VinBodrum Chardonnay and Füme Chardonnay
One good thing to have come out of the Corona pandemic is that WSET now allows students to take the levels 1 and 2 tests online. I squeaked through level 1 here in Istanbul. But levels 1 and 2 are offered only in Turkish here. I do not trust my Turkish is decent enough to manage the level 2 test.
The testing taking requirements for the exam are beyond ridiculous. But perhaps more on that later. In the meantime, I’m enjoying the homework. The WSET homework is ever so much more delightful than the homework I did at university. Every week those of us in the course have to submit tasting notes for the assigned wines. Annoyingly for me, the majority of the wines assigned come from, of course, Europe. Exactly the wines not widely, or any way, shape, or form, cheaply in Turkey. Luckily, I can use Turkish wine for this week’s assignment: an oaked white wine (Chardonnay or Chenin) and an unoaked wine of the same variety. I am tasting two Chardonnays from Bodrum Şarapçılık.
Bodrum Şarapçılık
A family winery based in Aegean region, Bodrum Şarapçılık produces wine with warm, very warm, climate grapes. Bodrum, which is not just a resort town along the Aegean, is also a Turkish word that means ‘basement’. In the case of this winery it’s also a super appropriate name. Bodrum Şarapçılık’s entire production happens in the family home basement.
Given the constraints of their limited space, they have very few barrels. And very small production numbers overall. They produced only 2,000 bottles of their Vinbodrum label Chardonnay and even fewer bottles, only 1,250 of the Füme Chardonnay. The latter incidentally, the winery’s first oaked Chardonnay.
Vinbodrum Chardonnay, 2017
No oak ageing or influence of any kind of this Chardonnay. However, the juicy ripe fruit profile clearly reflects the hot growing environment of Bodrum’s resort area.
The wine poured a medium lemon, with aromas of yellow apple, pear, pomelo, and pineapple. On the palate it was all around medium: medium-bodied with medium acidity, medium alcohol (13.6% abv), and a medium finish. Yellow apple, Bosch pear, and ripe pineapple with raw hazelnut on the finish.
Vinbodrum Füme Chardonnay, 2017
The Chardonnay above saw no oak whatsoever. The Füme Chardonnay, on the other hand, aged for 12 months in oak barrels. Because of said oak influence, this wine poured definitely on the gold end of the yellow spectrum. Medium gold in color the wine displayed yellow apple, grilled pineapple, blossom, orange zest, pastry, vanilla, coconut, and honeyed aromas.
On the palate it was dry and medium-bodied with medium acidity and alcohol (also 13.6% abv). Persistent flavors of pastry-wrapped baked yellow apples, pineapple, and vanilla glaze with blond toast on a medium finish.