Advent Wine Tasheli Patkara Boğazkere Öküzgözü
Every year I’m envious of friends in the States who get wine Advent calendars. When I was a kid I found those little chocolate Advent calendars absolutely delightful. Occasionally I still send them to my siblings for the nostalgia. As an adult – and a wine lover! – a wine Advent calendar speaks to every part of me! But clearly we don’t have those in Turkey. So I made my own!
Well to be totally honest, two months ago I selected 26 bottles and moved them to a different part of my wine room. Some I covered in hopes that I might be able to make a blind tasting out of them. If I recall correctly, I chose a mix of wines. Turkey, Georgia, Austria, Italy, France… My goal is to select and blog about one wine every day during Advent. The only time I won’t do so is if there’s another blog topic already planned (e.g. #CabFrancDay December 4 or the #WinePW Cabernet Franc group discussion the following week). And we don’t have a lot in the way of small format bottles here so my “calendar” contains full 750 ml format bottles! I suspect my Coravin is going to get quite the workout.
I did not post yesterday – the first day of Advent – as I was really excited about the two wines from Gordias that I wrote about. So my Advent adventure begins today with the Tasheli Patkara Boğazkere Öküzgözü blend!
Tasheli Patkara Boğazkere Öküzgözü, 2019
Tasheli winery, based in Mersin along Turkey’s Mediterranean coast, has been around for a while. However, their wines have not always been so available in Istanbul. So I was quite happy when one of my favorite wine shops (Mensis Mahzen) started carrying them. In addition to other native Turkish grapes and a couple international grapes, Tasheli works with a few lesser-known native grapes like Patkara and Gök. Their vineyards sit in the Çömlek village in Mut, Mersin at 1200 meters above sea level.
The first wine I pulled from my Advent stash happened to be their blend of Patkara with Boğazkere Öküzgözü.
Appearance: deep, intense purple
Alcohol: 13% abv
Nose: Perfumed and fruity with black mulberry, blackberry, plum, violets, and a hint of fresh pine forest.
Palate: Low but noticeable tannins present throughout with medium acidity and a silky mouthfeel. I wonder if there might be a bit of residual sugar in the wine as it had quite a bit of heft and a mouth-coating effect not caused by the light tannins. Aromas sensed on the nose were reflected in the palate flavors and joined by a streak of white pepper.
Very quaffable and enjoyable! A good start to this Advent wine journey!
November 30, 2020
Martin Litt
Love this idea – will try to read them all via Twitter links!
I have a friend who lives in Turkey but wine never seems to appear in his or his family’s life at all, I wonder if it is so deeply ingrained in Turkish culture, and what dishes are typically paired with Turkish wines within Turkey itself? In fact, is food pairing viewed in the same way as in Europe?
November 30, 2020
admin
Thanks, Martin!
Wine drinking in Turkey amongst Turks is not a big thing. The last research I saw on this (from 2017) showed that the annual consumption was only about 1 liter per head. Similarly therefore food and wine pairing is not at all common here. Some friends, other Turkish wine enthusiasts, and I are all experimenting to find what those perfect pairings might be though! We’ve all found a few winners…Emir and Narince with stuffed grape leaves, Öküzgözü rose with manti and yogurt, a lot of the reds like Öküzgözü, Acıkara, and Boğazkere go nicely with lamb dishes…the experiments go on and on!