Wine Bar Review: 316 Meze & Wine
It’s been absolutely ages since I did a wine bar review! A few months ago, a friend brought 316 Meze & Wine to my attention and we finally got around to checking it out. So, here we are again with a new wine bar review!
Tucked away in Nişantaşı, around the corner from the American Hospital (possibly a strange but utterly unmissable landmark), is the new-ish 316 Meze & Wine. They’re making great use of the small space they have here with high tables and stools that aren’t nearly as uncomfortable as they look. The shiny, modern tables and stools echo all the shiny metals in the sparkling clean open kitchen. The only discordant notes in the decoration are the very Greek-looking tile wall that features heavily on all Instagram posts in which the bar is tagged, and the fact that my book is missing from its library, lol.
The meze we ordered was all quite decent and they have some interesting dishes on their menu. The wine selection was on the small side, but also quite good with some really classy and reliable producers like Paşaeli, Vinolus, Büyülübağ, Heraki, Kuzubağ, 7Bilgeler, and Hus. We were rather disappointed though that they didn’t have all their white wines chilled. It took three tries before we got a chilled white wine.
The lack of chilled wine wasn’t the only issue we noticed. While food and drink were all quite good, service as highly lackadaisical. Considering that, for some time, we were the only customers in the small bar, that is pretty unforgivable. We had to constantly flag down someone for more water (which to play devil’s advocate at least we didn’t have to pay for), to get our wine glasses topped up, to order more items, get the check, etc.
Probably the best thing about 316 is its location. Not only around the corner from the American Hospital but also from a great boutique wine shop, Vinus. So if you’re still thirsty after 316, stop in at Vinus and the lovely owner Kaan will direct you to a great bottle to take home.
Overall we enjoyed ourselves and it’s nice to see a wine bar in that part of town. However, especially as I’m not Nişantaşılı, I won’t make any special efforts to return.
316 Meze & Wine
Teşvikiye, Sezai Selek Sk. Murat Apt D:28-30B, 34365 Şişli/İstanbul
0532 409 03 16
Hus Emir, 2021 (by the glass)
I’ve really come around to Hus’s Emir since the first time I tasted it and have very much enjoyed the 2020 and 2021 vintages (although recently I tasted the 2022 and I really hope the fault was just that bottle and not the whole vintage). The Emir for Hus’s wine comes from a partner vineyard in Central Anatolia’s Nevşehir. The grapes are from a single parcel grown at 1000 meters in volcanic soils. I rarely remember to say this about Emir because I forget that not everyone knows, but as this grape and oak are not friends, the wine fermented and aged entirely in stainless steel.
A light gold in the glass, this is one of the most deeply colored Emirs I’ve seen. The nose displayed some of the citrus (grapefruit), apple, and mineral aromas I often look for in this grape but also boasted some tropical fruit. The palate had a linear quality (one I look for and love about Emir) and lively, zesty acidity. Quince fruit and splashes of freshly squeezed lemon joined the grape’s hallmark minerality.
Very nice to see this offered as a by the glass wine!
Kuzubağ Sauvignon Blanc, 2021
Once finally able to find a by the bottle selection they had chilled, we ended up with the Kuzubağ Sauvignon Blanc. Which, as not only a fantastic wine but the least expensive white on the list, didn’t hurt our feelings as much as 316’s bottom line. Perhaps a lesson to actually chill the white wine that is on your list? But the wine.
I’m impressed all over again every time I drink Kuzubağ’s Sauvignon Blanc, which I think may well be my favorite Turkish SB. The winemaker really does a marvelous job incorporating several different winemaking methods into this including about 6 hours skin contact, whole bunch pressing, and 30% of the wine matures in French oak (with different toast levels to boot!) for about 6 months.
The resulting wine shone a brilliant lemon-lime in the glass. No hint of skin contact or oak on the visual. But the nose…ah, that gave the first clue that there was something unusual going on here! Super aromatic with tropical fruits like guava and passion fruit, splashes of grapefruit, and an alluring thread of flint smoke. Round, almost fat on the palate (thank you skin contact and oak) with pleasant acidity. Here acacia blossoms, lemon, and biscuit flavors joined the tropical and smoky notes from the nose.
Heraki Akuarela Çal Karası, 2020
Not wanting to risk another round of “what did you both to chill”, we ordered a red for our second wine. One which, ironically (although also correctly) was slightly chilled.
From the new label by winemakers at large Fulya Akinci and José Hernandez-Gonzalez comes the Heraki Akuarela Çal Karası. Grown in the Çal district of Denizli in Turkey’s inner Aegean, the 35-year-old, dry farmed bush vines grow at 900 meters above sea level. Fulya and José ferment this on native yeasts in egg-shaped tanks and bottle with no oak. When-made well, Çal Karası needs no oak.
Çal Karası is low on the anthocyanin scale so its wines are not darkly colored or opaque. Here a pale, clear ruby through which you could read a newspaper. The nose offered red fruit and earth with raspberry, sour cherry, maybe cranberry, along with forest and tobacco. Low tannins with medium plus acidity and highish alcohol (14%) that wouldn’t know if you hadn’t read the label. Flavors burst with raspberry, thyme, pepper, earthy forest floor and a touch of forest spice.
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.
- Donate to the volunteer response being carried out in Turkey by the trusted, independent NGOs İhtiyaç Haritası (Needs Map) or Ahbap.
- Hayata Destek (Support to Life), is a Turkish NGO experienced in providing humanitarian relief and working with underserved communities.
- 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 Helmets 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”