To follow on my recent post about Turkish Bordeaux blends, I thought I'd write about two vintages of Arcadia's Finesse Bordeaux. I received these two bottles from the Oenotrian Wine Club here in Istanbul. Honestly I both received and drank them rather a long time ago
Read More
Syrah is the most popular international grape planted in Turkey. Not only is it the most popular international grape, it's one of the top three planted grapes overall here. Therefore, finding a Syrah-based wine (varietal or otherwise) does not present a huge challenge here. Turkish winemakers produce outstanding Syrahs in both Old and New World styles (although the latter feels more prevalent). I've had some really beautiful Syrah wines from Turkey over the last few years. I've also had some really bad ones. But we're not going to talk about those! Prodom Reserve Syrah, 2014 Based in Aydın towards the east of the Aegean growing region, Prodom uses Syrah in many
Read More
While not the most widely planted native variety, Kalecik Karası holds a firm position as one of Turkey's Big Three black grapes. However, in the early 1970s, Kalecik Karası was very nearly extinct. Enter Prof. Dr. Y. Sabit Ağaoğlu. At the time, Prof. Dr. Ağaoğlu was working on a Ph.D. in agriculture at Ankara University. For his thesis project he decided to make a clonal study of the Kalecik Karası grape. From a few dried vines he not only earned his Ph.D. but also created a vineyard. And since he already had the vineyard, he and his wife decided to go ahead and make wine. They named their winery
Read More
Yeah, I've lost track entirely of how many of these I've done. Based on the color alone I'm guessing young. Turkish. I think this a Turkish grape. I'm going with young, moderate alcohol, unoaked, Öküzgözü. Or maybe Kösetevek? Gah! How do people do this? And once again I am horribly humiliated by almost everything. Chateau Tamagne Saperavi, 2018 So yeah. A Russian Saperavi. We have that in Turkey. Because
Read More
For today's post I'm taking a slight departure in that these bottles did not come from the pre-selected Advent wines. I was asked to give a small (online) wine tasting. Having then opened three wines for this, and being my cat is a teetotaler, I deemed it unwise to open yet one more wine just to get something from the Advent calendar. And I cannot say I'm feeling particularly sad about the situation. I had a peek into the box and all but one of the remaining wines have been covered for more blind tasting challenges. As it was, we had a great tasting with most of the participants having
Read More
You might perhaps notice the different Christmas tree. I took to the road for this particular wine tasting challenge. Which in reality was far less sexy than it sounds. Really I just took the bottle to a friend's for dinner and we did the challenge together. From the start neither of us were a fan of this. We could tell it was young, had little to no oak ageing, and was likely a low to mid-range Öküzgözü Boğazkere blend from a large format winery. I further supposed that we were drinking a cool-climate wine with probably moderate alcohol around 13.5% abv. So, did an extra brain help me guess correctly?
Read More
Completely by coincidence did I include this bottle in my Advent boxes 'o wine. December has seen both #CabFrancDay (December 4) and a #WinePW Cabernet Franc around the world. Naturally I blogged about Turkish wine for both events. I've never had Cabernet Franc from France, or anywhere else in Europe. But what I've come to realize from these events is that Turkish Cabernet Franc leans more New World in style. The wines here don't have the high acidity and austere elegance of their European counterparts. Rather they display the riper fruit and structure of New World wines. Vino Dessera Cabernet Franc, 2018 It's been a long time since I've seen a
Read More
After several days of no blind tasting I felt sufficiently recovered to tackle another today. As I spent all weekend making Christmas goodies I was ready for some wine! Coquito ice cream, decorated orange-spice sugar cookies, two kinds of truffles
Read More
No blind tasting for today, huzzah! That gives my brain a little bit of a break. If you read the title and thought to yourself: Sobran? Where in Piemonte is that? Well the answer is that it's not. In Piemonte. Nor is it in Valle d'Aosta nor in Lombardia or anywhere else in Italy. Sobran Bağları is a Turkish winery based in Alaşehir in the Aegean. This 2018 vintage was not only the winery's first release of Nebbiolo, but the first in Turkey. Sobran Bağları Nebbiolo, 2018 A family-run winery, Sobran Bağları started planting in 2007 eventually expanding from a small vineyard to 31 hectares that include Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Shiraz, Öküzgözü,
Read More
We celebrated #CabFrancDay on December 4. To keep the Cab Franc love going the December #WinePW theme explores Cabernet Franc Around the World! You can read the invitation post by host Wendy Klick from A Day In The Life on The Farm here. It will surprise no one that I am featuring Cabernet Franc from Turkey! Join us tomorrow, December 12 at 7pm IST/ 11am EST / 10am CST / 8am PST by following along with the #WinePW hashtag on Twitter as we talk all things Cab Franc! Cabernet Franc Most probably know Cab Franc as a blending grape. In Bordeaux-style wines, Cab Franc may get blended with two of its offspring:
Read More
