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Wine Reviews

HomeWine Reviews (Page 86)

By 0Red Wine, Turkish Wine, Wine Reviews

  It’s December and yesterday was the first Sunday of Advent which means that it’s officially time to start playing Christmas movies and music and, more importantly, start drinking Gluehwein! Which for me means that it no longer matters that Turkish wine generally isn’t good. Also luckily, good wine is neither needed nor recommended for Gluehwein so for the first time I bought a bottle of the cheapest wine (10 TL / 5 USD) on offer here: Sava; specifically the Sava Çalkarası Merlot. And while I meant it from the beginning for Gluehwein I thought I’d make a proper tasting of it before adding tons of sugar. Everything has at least one

By 0Red Wine, Turkish Wine, Wine Reviews

  I was both excited and trepidatious going into this Suvla Merlot. On the one hand…Merlot; blech. It rhymes with ‘no’ for a reason. One the other hand…Suvla hasn’t really disappointed me so far and the Suvla Merlot blends have been fantastic.  So here we go. The 2013 Suvla Merlot had a nice dense ruby color. Plum and cranberry on the nose; the bottle label said I should also be getting pepper in the nose but for me at least not so much (Sherlock had no comment). It was a bit tight when I first tried it. This one wants air so be prepared for that. In the mouth the

By 0Turkish Wine, Wine Reviews

  Suvla has two Kirtes. A while back I reviewed the other Kirte (a Cabernet Sauvingnon, Syrah, Petit Verdot blend) and last week I picked up the 2011 Suvla Kirte at the shop in Cihangir. This is a Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Cabernet Franc blend. And wow. I did not think I would like this one as much because, you know, Merlot. Ick. But if the Merlot had anything to do with the flavor of this Kirte I may even be moved to try Suvla’s Merlot varietal. Although frankly, the flavor of anything is going to be massively enhanced if you’re simultaneously enjoying the sunset and view out my window! The 2011 Suvla Kirte

By 0Red Wine, Turkish Wine, Wine Reviews

  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

By 0Red Wine, Turkish Wine, Wine Reviews

  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

By 0Red Wine, Turkish Wine, Wine Reviews

  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

By 0Red Wine, Turkish Wine, Wine Reviews

  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

By 0Red Wine, Turkish Wine, Wine Reviews

  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

By 0Turkish Wine, White Wine, Wine Reviews

  I took a shot on this one and picked it up at Carrefour a few weeks ago. I’d been avoiding it because it seemed somehow, well frankly it looked like it wasn’t going to be a winner. Was I wrong! Unlike the Pamukkale Sultaniye I reviewed ages ago, the Kavaklidere Sultaniye is not a straight up dry white but a semi sweet; and it was lovely. The super pale lemony yellow color and floral and hay notes in the nose were promising. Sultaniye is  known for a flavor profile that includes: asparagus, pear, pineapple, mango, floral, lemon, golden and green apples, and hay. In this Kavaklidere Sultaniye, the floral flavors were really pronounced

By 0Red Wine, Turkish Wine, Wine Reviews

  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