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Revisiting Buradan Şirin

 

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We are well and truly in the depths of summer now. Whether you’re hiding inside with the AC or toughing it out, hoping for a good breeze, a nice chilled glass of wine comes as a welcome relief. While I think it’s unfair to limit rosé to just spring and summer, there’s no denying how many posts there are nowadays about rosé and rosé season. I haven’t written much about rosé lately. But I thought it would be a good time to revisit the Buradan Şirin; especially as Buradan was kind enough to send me some wine!

Buradan –  Wine “from here”

Located in the Aegean district Çeşme, Buradan distinguishes itself in Turkey as one of only a handful of wineries with a truly developed concept of what it is. Çeşme is one of the most visited seaside villages of the Izmir province and is a major destination for both domestic and international tourists. With its crystal clear sea, golden beaches, bays, diving and surfing, and annual surfing and kite surfing competitions, Çeşme is unarguably a beach town. The question owner Türgay Gümüş wanted to answer was: what does a wine that is both made here and made for here look like?

To solve this, Gümüş designed his winery and wines, right down to the winery’s name, around a zero kilometer concept. Buradan is Turkish meaning “from here”. The first task the Buradan team tackled was to make a rosé that was fresh and mineral but with depth and interest. Something visitors could quaff on the beach but also pair with the region’s many seafood-based specialties.

I have written about the winery and its wines previously, and earlier this year, winemaker Tina Lino suffered through an interview with me!

Buradan Şirin, 2020

Şirin, a rosé crafted from 100% Grenache made in with limited intervention from sustainably farmed grapes. It’s one of the few rosés in Turkey made on purpose as a rosé. What does that mean? It means that they do things like picking the grapes early while the acids are high and the sugars are a little lower to ensure that the wine is refreshing and bright.

For winemakers Tina Lino and Şirin Payzın, making a clean wine (a real clean wine, not a Cameron Diaz buzzword “clean” wine) is vital. They want people to be able to taste their grapes and the terroir. But, they understand that small amounts of additives, like sulfides, are important for the wine’s stability and purity. 

Maybe this is my own soapbox sneaking in … but if we wanted to drink dirty kombucha then we wouldn’t be paying the significantly higher price for wine, would we?

Happily, this thoughtfully made wine is delicious and worth the price of entry! A crisp wine that shows a mineral character, with grapefruit and lemon salt notes framing a core of lemon and loquat flavors. Round and weighty on the attack with a firm acidity.

A final note: one thing I have come to realize here is that a rosé’s color serves as a great indicator of its quality. When faced with the rosé section at shops, the wall of electric pink can be shocking to the eyes. Once you put on your sunglasses to avoid the glare, you can look for wines like Buradan Şirin that have orange or even copper tones. These are going to be your higher quality wines.

Samples provided by Buradan but opinions are my own