Falling for the Selefkia Blush
In a somewhat recent wine tasting, Drink Pink!, I featured a series of rosé wines. I’d had many of them before. Two were go-to rosés for me. However, one was completely new to me. And I really rather liked it.
Selefkia Blush.
Starting right off with the blend, it combines Patkara (80%) and Gök (20%). The grapes were co-fermented with four hours of skin contact. These are both grapes that are slowly starting to emerge onto the market thanks to Mediterranean wineries like Selefkia. Patkara is a black grape and Gök white. Have you heard of Mersin? This is a pretty well-known coastal city on the Turkish Mediterranean. I’ve never been but hear the beaches are lovely. So what’s a winery doing in such a hot climate?!
Yes Mersin is hot. But Selefkia’s vineyards are not in the low-lying, baked by the sun city. They sit high up in the Taurus Mountains between 1,150 and 1,420 meters. Elevation trumps temperature and the height at which these grapes grow allows them a longer ripening period during which they can achieve full phenolic ripeness while retaining acidity.
Selefkia Blush, 2020
This poured such a pretty, deep, peony pink color! Patkara has fairly thick skins so those four hours of maceration, even tempered by a small amount of the white Gök grapes, resulted in a really intense color.
Floral, fruity, and spicy, the nose on this had a bit of everything! Perfumey rose tempered by the more herbal rosehip. Crunchy cranberry, strawberry, and thimbleberry jam with a dash of white pepper. Palate flavors reflected the nose with a similar intensity but, I thought, leaned a little more fruity-herbal than floral or spice. Nice acidity countered a surprisingly weighty and almost oily mouthfeel and balanced well with the 13% abv.