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Yapıncak To Age Or Not To Age

 

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Even if you’re not a wine geek, you’ve heard about ageing wine. I get the question from time to time; people asking if they should age this or that bottle of Turkish wine. Oe expects to age bottles from many established wine regions, like Barolo, Brunello, Mosel, Bordeaux, Champagne, Rioja, etc. We also know that grapes like Riesling, Assyrtiko, Pinot Noir, Nebbiolo and so forth generally do better with a couple years under their belt. But ageing Turkish wine? Grey area. 

For why? you might ask. Doesn’t Turkey have a wine industry essentially as old as grapes? Indeed it does. For 8000 plus years various peoples have made wine in Turkey. So, why then don’t we know about ageing Turkish wine? Like many things here, that answer has many moving parts, but the short answer is two-fold. One, the biggest and oldest wineries here have only recently started keeping libraries. Two, for many reasons, wine gets bottled and sold (by 90% of wineries) immediately after its made with no pre-sale cellaring. 

Of course there are some “ageability” factors like acidity and tannin levels we can use as a guide. Turkey’s most well-known gourmand Levon Bağış posits that Kalecik Karası may be the country’s most ageable grape. Otherwise, it’s a lot of guesswork and experimentation. I keep a section in my wine room of experimental ageing bottles. I may end up losing a bunch of them that weren’t fit for ageing. But without trying, especially with the new and emerging grapes, we cannot know. One grape that I think has some decent potential is Yapıncak.

Despite its incredible potential (for ageing and otherwise), Yapıncak still isn’t getting a lot of love. As a general champion of lesser-known Turkish grapes, it has held several positions in Paşaeli’s collection for a while now. Popular Gallipoli-based producer Suvla makes three wines with this grape, and today’s post focus, Sevilen joined the ranks a couple years ago.

Sevilen’s history with this grape is just that, a history. While the single varietal wine may be a new product, they’ve had Yapıncak vineyards for a number of decades now. So where has it been all these years? Buried in blends as a workhorse grape. It was not until 2018 that Sevilen realized the grape’s potential. For any number of reasons I’m so please they did because this is lovely wine and I’ve posted about it before (which you can read here). 

Sevilen Yapıncak, 2018 & 2022 Face-off!

For quite a few years, the only bottle from Sevilen one could find was that initial 2018 release. I started wondering if the winery had decided it wasn’t worth the effort and decided to not make anymore. Then, I found a 2022. Since I still had a 2018 at home, I decided to do a side-by-side comparison to see how the wine had changed since 2018, how it stacked up against the 2022, and if, in May of 2024, that 2018 still had any life left at all!

Thanks to the clear glass bottles, I didn’t even have to pour the wine to see the color difference. The 2018, at six years old, glowed a steady gold while the newer vintage showed a pale lemon-lime with platinum highlights. The differences did not stop there! The younger wine gave white flowers and red apple chased by warm citrus on the nose. Round with medium acidity and very appley on the palate. Light, 12% abv, easy to drink and enjoyable. 

A whole different world awaited in the 2018. Smoky aromas wrapped around apple peel, pear, tangerine, and rangpur lime. The palate was oily, buoyed by some decent acidity with the same 12% abv. Bruised apple peel, quince, and caramelized orange peel burst on the tongue and slid into a perfumed finish of white flowers. It felt weightier than the ’22 and needed food to balance the intensity. 

Quite possibly the 2018 doesn’t have much life left in it. I’ve had other Turkish white wines this old and older that retained a lot more freshness. So, is it Yapıncak that’s not meant to age? Sevilen’s specifically? The clear glass bottle that didn’t protect the wine? Shrug. ‘Twas an interesting experiment though!

Interested in exploring more Yapıncak? Check out my other posts and reviews here!