Doluca Verano Blush (2010)

Doluca Verano Blush (2010)

I came across this wine surprisingly when I was looking for a wine that I could drink together with aperatives in a fish restaurant (cause I can never come to the main meal and usually finish eating before the fish comes to the table). I didn't even know that this wine existed because as you would remember, I started to be interested in rose wines only a few posts ago.

Verano Blush is a rose colored, refreshing, and red fruity wine made of Grenache grapes grown in Doluca's vineyars in Saroz (Turkey). It is delicious and very easy to drink. Don't limit yourself with aperatives as I did! Drink it with whatever you like, as red wines are still not enough refreshing in these still warm days of September.

Chateau Villemaurine (2006)

A French wine again. I am totally confused about French wine classification. Whenever I read about French wine classification, I learn something new that undermines my previous knowledge about it. 

On the other hand, I'm pretty sure that I can never age wine, as I can never wait until my meal on the palate becomes warm and I try to eat while it is still hot. If I buy wine, I want to drink it immediately. 

Whichever classification this wine belongs, it is a grand cru, so it is extremely prestigious. Contrary to what most reasonable people would do, I did not keep this wine for a special ocasion. Instead, I suddenly decided to open it in a regular night at home. 

I cooled it in a rush, prepared this small palate for myself and this itself was a special ocasion for me. I was ready to drink the wine. I was curious about the grapes of which the wine was made, but I could not see this information on the bottle. So, I asked google. Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot. 

The wine stayed in my glass for hours, but I still thought it needed airation. May be it was too early to open the bottle. Still, it has a beautiful taste, intense, fruity and full of strong tannins. I admired French winemakers once more, and I wished that I would admire Turkish winemakers as often as I admire French ones.

Doluca, Karma Chardonnay - Narince (2008)

Karma Chardonnay Narince

The wine that you see in the very bad picture on the left is a very nice white wine. You should have noticed that I keep the promises that I make and give chances to white and rose wines.

I mentioned this wine briefly here previously. It is a white wine of Karma group of Doluca, which are made of one local and one international grape. A nice blend of Chardonnay and Narince.

I like both Chardonnay and Narince and I tasted this wine before. So, I knew that I would like it this time, too. I gave it an extra credit when it glorified my evening with my friends that I missed and love so much. They all said they loved the wine. 

You should try it! It is fishing season in Istanbul. Order your favourite fish along with a cooled Karma Chardonnay Narince. You'll see that life is beautiful :)

Ardesia Blush Pinot Grigio

Ardesia Blush Pinot Grigio

I regret that I have not tried a rose wine in this summer while I kept complaining that I can't drink red wine when the weather is so hot. In these last days of summer, I ordered Ardesia Blush Pinot Grigio only because a friend of mine asked me to do so. It was a nice surprise for me because I liked it very mush.

This is a rose wine with a color of salmon. It is made of 85% Pinot Grigio and 15% Chardonnay. It is very light and refreshing, and it also has a relatively low acidity, which is a good point for me. I drank it along with macaroni with a tomato & basil souce and I think they made a nice pair.

Please don't do what I did throughout this summer. Give a chance to rose wines and if you have a chance to drink Ardesia Blush Pinot Grigio, give it a chance, too!

Sirince Wines

Sirince is a village that is hidden behind a valley near to Selcuk (Turkey). In earlier dates, Greek people lived there, but afterwards, Turks that had lived in Thessalonika (Greece) moved to this town (exchange of populations btw Greece & Turkey).

I don't knowmuch about architecture but I believe Greeks (at least the ones who lived in today's Turkish lands) knew a lot about architecture. The villages they left behind seem very cute. This one is a cute Aegean village that contains tens of winehouses and that is heavily dependant on tourism although it is quite far from the sea.

Sirince's wines, especially fruit wines are very famous. I didn't pay much attention to winehouses first, since I thought they were selling only fruit wines, in which I'm not interested. After a short walk, we saw a winehouse, which also had its production facilities behind. I realized later that this was the only wine production plant in Sirince, Artemis Sirince Winery.

Alper & Efe

We started to taste grape wines first, upon my request. We tasted varietals of Carbernet Sauvignon, Gamay, Bogazkere, Shiraz, and Kalecik Karasi. We chose Gamay and Shiraz (their reserve wine) and put them aside.

Afterwards, Efe (on the right side) had given as a tour in the factory. This is a winery that is run by a Turkish - German partnership. We saw where the grapes were sequeezed, filtered and rested in steel tanks. Efe described each stage of production in detail but I won't tell you those details as I can't remember all of them.

After our little tour ended, we started to taste fruit wines. We tasted peach, melon, strawberry, black mulberry, blueberry and blackburry. Our favourites were peach and melon. In the last minute, I also saw that they had varietals of Horozkarasi and Papazkarasi (local grapes). At the end, we had 6 bottles in our hands.

After we received a few tips and advice about the town from Alper and Efe, we continued to walk around. We left our wines there as we didn't want to carry them around. They offered to send them via courier and said we can also order wines even from Istanbul (min 6 bottles). We didn't accept their offer since we wanted to give some of the wines as present in the next days of our travel. If you'd like to order wines or visit them in Sirince, you may see the necessary information here.

The wines that we bought are still in their bottles, but I'll let you know when I taste them and share my impression about them with you.