Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Morbi eu nulla vehicula, sagittis tortor id, fermentum nunc. Donec gravida mi a condimentum rutrum. Praesent aliquet pellentesque nisi.

Red Wine

HomeRed Wine (Page 46)

  I recently had the opportunity to spend time on Bozcaada and was able to visit the Suvla winery in Ecebat. First of all, I wish I’d realized years ago how easy it is to get to the Suvla winery. The main reason I don’t visit Turkish wineries is because I don’t drive and it’s not like they’re exactly conveniently located. Suvla, in Eceabat, is a short ferry ride away from Canakkale which in turn is serviced by a daily flight out of Sabiha Gokcen airport in Istanbul. Had I but known! Walking into Suvla was a little, as my friend put it, like arriving at the mother ship. The Suvla

  I’ve been terribly neglectful about both having and writing about the Hauteville Grand Vinde. This was a gift from a colleague last summer and we just opened it a few weeks ago. Gozo is one of the islands that make up Malta and is apparently known for being the most fertile climate in Malta and some of the best Maltese vineyards are located on this island. My colleagues lived in Malta for a while and told me that what she learned there is that, when speaking about wine, that you can’t just say ‘Maltese’ wine, you have to identify with the specific island. So this Hauteville Grande Vinde

  I had the Paşaeli K2 last summer at my birthday dinner at Ali Ocakbaşı and it was fantastic. Unfortunately Paşaeli is not really a pocketbook friendly wine although buying at Solera does help. The shelf price for the K2 is 90 TL but if you get it to go at Solera you pay %25 less making it a far more reasonably priced bottle. I drank this bottle with some friends and colleagues in what I know call the inadvisable night of five bottles. Five bottles shared among four people should not be a problem. Unfortunately it was. I am too old to be having red wine-induced hangovers on a

  I’m always surprised when I go to Macro Center by how many wines the store doesn’t have. It has a very small alcohol selection, in fact I think my local Carrefour has as many or more varieties. However what Macro Center’s selection does have going for it is the odd bottle here or there that I’ve not seen anywhere else; which is how I ended up with this bottle of 2013 Gülor Öküzgözü Malbec for 71.50TL. Macro Center has an odd pricing structure. Gülor wines are from Şarköy which makes them part of Turkey’s Thracian wine trail; my preferred wine region in Turkey. Since I had such luck with

  The 2012 Likya Podalia has become my go-to bottle when I take people to Dai Pera – which is my go-to restaurant. It’s a nice medium bodied wine that suits just about any palate and isn’t challenging for people who don’t have a lot of wine experience. Likya Podalia is a Kalecik Karası Malbec blend (75TL from La Cave) which has the added benefit of being both exotic for people who don’t know Turkish wines but also comfortingly familiar. The nose is fascinating…cotton candy and tobacco all swirled together with raspberry undertones. Sounds a little weird but not uncommon for these wines. Kalecik Karası is known for having cotton candy

  Since the Arda Cabernet Sauvignon was such a hit we decided to try the Arda Şiraz, also purchased from Solera for 45 TL (65 TL shelf price). Eight months in French oak added some nice chocolatey scents which mingled well with the blackberry-blueberry fruit scents at the top of the nose. I also got what I think was some eucalyptus and mint. It probably could have used some time to breathe but I’m just not that patient. I should be though because that lack of patience gave us a wine that was a little off balance with too much acid. I really think some time breathing would mellow that out.

  Now that my neighbor has turned me on to wines made in Elazığ I’m more and more on the look out for them. Kayra, as mentioned previously, is one of the largest makers in that region and M, who really just likes to say “Öküzgözü” picked up this bottle of the 2012 Kayra Buzbağ Reserve Öküzgözü Boğazkere not too long ago. This dark, plummy red colored wine has definitely benefited from the 24 months it spent in French oak which is obvious in the clove, cardamom, and leather scents that I got from the nose. Combined with the plum, black mulberry, and dried fruit aromas the Kayra Buzbağ Reserve

  Over the summer I reviewed Sevilen’s W, a Sauvignon Blanc, which E, M, and I all really enjoyed so when I saw the Sevilen R at Carrefour I thought we had to try it. Sadly I did not like it nearly as much as I did the W. Sevilen R is a blend of Cabernet Franc, Merlot, and Petit Verdot and I wonder if part of why I didn’t like this one could be attributed to that blend. I love Petit Verdot but I do not love Merlot (which we know) and it’s a rare that I find a Cabernet Franc that I like. My tastes aside though neither E

  I have been burned by Turkish Malbec’s before so I was a little (i.e. a whole lot) trepidacious when the guys as La Cave recommended the Likya Kadyanda Malbec. Likya produces two Malbecs, a pricey reserve and the reasonably priced 2014. Since it was only going to set me back 45TL I decided to be brave and give it a try. My first thought when I got a whiff of the nose… “ooooo”.  Even though this isn’t Likya’s reserve Malbec it has a lot of reserve-style scents like black fruits, tobacco, and oak; aromas I would expect more from a reserve-style Malbec. It was softer on the palate than I

  I seem to unwittingly be on a mission now to try all the Cabernet Sauvignon wines in Turkey. As far as missions go I don’t suppose this one is so bad. Certainly it hasn’t been a hardship! This week it’s the 2013 special reserve Çamlıbağ Cabernet Sauvignon from the warm climate of Bozcaada (near Çanakkale). In the glass the Çamlıbağ Cabernet Sauvignon was ruby red with no hints of purple. With a nose and flavor profile that includes blackberry, berry jam, tobacco, baking spice, and what I think were violets it’s pretty stereotypical of a warm climate Cabernet Sauvignon. Lowish tannins and low alcohol don’t make for a big Cabernet