Welcoming Asmadan Bağban Karasakız
Did you know that I love Karasakız? Do you know the Karasakız grape at all?? Even if you live in Turkey and don’t know, I forgive you (assuming you care!). It’s an entirely underrated and underutilized grape.
My first introduction to Karasakız came from Suvla. My early days of Turkish wine discovery were largely thanks to Suvla. They made quality wines with decent price points. Sadly, over the years, they seem to have begun focusing more on the price points than the quality. Despite which, Suvla remains one of the champions of Karasakız. Along with Corvus, Paşaeli, and also recently Yaban Kolektif, Karasakız doesn’t get a lot of attention. Now Asmadan, located (like Suvla) on the Gallipoli Peninsula, has also debuted a Karasakız.
Look at that color!
Asmadan Bağban Karasakız, 2020
The grapes for this wine come from “old” goblet vines-miş. The label doesn’t give any actual information aside from that claim. However, given the area where these grapes grow, the fact that they are bush vines (which new plantings usually are not), there’s a good chance that they vines are at least 30 years old.
The wine spent 10 months in French oak. It cannot have been new (or very much anyway) oak as the wine expressed no obvious oak aromas. I know a lot of people don’t love oak (myself included) and often hesitate to buy when seeing that a wine spent significant time therein. However, I believe in this case the oak did as intended by softening the wine’s edges and adding subtle notes; rather than hitting you over the head with: SEE! I HAVE BEEN OAK AGED AND AM A QUALITY WINE!
Please stop doing that people. You know who you are.
Happily, in this instance, that is not Asmadan! The aromas of their Karasakız were like a playful interchange of earth and fruit with woody herbs, red fruit, sour cherry, pomegranate leaf, and damp forest earth. The palate of the translucent garnet-red wine offered everything the nose promised and more. Sour cherry and black tea with earthy detail, notes of nutmeg, and a faint dusting of black pepper. Delicate tannins hit at the back of the palate while moderate alcohol (13%) and medium acidity contributed to the wine’s overall medium body.
Quite nice. I look forward to putting this in a future tasting!