Turkish Bubbles Too Expensive? Try Moldovan!
Moldovan wine has been quietly moving into the Turkish wine market for a few years. Unsurprisingly, a fair amount from Purcari. The story of Chateau Purcari mirrors the story of Moldovan wine itself. In 1827 Tzar Nicholas I issued a special decree granting Purcari the status of the first specialized winery in Bessarabia. Run by German immigrants for most of the nineteenth century, the winery first achieved fame in 1878 when a bottle of Negru de Purcari won a gold medal at a Paris exhibition. Chateau Purcari went on to survive nationalization and the Soviets, several wars, and emerged into the new Republic of Moldova pretty much where it started…as one of the country’s leading wineries.
Finding a bottle of the Negru de Purcari isn’t as easy as it used to be. Very sad as I quite enjoyed the bottle I had. However, the latest Purcari wines to hit our shelves make up for that. A trio of the winery’s traditional method sparkling wines have arrived. And while not exactly cheap; my guess is they’re close to twice the price they would cost in Moldova, at “only” 645 TL, they’re currently half the price of any of Turkey’s traditional method wines. So run out now to Macro Center and stock up before either the price gets as ridiculous as that of the local bubbles, or before I buy it all.
Purcari Cuvée de Purcari Brut
The Brut, Extra Brut, and Rosé all use traditional Champagne grapes in the cuvée. In this case, the blend includes 60% Chardonnay 30% Pinot Blanc and 10% Pinot Noir. The winery’s website refers to a “long term maturation in bottles” but doesn’t give any specific information about how long that was for any of the wines.
Golden, frothy bubbles filled the glass and perfumed the air with the scents of peaches and cream, flowers, and warm citrus. Like the good brut it is, it felt very dry, regardless of where on that 0 to 12 g/L residual sugar scale it lands. A soft, mouth-filling mousse and persistent perlage carried flavors of kumquat, loquat, peaches, and flowers, with a lingering, lemony finish.
Charming. My personal favorite of the three.
Purcari Cuvée de Purcari Extra Brut
The Brut and Extra Brut share the 60% Chardonnay 30% Pinot Blanc 10% Pinot Noir blend. With the same lack of how long it spent on the lees before disgorgement, I assume that the very different character of this wine owes itself largely to being that much lower on the residual scale.
Paler in color with a less vigorous froth, I found this the less expressive of the two white bubbles. Mostly citrus and toast on the nose with a light note of citrus blossom. Soft but less generous mousse carried similar flavors of lemons and toast with a touch of nuttiness.
Purcari Cuvée de Purcari Brut Rosé
I was so looking forward to the rosé. While generally not a fan of rosé wines, I universally love bubbles of all colors. And I was hoping that this 60% Pinot Noir 40% Chardonnay blend would have a nice fruitiness. Ah hope.
Barely pink at all. Barely. I found everything about this wine to be faint from the whispers of floral and citrus pith notes, and honestly, some wet cork on the nose to the red berry flavor on the finish. The only thing not faint were the sharp and spikey bubbles. Which possibly were so aggressive that they drown out the flavors.
Please Help Turkey and Syria!
Turkey and Syria are still in desperate need of help after the horrific earthquakes that have decimated large areas of Turkey’s south east and northern Syria, please consider donating to one of the relief efforts if you are able:
Animal rights organization Haytap is helping animals affected by the earthquake, and displaced people who need a place to stay with their pets. Other animal-focused groups such as Dört Ayaklı Şehir (Four-Legged City) and Work Animals Rescue Foundation, are also helping farm animals, street animals, and pets.
Donate to civil society groups working on the ground to provide immediate relief and medium- to long-term recovery to survivors via UK-based Turkey Mozaik Foundation or US-based Turkish Philanthropy Funds.
World Central Kitchen provides funds and food to those still living in tents in the affected areas.
To support rescue efforts in Syria, donate to White Helmet and SAMS.
Field Ready Türkiye (Sahaya Hazır İnovasyon Derneği) is a team of engineers working in Gaziantep, Turkey, and northwest Syria who make cheap, low-tech airbags for search and rescue from buildings which have collapsed. “If we move fast they can make more,” a good friend who previously worked with the team writes. “The workshops in Syria also have vast experience of fixing essential medical equipment, and making insulated shelters – both greatly needed right now”