A Wine Journey to Anatolia

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Buzbag organized an event to rediscover the harmony of Anatolian cuisine with wine. Thanks to this event, we had the opportunity to follow the footmarks of wine from Eastern Anatolia to Hittites' earthenwares, from home made wines of Antakya to Buzbag on our tables in Kosebasi Restaurant. As Cuneyt Uygur, Manager of Kayra Wine Center, said, it was not a competition, it was rather a journey and Kosebasi's cuisine and Kayra's Buzbag wine accompanied us in our journey.

Buzbağ Emir-Narince 2010

This was a dinner which provided the proof for arguing against the belief that wine should be consumed along with Italian pasta, with French style foie gras, or with an almost raw but still soft piece of steak. Buzbag has discovered a way to bring people like me (who doesn't like kebap) to a kebap restaurant! They offered delicious Turkish food of Kosebasi together with Buzbag wines along with nice conversation about wine. The following wines were served: Buzbag Beyaz (white), Buzbag Klasik, Buzbag Elazig Okuzgozu, Buzbag Diyarbakir Bogazkere, and Buzbag Rezerv. All of these red wines are made of Okuzgozu (fruity and lively) and Bogazkere (strong taste and tannin) grapes of Elazig and Diyarbakir respectively. These are local grapes that can be used in both blends or variatals. As Cuneyt Uygur mentioned that it was a general belief that wines and food of the same region make good matches. So, it should be a wise choice to drink these wines with Anatolian cuisine.

Buzbag Emir-Narince

The first course was a cheese table offered together with Buzbag Beyaz. This is a very nice refreshing wine with citrus fruit aromas made of Emir and Narince grapes. Its acidity is moderate compared to most of the wines. It is both strong and delicate, as the names of the grapes suggest. It had a great harmony with tulum cheese (a Turkish cheese that is enchased in a skin in production phase). The white and yellow (kasar) cheeses did not match with the wine as much as tulum did.

I was a little surprized when the appetizers were served. I can eat any food with wine at my home, but I didn't expect them to be so assertive to serve gavurdagi, toros, abagannus and cig kofte on a wine event (these are all traditional Turkish food that contain significant amount spices, or at least garlic). I am not really fond of hot spices. Therefore I didn't even try to match cig kofte with any wine. I still give them credit for their courageous offer. The most interesting match for me was between abagannus (an appetizer made of eggplant, garlic and yogurt) and white wine. Buzbag Beyaz made the taste of garlic and yoghurt mildly sour.

Buzbag Klasik

Buzbag Klasik (2008), made of Okuzgozu and Bogazkere, was served together with these appetizers but I saved my expectations from this wine for it's match with the next, warm appetizers. When warm appetizers arrived, I knew that that was going to be a long night. I was almost full already! Buzbag Elazig Okuzgozu was served to our glasses. It is a lievely wine with red fruit and a little pepper aromas and medium body. I think it made the best match with icli kofte (a special kind of meatball with meat, nuts, onion inside and bulghur as a shell) and patlican sogurme (a warm appetizer made of steamed eggplant), which is normally not easy to match with wines. Humus (made of chickpeas and crushed sesame seeds) was much better with Buzbag Klasik.

Then it was Bogazkere's (my favourite) turn. They served Buzbag Diyarbakir Bogazkere together with Tarsusi Kebap and Pideli Saslik (these are kinds of Turkish kebap, the first made of minced meat and the second of pieces of meat). I was thinking that I don't like kebap made of minced meat but I had never tasted Tarsusi Kebap before! I loved it so much I ate all of it in a few seconds together with Bogazkere. Bogazkere's strong tannins resisted the strong and a dense taste of Tarsusi Kebap and maintained balance. Afterwards, they served Şaşlık Kebabı and I had never tasted it before too! It was so soft that I thought Bogazkere's strong taste is too strong for it, but I was wrong. They glided through my throath together softly.

Buzbag Reserv (2006)

In the meantime, the last emtly glass was filled with Buzbag Rezerv (2006). Similar to Buzbag Klasik, it is a blend of Okuzgozu and Bogazkere, but has also been rested in French oak for 24 months, so that Bogazkere's austerity becomes a little milder. It is a strong, bodied, balanced wine. Among chop-rib, kebap with eggplant and shish kebap, the wines best match was with shish kebap.

