B is for Oak in Midin Baluto
Assyrian winery Midin sits farther east than any other winery in Turkey, practically at Syria’s doorstep. Located in the Şırnak province, the winery faces a number of unique hurdles. The climate is hot (so very hot) and dry. Not so friendly super conservative Muslim communities surround their small Assyrian Christian village. And they face having their village’s vineyards ripped out for more profitable crops.
Raşe Gurnık – courtesy of Midin Wines
However, all is not bad! One excellent unique aspect of this winery is the grapes it works with. Few have ever heard of like Bilbilzeki, Gavdoni, Midin Karası, Kittil Nafs, or Raşe Gurnık. The latter of which features in the Midin Baluto red blend.
Raşe Gurnık
Raşe Gurnık grapes grow in an oval shape and have thick skins. The resulting wines are generally of low quality but when added to a blend, it contributes tannins and color. Sadly, other than that, we don’t have a lot of information about this grape.
Like many of the vines with which Midin works, Raşe Gurnık grows on old vines. If you’re curious about the winery’s heritage grapes and old vines, you can read more here in my submission last year to the Jancis Robinson writing competition!
Midin Baluto Red
“Baluto” means oak in Aramaic and Midin wants to make sure you know it. This wine feels a little like being hit over the head with a barrel.
For this, the winemaker blended together Boğazkere, Raşe Gurnık, and Öküzgözü. I feel like I’m pretty familiar now with the Boğazkere – Öküzgözü blend. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to pinpoint what the Raşe Gurnık may have contributed. It would be nice to try it on its own before the blend.
The wine poured black with a purple rim. I therefore retract my previous statement – this definitely at least got some color from the Raşe Gurnık! Boğazkere – Öküzgözü don’t often look this dark. We didn’t have the time to decant or let this breathe. A real pity because anything that could have been on the nose simply drown in heavy oak aromas of vanilla and sweet spices.
The palate gave more flavors than we were able to catch in the nose. Still oak but juicy mulberry and black pepper lurked under the sweet vanilla-molasses flavors. Very tannic with high alcohol (15% abv according to the label but it might actually have been higher).
Too much alcohol and too much oak, both threw off the balance but there is promise in the blend.
*Wine provided courtesy of Midin Wine but all opinions are my own