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Turkish Wine

HomeTurkish Wine (Page 68)

  Today was to have been the last of my 4AM Twitter sessions with VinoRai and Protocol Wine Studio during which we were to compare the Diren Öküzgözü and the Gali Blend. I bought both of the wines on which the discussion was focused and was all set to drink two glasses of red wine at 4 in the morning. Unfortunately dealing with Turkish bureaucracy this week has given me a few headaches, including one last night. When I woke up in pain at 2:30 AM I knew I wasn’t going to be able to participate in the session. Happily at least I can read what everyone Tweeted and, since my headache finally went away,

  For the last two weeks I’ve been getting up at 3:50 AM. No one understands why and everyone thinks I’ve insane, including my cat. There really is an excellent reason: wine! I’ll wake up anytime of the day or night for good wine and this isn’t just wine; it’s wine and education (about wine). I like to drink wine, we all know this, and I like to write about it. However mostly I’m just making up things. I don’t have a very refined palate and usually only am able to taste the top notes of wines. So these last two weeks, and next week, have been an opportunity

  I recently was able to entertain some family members here in Istanbul. Two of my double second cousins* were in town. I have a rather large family. Really rather large. My dad is one of eight and all but one of his siblings have children. My mom is one of 12 and nine of them have children. My siblings and I are all at the younger end of the cousins so we have several cousins (on daddy’s side) who are already grandparents themselves. So I have a hard enough time remembering all my first cousin’s…I’ve kind of given up on remembering my second cousins and their kids. I knew

  I have now had and written about the Pamukkale Senfoni Sek and Domi Sek. I’ve always quite liked the domi sek but I never tried the full-on Senfoni Sultaniye sweet. Until now. Sweet wines pair beautifully with spicy food which is one of the reasons I find myself eating a lot of çiğ köfte; they go well with the oh-so quaffable Miskets I like to drink in the summer. Assuming that a sweet Sultaniye grape would pair just as nicely I decided to try the Senfoni Sultaniye Sweet when I made blacked salmon a few weeks ago. It was a good choice. The color of pale hay with green lights, this

  The problem with back log reviews is that they get really back logged! This has apparently been neglected as a draft for a rather embarrassing amount of months. And while a few wines may deserve that, the 2011 Suvla Sır is not one of them. There was a period a few months back during which I’d banned myself from drinking for a few weeks…and this Suvla Sır was the culprit. Once again I lost a bet that I could drink an entire bottle of red wine in one sitting and not regret it the next morning. Sadly I did regret it the next morning…but it was a bittersweet regret. The

  I have a hard time with Sauvignon Blancs. I feel like no two are alike which, on the one hand is fantastic because hurrah for new wines, new tastes, and new experiences! On the other, you run into more chances of wines you don’t like. I’ve learned over the years that I just really don’t like white wine all that much. Dry white wines that is. Or anything oaked. Don’t even try to give me Chardonnay (unless it’s steel aged!). So that makes choosing a Sav Blanc which varies from the “less ripe” pale color herby/green bell pepper flavors to “more ripe” darker yellows with summer fruit flavors.

  Procured at Comedus for a reasonable 43 TL, this 2011 Chateau Nuzu is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, and Öküzgözü. We actually drank some time ago, when the January weather was nicer than our current April weather. Le sigh. Aside from the ruby red color, the tartness on the Chateau Nuzu palate was the first thing we all noticed. It was really acidic giving the wine a sour flavor. With the sour yeastiness dominating, I had a hard time tasting anything else but believe I did detect some plum and cherry flavors hiding in there. Rather extreme tartness wasn’t the Chataeu Nuzu 2011’s only surprise we discovered. Sediment-lots of it

  Tuesday morning I was sitting in the local tax office when the power wet out. I hoped it was just a flicker but we soon learned that it was all of our neighborhood. Then we heard that it was all of Istanbul…then 50 cities across Turkey. Dude. What could we do but drink wine? Earlier I’d stopped in Solera, the wine house just up the street from my apartment, where they offer 25% discount on bottles that you buy for take away, and picked up a couple new reds, including the Gordias Kalecik Karası. Country-wide power outage, candle light, and Turkish homework seemed a great excuse to break out one. I

  As I’ve had uneven luck with them in the past I don’t tend to buy a lot of wines from Duluca. Nor did I buy this one. It’s interesting having partners in wine tasting shenanigans as E&M often buy wines that I wouldn’t. Sometimes for very good reasons but they’re still new to the Turkish wine scene so we forgive them. I was intrigued by the Villa Duluca Klasik when I saw that, accompanying the Öküzgözü-Shiraz blend was Alicante. Alicante, being a region in (central I think) Spain known for producing Monastrell wines, is not a name I see here often and I eagerly opened the bottle to see how

  Despite my previous, failed attempt to enjoy a Turkish-produced, Spanish-style wine I decided I would try again with the 2012 Mon Reve Tempranillo. Despite costing far more than anyone should pay for a young Tempranillo (46TL at Carrefour) it was pretty decent. In the glass it was a lovely burgundy with purple hints. On the nose-red fruits, cherry, plum,and  tobacco; all of which also presented on the palate. Low tannins, low acid, not really much of a finish at all…if you’ve enjoyed Tempranillo before then imagine your standard Tempranillo, water it down a little, and viola. In the end, it tasted pretty similar to your $5 Spanish Tempranillo. And while