Keep on Swimming! The Paşaeli Merman
Çalkarası is what I like to call Turkey’s ‘Cinderella’ grape. For a long time, winery’s have used this grape as a work horse to make up table wines and cheap red and rosé blends. And yet, the grape has great capacity to make high-quality wines. How do we know that? To begin, because we know that we share this grape with Greece where it does make high-quality wines. In Greece, Liatiko (as they call it) is the 5th most planted grape and the star of Crete’s robust wine industry. How did it get from Crete to the inner Aegean in Turkey (or vice versa)? Dunno. Nor do I know who had it first. But I do know who in Turkey was the first to pay proper attention. Paşaeli. Of course.
Paşaeli founder Seyit Karagözoğlu has a great commitment to native, and often rare Turkish grape varieties. He doesn’t just make wine wine them, he makes wines. Plural. Several years ago, I posted about a Galentine’s tasting I did with friends during which we tasted all of Paşaeli’s Çalkarası wines. Well, all of their Çalkarası wines at the time! Since then, the winery not only released two pét-nats with this grape, it was the first winery to release pét-nats full-stop in Turkey!
One of the other things I think is special about Paşaeli Wines is that the winery gives you a full package from the label to the wine in the bottle. Karagözoğlu really thinks about what the label says about the wine and often uses it to convey a message. And so it was with this series. The first of the wines he made with Çalkarası was the darker rosé. The idea was that it was half and half…it started on the skins like a red but then ferments like a white wine brought a mermaid to his mind. He was introduced to New York-based illustrator and graphic designer Isabel Roxas who designed his mermaid. Then he introduced the paler blush wine and with Roxas continued the sea theme with the seahorse. And then followed the red Merman.
Paşaeli Merman Çalkarası, 2022
High-end Greek bottlings of Liatiko have shown us that this grape can take oak. But, it’s also excellent a fresh, young, unoaked wine. Paşaeli’s winemaker Işık split the difference by ageing this wine on its lees in French oak for six months before bottling.
Almost from the beginning I thought this was Paşaeli’s best vintage yet.
This aromatic dry red wine burst with aromas of red forest fruits, cherry, pepper, and brown spices. The scent alone was mouthwatering! On the palate, spicy and elegant. Bright, juicy acidity with flavors of savory herbs, red flowers, and just a hint of dried red fruit (like bing cherries) that went down like silk.
If you can find the 2022, buy it!! And, should you want to explore additional wines, you can see all my Çalkarası reviews here!