Get to Know the Grape: Hasandede
Hasandede is one of those grapes that doesn’t get a lot love. According to ‘Wine Grapes’, Hasandede makes “very basic-quality white wine.” Maybe that was true when the book was copywritten in 2012. But it’s far from true now.
And while it may not be true (any longer) that the grape makes only basic-quality wines, what sadly is true is how little we know about the grape itself. Hasandede (has-an-de-day), literally the ‘grandfather Hasan’, likely originated in Kırıkkale near Turkey’s capital Ankara. The medium-sized berries have thin-skins. They start out bright green but reach a golden green-yellow color with brown freckles by full ripeness. Prior to Vinkara making the first commercial wine with it, Hasandede mostly went to table grapes, juice, and pekmez (Turkish molasses) production.
When made into wine, Hasandede has a semi-aromatic nose reminiscent of Muscat, medium body with medium to high acid, and displays flavors of tree fruit (pears and quince especially), sometimes stone fruit, citrus, fruit blossom, white flowers, smoke, and cream. Wines are generally light to medium in body with moderate acidity.
Hasandede is used to make dry white and skin contact (amber) wines.
Food Pairing
Given the disparity in flavors of the Hasandede wines currently on the market, any number of foods and flavors will pair well with the wine. As long as you keep the style of the wine you have in mind. Cooking with herbs and spices like cardamom, cumin, garam masala, garlic, ginger, honey, lemon grass, pine nuts, red chili, salt, sesame, soy sauce, and tikka masala will get you off to a good start. Add gooseberry, lemons, lentils, limes, mango, pear, pumpkin, squash, sweet onions, or white beans. If you’re a meat eater, try Hasandede with chicken, duck, pork, fish generally but especially calamari and grilled shrimp.
Need a few recipe ideas? Hasandede pairs well with Turkish mezes like muhammara, cheese or potato börek, çiğ köfte, and paçanga böreği. It also works spectacularly well with Singaporean flavors! Try dishes like otak otak and Hainanese chicken rice.
Building a cheeseboard? Hasandede’s flavors tend to be on the delicate side so you’ll want cheeses that are not aged or strongly flavored. Young, light cheses are your best bet. Try burrata, soft goat cheeses, mozzarella, young Pecorino, halloumi/hellim, younger and/or flavored Goudas…
Producers to check out
Sadly, at the moment, there are only three! Vinkara and Gordias made dry white wines and Gelveri makes a skin-contact, amphora wine.
If you like Hasandede also try: Colombard, Kidonitsa, Robolla, Sauvignon Gris, Seyval Blanc, Solaris, Trebbiano Toscano, Vidal, Yapıncak
Click to see my reviews of Hasandede wines.