crescent 

Donate to civil society groups working on the ground to provide immediate relief and medium- to long-term recovery to survivors via UK-based Turkey Mozaik Foundation or US-based Turkish Philanthropy Funds.

To support rescue efforts in Syria, donate to White Helmet and SAMS.

Field Ready Türk‎iye (Sahaya Hazır İnovasyon Derneği) is a team of engineers working in Gaziantep, Turkey, and northwest Syria who make cheap, low-tech airbags for search and rescue from buildings which have collapsed. “If we move fast they can make more,” a good friend who previously worked with the team writes. “The workshops in Syria also have vast experience of fixing essential medical equipment, and making insulated shelters – both greatly needed right now”

Follow Jennifer Hattam on Twitter at The Turkish Life for continued updates on organizations accepting donations and needing local assistance.