Old Vines and Paşaeli 6N Karasakız
While for reasons beyond my ken Karasakız is not more popular in Turkey, it is certainly one of the country’s most facile grapes. One of my favorite iterations of this grape is the Paşaeli 6N Karasakız.
This wine encapsulates so many things about Paşaeli. Under-utilized grape – check. Old vines – check. Wild ferment – check. Paşaeli almost always allows its wines to undergo spontaneous fermentation on natives yeasts. It just doesn’t always advertise the fact. Even on this bottle it appears only in small print. The vineyards lie at 500 meters above sea level in the Aegean, in the Kaz Dağları. They average 35 years old, giving them serious “old vine” street cred.
Karasakız
Karasakız (kar-ah-sah-kiz) is the oldest grape variety grown on the island of Bozcaada. It likes a warmer climate and, in addition to Bozcaada, also grows on the southern part of the Gallipoli Peninsula, in the Aegean, and the Sea of Marmara island, Avşa. The medium-sized, round berries achieve a deep, purple-blue color when fully ripe. They grow in heavy, multi-lobed bunches. Karasakız grapes generally produce fruity and spicy medium-bodied wines with low tannins and medium acidity. Black pepper is often the dominant flavor along with red fruits like cherry and strawberry, dried fruits, sweet spices, candy, and thyme.
Read more about Karasakız in my Get to Know the Grape piece about it here.
Paşaeli 6N Karasakız, 2019
Paşaeli’s wonderful winemakers have a deft hand with oak. They never go too heavy with it. Here, the eight months in 225 liter French oak barrels give the wine a soft roundness and make it more approachable in its youth but don’t overwhelm this lovely grape.
Brilliant ruby in color and overtly aromatic. Floral aromas of lilac and violet leap out of the glass followed by waves of plum and blackberry, nutmeg, bay leaf, and black pepper. On the palate it’s medium-bodied and silky with vibrant acidity. Juicy fruit flavors of tart red currants and sour cherry accented by hints of the flowers sensed in the nose and kissed with a dash of black pepper.
Super nice.
Karasakız I’ve had from other wineries tends to be both heavier and oakier. However, the elegance and lightness in this one allows more pairing flexibility. I paired this with seared salmon over arugula and leeks and it did very well.
The Old Vines 6N Karasakız is a limited bottling. If you cannot find this one anywhere, you might have better lick with the other 6N wine from Paşaeli. Immediately distinguishable from this one by having a blue slash (rather than gold) across the 6N, it blends Karasakız with a small amount of Merlot. You can read my review of that here.