Every year the Jancis Robinson hosts a summer wine writing competition. This year, inspired by the Old Vines Conference, writers were invited to submit stories about just that
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Pronounced: bow-ahz-keh-reh, which means "throat burner" in Turkish, this grape is one of the most formidable in Turkey's vineyards. Grown primarily in South East Anatolia (Diyarbakır), in some of the country's most eastern vineyards, Boğazkere berries are small, round, and blue/black in color with thick skin. They grow in large, tight, heavy bunches. In the fall, the leaves develop a distinctive red color from the leaf edge inwards. These grapes do best in hot, dry climates (hello Diyarbakır) and poor, calcareous-clay soils. While Diyarbakır is its origin, Boğazkere is now grown in various places around the country including in Turkey's Aegean and Mediterranean vineyards. If Boğazkere with its in your
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At the end of November during Turkey's annual Sommeliers' Selection event, I had the chance to participate in a vertical tasting of two wines from Doluca: the Karma Cabernet Sauvignon Öküzgözü and the Karma Shiraz Boğazkere presented by the winery's Education and International Marketing Manager, Ebru Günaçan. Circa 2000, Doluca owner Ahmet Kutman decided to make the Karma line to show that Turkish grapes could blend well with recognized, European varieties. Blending Turkish and international varieties isn't new (well maybe it was in 2000, that was before I got here). Now, at least, such blends are not uncommon as a) many of the grapes really do work well together; and
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Taking its name from the Syriac word for “peace,” Shiluh is Turkey's largest commercial Assyrian-style winery. Based in Midyat about 100 km from Mardin in the extreme southeast of Turkey, Shiluh (which also goes by Süryani Şarabı) carries on the winemaking tradition of Christian Assyrians. But in a modernized way. Until recently, Assyrian wine remained largely a family by family project. People sourced grapes from home gardens and made traditional wines at home to share with friends and family. Then in 2008, wishing to share this part of their culture outside the community, members of three Assyrian families: Gabriel, Aktaş, and Aslan, created a commercial winery to produce such wine. Shiluh
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This was another case of letting the guys at La Cave talk me into something. I figured for 40 TL I wasn’t taking that big of a risk with the Süryanı Şarabı Levy Matiat. I am so glad it wasn’t a larger investment. Assyrian wine Süryanı Şarabı is a traditional Assyrian wine maker from Mardin, Turkey. There are very very few Assyrians left in Turkey, many have fled due to the Kurdish conflict which has hit Mardin particularly hard. The tiny population that remains has been trying to revive the wine industry which is both a fantastic and difficult undertaking. Not only do they have to replant vineyards torn out
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