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Sparkling Wine from the Land of Beautiful Horses: Argos Nahita Dokya Emir Brut

 

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Every once in a while, you just have to treat yourself. Even if money is a little tight, or you know what you’re buying is overpriced. Such was the situation in which I found myself when I learned about the Argos Nahita Dokya Emir Brut. When I first saw this, I was excited! A new sparkling wine! A new EMIR sparkling wine! But then I saw the price. 

Wine sticker shock is real here. 

But then Christmas came around (yeah, I really don’t write as fast as I drink), so I decided to treat myself. 

Argos in Cappadocia

Over the course of 10 years, Gökşin Ilıcalı transformed a small, neglected neighborhood of stone houses in Uçhisar into a luxury hotel, Argos in Cappadocia. His renovation of a series of stone houses, caves, and tunnels provides hotel guests and visitors the opportunity to step back in time and experience how people lived in Cappadocia before modernity moved them aboveground.

A lover of wine as well as history, in 2002 before the hotel was completed Ilıcalı established his own vineyards cultivating Kalecik Karası, Syrah, and Emir grapes. Argos Vineyards’s wines have experienced several changes over the years. First bottled under Turasan’s name while the wineries cooperated, Argos later changed the label to ‘Gilamada’ and now under ‘Nahita Dokya’. The newest labels, featuring the image of a running horse, pays homage to the region’s ancient history. Like the winery’s labels, the region had several names including ‘Nahita’, then ‘Ni̇ğde’, before becoming Cappadocia, Persian for Land of Beautiful Horses.

Until recently, the winery has produced white (Emir), rosé, and red wines.

Emir

Native to the Central Anatolia (Nevşehir / Cappadocia) region, Emir is both expensive and difficult to grow. The word emir in Turkish means ‘ruler’ or ‘lord’. During the Ottoman period this was the favored wine at the local lords’ tables earning the grape such an exalted name. And it certainly acts like a demanding lord, being one of Turkey’s pickiest grapes in terms of where it will grow properly.

In short, Emir wants cold and volcanic soils. Of which Cappadocia has both. This region has a generally high altitude of over 1,000 meters. Unsurprisingly given its growing environment, Emir grapes never develop a high level of sugar. Which translates into wines that are always dry with high levels of acidity. Emir has little affinity for oak and therefore (usually) ages in stainless steel. However, some malolactic conversion or sur lie ageing is not unheard of.

The best examples are pale straw yellow wines famous for the crisp green apple and minerals in the nose. On the palate this crisp and lively wine carries the flavors of apples, green plums, lime, lemon, sometimes tropical aromas (in especially hot years), and mineral; so much so that it can sometimes be described as tasting ‘salty’.

Like most sparkling wine in Turkey, the Argos Nahita Dokya Emir Brut is a vintage wine. But, it is neither traditional method nor a pét-nat – the latter of which has seen a rash of popularity over the last couple years. This wine is made via the Martinotti method (or tank or Prosecco, or Charmat it carries all those names. There are really only two others that I can think of made this way: Kayra Cameo and Kavaklidere Altın Köpük (the latter also Emir).

A tank method wine for 1.400 Lira, or, roughly $40 at the time I purchased it? Even with everything the industry has working against it, that’s more than ‘kind of’ a lot. Worth it? Let’s see. 

The wine poured a very pale lemon-green with platinum highlights and semi-sedate bubbles. A truly lovely nose that was a little like Emir had donned an exotic costume: yuzu, lime sherbet, lemongrass, and lemon verbena. Dry, with lively if somewhat angular bubbles. 

Lovely really. But worth $40? No. 

Argos’s wines in the past were more competitively priced. This I got at Online Mahzen which, usually, has some of the lowest prices for Argos. But even there they’ve gone up in recent months.