Lastly, the deserts were served. I have a long distance relationship with deserts, but this doesn't mean that I won't taste them at all. I tasted kunefe, semolina (irmik) with icecream, and pumpkin with icecream and crushed seasam seeds (tahin) respectively. I think kunefe was very good, considering that it didn't make me feel it was too much! Usually, semolina with icecream is very popular especially after too much eating :) but this time the semolina pieces were cold and sticky a little. Pumpkin desert was not as soft as it is usually, but it really melted in my mouth together with tahin and icecream. Therefore, it was my favourite.

Pumpkin desert

I hope that I could at least make you think about, that wine is not something unattainable, not something that is not for "us" but is rather for western countries, ant that Turkish cuisine is compatible with wine. I wish you discover the wines that you like to drink with your favourite food and you share the joy that I try to share with you in this blog.

Terra de France - Pinot Noir 2008 - Again

This wine is actually the same wine as the wine here. However, my impressions of the two different bottles of the same wine are very different. When I first tasted Terra de France Pinot Noir 2008, I loved and admired it. The second taste, however, was a real dissappointment for me.

If I did not open the bottle myself, I would doubt whether it was a Pinot Noir or even a wine of Terra. I don't remember when and where I bought the wine, so, I'm not sure whether it is the environmental conditions in which the wine was maintained, or it is my mood, that caused the bad impression. 

It was probably the latter. When I first drank this wine, we were at dinner our with my husband and with a friend. The wine was very nice and I guess the ambiance contributed to it. When I drank it for the second time, I had a very busy and tiring day behind and I did not really feel like drinking wine.

I took my lessons. First, pay attention where you buy the wine and how you keep it! Second, don't waste beautiful wines when you are too busy or exhausted! Third, considering that the wine is an alive thing, don't be rude and better don't touch it if you are too tired to pay attention to it! 

So, these are what I've learned today. I wanted to share it with you. If you are interested in tasting notes about Terra Pinot Noir, you can find it here.

Wine & Dine with Isa Bal

Wine & Dine event of Kayra was very special this time. In addition to enjoying an early summer evening in the garden of Mimolett with Kayra' wines and a delicious dinner from Murat Bozok's kitchen, we had Isa Bal and his conversation on wine & dine at our table.

I'm not sure which was more worth to tell you. The modest comments of Isa Bal, or Murat Bozok's low profile presenting his masterpieces as if they were regular dishes. I'm just going to tell you a few things briefly without boring you. 

Firtly, I'd like to mention that I think that anyone who witnessed the harmony of Kayra Vintage Chardonnay with a soup (jerusalem artichoke soup with vanilla) would not have a problem anymore in believing that wine can get along with any kind of food.

After the soup and asparagus salad, I tasted the Foie Gras, which is something highly glorified by French people, but is definitaly not my kind of food. It was too oily for me. (Still, I put it on a piece of brioche -meaning butter-bread, I guess- nicely and took a picture for you.) Similarly, the Hungarian Tokaji, which was included in the menu on Isa Bal's suggestion, was not my kind of wine, it was too sweet for me. However, when I tasted these two together, I can tell you that it was clear to me why sommeliers are important persons. The intense and sweet taste of the wine swept away the strong smell and oily feeling of Foie Gras. This must be what they call harmony!

Isa Bal mentioned that Tokaji did not always have to be so sweet. The wine we drank was a wine made of grapes picked up one by one. On the bottle, the expression 6 puttonyos was written. This means that 1 liter of the wine contains 150 gram sugar. If you happen to buy Tokaji, you may see the expression saying 3, 4, 5, or 6 puttonyos. For instance, 5 puttonyos means that there is 125 gram sugar in 1 Liter of the wine.

Lastly, I'd like to tell you about the main dish of the dinner, a veal steak (antrikot). I'll be s hort and to the point. If that unbelievably soft and artless looking food was a veal meat, what were the things that we had been buying from the butcher and cooking at home?

Without digging in this subject deeper, I am ending my post here wishing to have further dinners at Mimolett with wine and joy.

