Comparing Vintages Pamukkale Nodus Cabernet Sauvignon
One of the very first boxes I received from the Oenotrian wine club was themed to look at how Turkish wine ages. The box contained two different vintages of four wines. Because I acquire wine at a much faster rate than I drink it, I unintentionally aged several of the wines even more while they stayed buried in my wine room. Honestly, I don’t even remember when I got these!
Finally I got around to drinking what I think was the last pair of wines from that box: Pamukkale’s Nodus Cabernet Sauvignon.
If you’re outside Turkey, you probably know the name Pamukkale only as the fascinating, brilliant white, limestone travertine covered with a carbonate mineral left by the flowing of thermal spring water. It’s a beautiful place and has a two for one aspect for tourists in that at the top of the travertine sits Hieropolis, one of the Greco-Roman ruin sites. I suggest getting there early in the morning if you. Because of its beauty and fame, many businesses have adopted the name ‘Pamukkale’ including one of Turkey’s largest wineries.
Pamukkale Şarapçılık, one of the wineries on the İç Ege Bağ Rotası, is actually not located too far from the travertine. The winery sourced grapes for both of these wines from vineyards on the Güney Plateau in Denizli, Izmir. The vineyards there sit at 750 meters above sea level and contain red clay and (not surprisingly I guess) limestone soils.
Pamukkale Nodus Cabernet Sauvignon, 2016
The younger of the two vintages, the 2016 aged 20 months in new French oak, then an additional six in bottle before release. Deep ruby on the pour with a paler rim, this one had a nose that said, I may be the younger of the wines but I still mean business.
Richness from ripe fruit and oak clearly had a good marriage going on here. Already showing a beautiful complexity, brown spices and dried herbs hit me first before cigar box and cedar drew me in deeper. Blueberry and blackberry fruit aromas peeked out before revealing some pleasantly astringent eucalyptus. After sipping, I noticed the wine’s structure before the flavors. Big and voluptuous with structured tannins, mouthwatering acidity, and high, but well-balanced alcohol at 15% abv. With each sip the flavors took me on the same journey as did the nose. Flavors ebbed and flowed to a medium-long finish.
Pamukkale Nodus Cabernet Sauvignon, 2010
The 2010 also aged in new French oak but slightly less at 16 months with another six in bottle. The ruby on this was so deep, it was almost hypnotic. And if I needed more than the color to make me want to drown myself in the glass the bouquet just pushed it over the edge.
Grilled cherries sprinkled with dried oregano came first. Then the earth. I truly love an earthy wine and this practically exuded old leather, clay pot, and charred fireplace wood. This is a wine you drink while wearing a big, cozy sweater, cuddled up next to a fireplace. Happily, since I drank this in March, that was exactly my situation!
Fruit was more evident on the palate than in the nose with fresh black cherries and black fig. More oregano, charred wood, smoke, and leather followed. Slightly lower alcohol than its younger brother (14.5% abv) this showed tannins that probably were pretty muscular at one time but that had softened to give a more supple texture. Long finish.
Both very nice.