Advent Wine Blind Taste Challenge Four!
This morning my box o’ Advent wines offered up my first white wine blind tasting bottle. One of my preparations involved removing capsules from quite a few bottles. In some cases I did so to further disguise the wine within. For the blind tasting white wines I did it so I could mark the corks to indicate a white wine in need of refrigeration. We’re having a warm snap in Istanbul. Which basically means we’re back up to our usual early December temperatures of low mid teens (Celsius). So a white a white wine was very welcome today!
My guess: moderate to cool climate, lightly oaked Sauvignon Blanc with moderate alcohol. So, after suffering a humiliating defeat last week, how’d I do with this one?
Shazam, baby!
Sevilen 900 Fumé Blanc, 2018
I included very few white wines for blind tasting challenges which makes guessing what I have less than difficult. And I know this wine pretty well. Whether or not therefore I can really count this as a victory…
Named for its elevation on the Güney Plateau, Sevilen’s 900 series includes three wines: Cabernet Sauvignon, Fumé Blanc, and Petit Verdot. At 900 meters elevation on the plateau, Sevilen’s vineyards experience a large diurnal swing allowing grapes to reach full phenolic ripeness while retaining good levels of acidity. For that reason, these vineyards make some of the winery’s top quality wines.
In the winery itself, the Fumé Blanc fermented and aged for eight months in French oak barrels. I’ve had a couple few vintages of this wine but it wasn’t until this 2018 that I feel in love. I’ve also since had the 2019 which is equally glorious.
Appearance: clean, bright, intense lemon, no green
Alcohol: 13.5% abv
Nose: Smoky flint followed by ripe, grilled pineapple, grapefruit, Meyer lemon, and lightly toasted hazelnut
Palate: Medium-bodied, round but with mouthwatering and zesty acidity. Vibrant citrus and tropical fruit flavors like pink grapefruit and pineapple highlighted by flinty smoke. Basically the same flavors sensed in the nose but experienced backwards!