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Yaban Kolektif: Drawing Back the Veil on Sungurlu

 

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I briefly mentioned the Yaban Kolektif during a previous post about Patkara. Since that collaboration with the Asmadan winery, Yaban Kolektif has partnered with Vinolus to create two new wines from the rare grape, Sungurlu. Similar to the Patkara origin stories, Sungurlu has previously only been vinified by Urla Şarapçılık as part of its limited Discovery series. Since then, we haven’t seen anything from this grape. 

From Yaban’s Instagram:

Yaban is a step taken to reunite viticulture and winemaking in Turkey with its past and forgotten values. We lost our rich viticulture culture, winemaking techniques, traditions, festivities and rituals in a short time after the natural disasters and forced population exchanges in the last century. It will perhaps never be possible to fully recover this memory. Anatolia is losing its grape heritage day by day and the danger is not past even for the varieties we think have been saved. Yaban aims to contribute to current efforts towards this goal with a practical model. While joining the ranks of Turkey’s wine producers, Yaban determines the ideals she will pursue as follows:

Our priority is to bring the forgotten grapes into a commercial activity that will save them from extinction, and to attract the attention of other producers by revealing the true potential of these grapes. Therefore, Yaban varieties will change, those that have not changed will be processed in various styles.

In addition to local varieties, we will be working with international grapes such as Semillon, Carignan, Cinsault, Gamay, and Alicante, which were planted in our country in the last century but are not often fermented by today’s producers.*

While we source our grapes from vineyards that do not belong to us, we will guide the way these vineyards are cultivated day by day according to organic and even better biodynamic principals. At least, we will strive for better viticulture compared to the previous year.

We will aim to ensure that the use of oak in winemaking does not mask the characteristic features of the varieties, and that they are made in a style that reflects the vineyard regions and and is far from the international style. 

While making use of today’s technological possibilities and modern winemaking techniques, we will give priority to fermentation with local yeasts. We will try to prove that another life is possible in the increasingly commercialized world of wine, which we love and are proud to be a part of. 

*Personal aside – this might be true for Carignan and Alicante but I can name over a dozen wineries that work with Semillon (at least six there alone), Cinsault, and Gamay. 

Back to the Sungurlu! Yaban partnered this time with Kayseri-based Vinolus winery using grapes sourced from Ayoğıbüyük Köyü, Sungurlu (yup, the place and the grape share a name) Çorum. Çorum is located in the Black Sea region (whence comes the Narince grape) and is peppered with Phrygian and Hittite archaeological sites. A sign that winemaking is not new to this region. 

The winemakers for this round were José Hernandez-Gonzalez and Kürbanur Cingirt. Kürbanur I don’t know but José’s work I know and love from wineries such as Vinolus, Karnas, Hus, and now his own label, Heraki. 

Yaban Sungurlu, 2020

No winemaking notes on the label. A pity, I would like to know what they did (or didn’t!) do with this. 

Deep lemon on the pour with aromas as rich as the color! Yellow fruits reminiscent of quince and Deveci pear* with lemon, jasmine petals, and fresh bread. The mistake I made with this initially – which, if I’m honest, I make with a lot of wine – was drinking it right out of the fridge. While the palate gave some very pleasant flavors of fruit and dried meadow; it wasn’t until it came closer to room temperature that the wine exhibited more fruit, showcasing a white flesh fruit character.

Medium-bodied with a nice zing of citrussy acidity and a satiny roundness that really filled the mouth. One great thing that’s been common in the three Sungurlu wines I’ve had has been the relatively low alcohol. This was the same with only 12.3%.

*And now, a tangent. I was trying to find an English equivalent for these but there isn’t one. Deveci pears are a Turkish pear named after their creator, Lutfi Deveci (and have nothing to do with camels!). These are some of the largest pears, I suspect not only in Turkey, individual pears can weigh as much as 1.5 kilos!

Yaban Sungurlu Pét-Nat, 2021

I was really excited about this. The price tag put me off (frankly it did for both of them), but Esat Bey at La Cave often gives me a good deal. And I love bubbles. Weird grape plus bubbles, just checking all the boxes for me. Did it deliver? Eh.

Like the still wine, it poured a deep lemon, with just a hint of fizz. Simple aromas of apples and trillium blooms reminded me of my childhood. No wine, but a lot of time spent in apple orchards and picking trilliums in the home woods! On the palate the wine was lightly effervescent with just 11.9% abv, perhaps just a touch of residual sugar, and easy acidity. The overwhelming flavor, perhaps influenced by the fizz was Äpfelschörle (sparkling apple juice). And while I love a good Äpfelschörle, I like a little more complexity in my wine. 

Nice but not price tag nice. I get it to a degree. Small production, sourcing the grapes, working in someone else’s space etc…but prices here are getting so ridiculous that I feel okay regressing 20 years and saying that they’re ridonkulous. But more on that at a later date…

Is Sungurlu the next big thing for Turkish wine? Based on these two…I’d say not. But I still appreciate the experiment behind them. We need more people willing to take the chance on unknown and unproven native grapes! So, for as much s I felt underwhelmed by the wines themselves, still, I applaud Yaban, Vinolus, José, and Kürbanur for making them. 

Please Help Turkey and Syria!

In light of the horrific earthquake that has 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.

Donate to search and rescue efforts in Turkey via Ahbap, Akut and Turkish Red Crescent 

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.

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”

Follow Jennifer Hattam on Twitter at The Turkish Life for continued updates on organizations accepting donations and needing local assistance.