Arya Kalecik Karası Boğazkere
I was at The Cave, my local alcohol shop the other week looking for a selection of Turkish wines to try out on visiting friends. The guy who was helping was friendly but unfortunately useless as far as personal recommendations went as he doesn’t drink alcohol. Insert blank face here. So I ended up with two bottles, an expensive bottle of one of the Suvlas on my list and a cheap bottle of a wine I’ve never heard of-the 2013 Arya Kalecik Karası Boğazkere. That’s the one we’re reviewing today.
Right off the bat I wanted to like the Arya Kalecik Karası Boğazkere. I enjoy a butterfly so if you put one, a purple one no less, on your label I’m likely to be drawn to it. It also did not hurt that it was a pretty cheap wine, only 15 TL (about $7.50) and it was a blend of two of the Turkish reds I like: Kalecik Karası and Boğazkere. I was further happy when the wine turned out to be almost the exact shade of plummy purple as the butterfly on the label.
Arya Kalecik Karası Boğazkere Tasting Notes
The nose was deep, dark, and full of dried red fruits. Similarly I would describe the flavor as being smooth, with light to no tanins, and full of red fruits. I could say these things. It’s possible I might even be right. But I’m not going to say these things. Sometimes when I drink a wine I don’t taste the undertones of flint, mint, or tobacco. Sometimes I don’t even taste the top notes of red fruits, blah, blah, blah. I just taste wine. So it was with the Arya Kalecik Karası Boğazkere.
Does that mean that the Arya Kalecik Karası Boğazkere was a bad wine? Not necessarily; it just wasn’t remarkable. I still rather liked it even. I found it to be kind of Chianti-esque and it went very well with pasta and pizza. Or maybe it was just because I ate pasta and pizza this weekend that I was thinking about Chiantis…
For only 15 TL a bottle I didn’t exactly expect an outstanding wine. Frankly I’m just happy that it wasn’t a hangover in a bottle. Would I buy it again? No, probably not; there are so many Turkish wines I have yet to try so why go back to something that didn’t blow me away?