Of all the wines I'm talking about this Advent, this one is perhaps the most appropriate. How can a wine be appropriate for Advent? No, there's no such thing as Advent wine. But
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My love of Ma'Adra's Pinot Noir and Carbonic Maceration Öküzgözü (one of the only Öküzgözü wines I like), I have document well and thoroughly. Most of their other wines I explored in my early Turkish wine days and haven't revisited. Until now. Advent day 11 Ma'Adra Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, 2018 Sigh. Ma'Adra went with the heavy format bottle for this one. Heavy bottles does not mean quality wine, people. I don't harp on about the environment but, come on. This one is easy. The wine filling the unnecessarily heavy bottle, a 100% Cabernet Sauvignon aged for 24 months in French Bordeaux barrels. Deep, opaque ruby color that was initially very tight in
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Week one of Advent challenge has been met and I'm still going strong! I bounced around the globe during the first week so decided to open week two back at home. Although "home" is a little bit of a stretch when the wine comes from the opposite end of the country to Istanbul. Advent day 9 Midin Miras (red), 2021 Midin's Miras red wine blends together mostly Öküzgözü and Boğazkere with small additions of the regional grapes Gavdoni and Raşegurnık aged for 10 months in oak. Opaque purple-ruby in the glass with bramble fruit compote, cedar, forest spices, and vanilla aromas. Medium tannins and high alcohol (14.5%) gave the palate a fulsome
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Yesterday's post wasn't part of the Advent challenge per say
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Today's Advent wine was a new release this year from Kuzubağ as part of its sophomore wine collection. Advent Day 5 Kuzubağ Öküzgözü, 2021 The winery's first Öküzgözü with grapes sourced from its (the winery's not the grape's) home in Çal. Aged for 12 months in oak barrels. Very purple in the glass. I'm not good at all at blind tasting, but if you're looking at something you know is Turkish and it's super purple, it's probably Öküzgözü. Initially oak heavy on the nose with vanilla, sweet candied fruits, violets, and spice. Tannins were almost plush with figgy/date, caramel, and carob flavors that dropped off pretty fast. For my two cents, not as
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Created by Göknur Gündoğan and Işık Gülçubuk, the Wine Experience Project was launched at the end of 2020. Per the group's mandate, The Wine Experience Project respects vine, wine, and are “winebassadors” who include a mix of winemakers, wine writers, retailers, and select foreigners. Select indeed, with some omissions. Ahem. Advent Day 4 Wine Experience Project Kalecik Karası, 2021 The project's freshman (and so far only) wine was a Kalecik Karası made with grapes sourced from the Kalecik-based winery Tafali's. The grapes fermented in stainless steel tanks before aging on the lees for eight months. Bottled with no oak aging. The wine poured the medium-opaque brickish red one associates with Kalecik Karası. Lovely aromas
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Yes, I've set myself with this wine a day for Advent challenge (which I already regret) but today is also #CabFranc Day! So, I thought it would be a perfect day to talk about this Romanian Cabernet Franc that I received as a gift. Advent Day 2 Crama Ferdi Cuvee Francisc, 2021 As the name indicates, this Crama Ferdi wine is a cuvee, not a 100% Cabernet Franc. In this case, the blend includes Cabernet Franc and Merlot aged for 14 months in oak. Initially, the wine showed vanilla and stewed fruit aromas then slowly unfolded to reveal spice and cola notes. Very smooth on the palace with almost no discernable tannin
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The lovely Lisa Morrow, author of several books about life as an expat in Turkey and Inside Out Istanbul asked me to write a guest post for her site. I am very happy to share that she posted it yesterday and hope you all enjoy it! Where to have a drink in Istanbul this festive season When I first moved to Istanbul, I lived in an area of the city called Cevizlibağ. Generally foreigners don’t know it and most Turks’ reaction is along the lines of “uuufff, why?”. The why is a boring story and so is the area. It mainly consists of apartment blocks, a few small markets, a
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I get the feeling that people's minds mostly go to the Cabernets and Sauvingon Blanc when Akın Gürbüz's name comes up. To an extent that's fair. He began with French grapes and some of his higher-end wines come from those. However, that's doing him and his catalogue a disservice. He makes excellent wine with quite a few native grapes including: Kalecik Karası, Karalahna, Papazkarası, and Öküzgözü. If he weren't behind the grapes, would he label them under his Winemaker's Selection series? Gürbüz Öküzgözü, 2018 Gürbüz's winery sits firmly in Thrace with most of his vineyards in southern Thrace running down to the northern Marmara. However, some of his grapes come
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Did you know that I love Karasakız? Do you know the Karasakız grape at all?? Even if you live in Turkey and don't know, I forgive you (assuming you care!). It's an entirely underrated and underutilized grape. My first introduction to Karasakız came from Suvla. My early days of Turkish wine discovery were largely thanks to Suvla. They made quality wines with decent price points. Sadly, over the years, they seem to have begun focusing more on the price points than the quality. Despite which, Suvla remains one of the champions of Karasakız. Along with Corvus, Paşaeli, and also recently Yaban Kolektif, Karasakız doesn't get a lot of attention. Now
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