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Red Wine

HomeRed Wine (Page 52)

  This week’s wine has a madly long name. I’m not entirely sure it quite lives up to its name though. The Terra remains my favorite Boğazkere still but I feel there’s room in my heart for the  Buzbağ Bölge Serisi Diyarbakır Boğazkere. I feel like I’m predisposed to like a wine that has a beautiful color; and this seemed to be pretty on target. I really don’t understand why people use colored wine glasses. Sure they’re pretty; but many wines, red and white, are lovely in and of themselves. So it is with the Buzbağ Diyarbakır Boğazkere; it had a beautiful, deep, ruby red color that glowed but lost no

  Holy tannins, Batman! Is it possible to be in love with a wine? Well if it is then between Suvla’s Sur and this 2011 Petit Verdot Karasakız I’m cheating on someone. We’ve talked about Petit Verdot and how it’s usually a minuscule 2% added to wines for color effect and how very few wine makers fully utilize the grape. Suvla is one of the wise wine makers that does and its Reserve 2011 Petit Verdot Karasakız is worth the price tag. It’s really a shame that more wine makers don’t use Petit Verdot in a bigger way because it has a really fantastic flavor. Plus the tannins and we know

  I finally found the Suvla store in Cihangir which is both good and bad. Good because the store carries all of Suvla’s wines; bad because I don’t have a steady income and Suvla wines are not inexpensive; but that’s not going to stop me from buying them! So let’s start with the description on the bottle: “Suvla Grenache Noir 2013 has the color of bright ruby red with purple nuances. The nose is an explosion of fruity and spicy aromas. The vibrating hints of ripe black cherry, mulberry, fig and blackberry are woven into a background of notes of black pepper, olive, thyme, and oregano. The well-balance body has

  Gallipoli is known for one thing, the shameful waste of lives in the World War I Battle of Gallipoli (or the Mel Gibson movie about the same). Lead by the man who would later become Father of the Turks, Kemal Mustafa this last glorious victory of the crumbling Ottoman Empire and Winston Churchill’s refusal to give up the Darandelles lead to the death of nearly 57,000 Allied soldiers. This battle is particularly felt by Australians and New Zealanders and I’ve never met a one visiting Turkey who doesn’t also visit Gallipoli. Hopefully, Gallipoli will be known for happier things as Suvla wines become more well-known and popular! Although the

  Despite my resolve to review whites for the summer I’m moving back to reds. I just really don’t like dry whites under the best of circumstances and I think I’ve finally run out of Miskets. So now it’s back to tannins and red wine hangovers. Suvla wines break my rule about buying “reasonably-priced” wine. The Sur (which I’m trying to find another bottle of so I may properly review it) sets you back about 80TL which is more than I generally pay for wine regardless of which country produces it. However-they’re worth it. They’re so very much worth it. Not being able to locate the Sur, I picked up another

  The 2011 Diren Karmen was by far, in my opinion, the best of the reds that we tested at the wine tasting I hosted. From the makers of last week’s water Okuzgozu/Bogazkere, the Diren Karmen was a nice come back and puts Diren wines back on the map for me. From the deep ruby color to the tanniny and berry finish this one was a winner for me. The promise of red fruits and spice on the nose did not let me down this time. Medium tannins, nice but not overly dry, juicy cherries and red berries with spices that went all the way through the flavor. This is

  A few weeks ago I hosted a Turkish wine tasting for some colleagues. We tried eight different wines, some I’ve had before myself, some I haven’t.The four whites were: Corvus Kavga, Pamukkale Sultaniye dry, Pamukkale Savignon Blanc, and Ancyra Muscat. The reds were: Pamukkale Trio, Ayra Kalecik Karasi/Bogazkere, Diren Karmen, and the 2012 Diren Öküzgözü Boğazkere. Of the wines I haven’t reviewed yet, I probably will not create them for the Corvus Kavga or the Pamukkale Savignon Blanc. They were not winners for me. The Corvus was far too dry and the Sauvignon Blanc too far left on the zesty lime-flowery peach scale for me. We will however talk about

  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

  Tursan is possibly the leading winemaker in the Cappadocia region. It’s a tough region with high elevation, grasslands, harsh, cold winters, and not a lot of lush greenery. Like many wineries in Turkey, Turasan produces several labels under its name including: Seneler, Classic, and blends. While I was in Cappadocia with a visiting friend we picked up the Turasan red blend. Not gonna lie-not my favorite. Turasan Red Blend Tasting Notes The Turasan red blend seemed to have been on a mission to include any and every possible grape including: Syrah, Boğazkere, Kalecik Karası, and Öküzgözü. In the glass this Turasan red blend was a deep purple-red color. In the nose I detected hints

  Such a week and it’s only Wednesday. First I got a job, then I got sick, then I had an Istanbuli police officer show up at my door. But also there was wine! Last week I got a new consulting contract. Yay money! Means I can afford to keep myself in wine a bit longer. To celebrate we had dinner at Otto in Cihangir (which was great) and we ordered a bottle of the Ancyra Boğazkere. Like the Terra, the Ancyra had many of the hallmarks inherit in the Boğazkere grape varietal: spicy, (dried) red fruits, dark dark red color with blue hues etc. We both enjoyed it, but for me the