Advent Wine Blind Tasting Attempt One!
Mixed in my boxes of Advent wine I put a few disguised bottles. Because I don’t have a wine geek community here I don’t get to practice blind tasting a lot. My cat, Sherlock has yet to learn wine service and it’s mighty tricky to choose, open, and pour a bottle completely blindfolded. Since I chose these wines months ago I thought I might stand a chance of forgetting what a few of them are and disguised a couple labels. This morning I pulled out the first of these!
I managed to open the bottle without getting a peek at the cork. So, off to a good start!
The medium body and lack of tannins had me guessing a moderate to cool climate wine with moderate (under 14% abv) alcohol. Based on the tax label on the capsule I felt pretty sure I had a Turkish wine on my hands. And not a domestic grape. Final guess: moderate climate, Aegean region, entry level Syrah.
How’d I do? So. Very. Wrong.
Uçmakdere Winery Lirik, 2015
Uçmakdere Winery, maker of Firuze wines, is based in the village of the same name (Uçmakdere) on the edge of the Sea of Marmara. The Uçmakdere Winery Lirik, is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. My apologies to the Bulutsuz family for having such an incorrect guess!
Appearance: medium opaque but intense ruby
Alcohol: 13.5% abv
Nose: Date syrup, blackberry, almond, hints of vanilla and nutmeg
Palate: Medium acidity, low tannin, silky texture, with a medium finish. Flavors of tart berry, cherry, and vanilla with a waft of smoke and coffee and chocolate on the finish.
I did at least get right that it was not a native grape, was from an entry level series, and had moderate alcohol! Shoot, I really am bad at blind tasting. We’ll see how the others go!