Kayra, Terra Italia Barbera D'asti 2006

I was going to meet with a friend and with my husband after work. Since I was the one, who was expected to leave work latest and whose office was the farest, the others were waiting for my call to get organized. Following a series of surprising developments, I was surprisingly done with work at 4 p.m. I was as happy as a highschool student whose afternoon classes were cancelled in the last minute.

I organized everyone immediately and we were sitting on a restaurant near to Bagdat Caddesi around 5 p.m. I took a quick glance at the wines in the menu and chose Kayra Italia Barbera D'asti 2006. For those who don't remember what is special in Terra, I suggest to read here. For those who are surprized that Italian wines are mentioned in this blog, I suggest to read here.

Barbera is the second most widely produced grape in Italy after Sangiovese and the second most significant grape in Piemonte after Nebbiolo. You may see here were Piemonte is. Asti is the name of the area where the grape is grown. There is also Barbera D'alba, produced in Alba, but it is not the subject of this post. Our subject here is Barbera D'asti.

Terra Italia Barbera D'asti 2006 is a fairly nice wine with a relatively light red color, intense fruity aromas and full body. I have previously tasted a few wines of Terra and I liked them all. I liked this one too, but this is not one of the best Terra wines that I've tasted. On the other hand, I believe Barbera will climb up in the list of grapes in my mind in time. We'll see it together.

Terra de France, Merlot - Cabernet Sauvignon 2006

Terra de France, Merlot - Cabernet Sauvignon

Last week, we chosed Cafe Zanzibar for a dinner with our friends. We arrived earlier than anyone and there was still time until dinner. So, we ordered wine and cheese while we were waiting.

The wine was Terra de France, Merlot - Cabernet Sauvignon 2006. I may have mentioned before, but there is no harm in writing again: Terra de France wines of Kayra are produced in France from grapes of France and imported by Kayra.

I liked the wine very much, and the cheese plate as well. Unfortunately, I did not think of making a photo of the cheese plate. So, you will need to settle for whatever you can see in the above picture. There was blue cheese, a cheese with grass and spices, white cheese (I believe it was made of sheep milk), old yellow cheese (eski kaşar) and I think another cheese which I could not exactly remember.

Coming back to the wine, it would not be very convincing if I say I did not like it after I drank most of it by myself :) It was a very nice, medum-full bodied, dark red wine with marked tannin, black papper on the noise and red fruits and fume oak on the palate. It had a nice, long lasting ending.

The cheese plate and 2-3 glasses of wine were pretty much a dinner for me, but I couldn't hold my self and grasped a slice of my husband's pizza as well :) It wasn't bad at all, but since it is not my field, I won't get into details of it.

Wine & Dine @ Mimolett

Wine & Dine Degustation Menu

I attended one of the Wine & Dine evenings of Kayra Wine Center together with someone I like very much. The dinner started at 7 pm on a week day and we were late as expected, since we both work on Anatolian side and had to be on European sinde for the event.

We missed the first meal on the menu, Cauliflower Soup and Terra Sauvignon Blanc. When we arrived, Cüneyt Uygur was talking about Kayra Vintage Chardonnay (2009), which was accompanying Risotto with Quail and Pumpkin. If Chardonnay is the queen of the white wine, I think Kayra Vintage Chardonnay can be the queen of Turkish white wines. At least I thought so at that time, but I was starving, so my perceptions could be biased :)

After Risotto, it was Sole and Leona Blurn's turn, but none of them left a memory in my mind. When veal liver and Kayra Vintage Shiraz came to the table, I gave up paying attention to wine & dinner harmony and started enjoying the wine. I am not really fond of offals, but I love red wine and especially Shiraz, and especially this great red wine of the night.

Parfait Pumkin and Carpacio

Kayra Madeira, which was a liquor wine that came to the table together with the desert, was a very interesting wine, but I still continued with Kayra Vintage Shiraz after I tasted it once. Actually it was intersting that I described the wine as interesting and not the desert itself. You see on the picture a pumpkin desert*. Can't you see any pumpkin desert? Don't be so narrow-minded :)

In the meantime, an unbelievably unassuming cook named Görkem - if I'm not wrong - who obviously put an immeasurable effort in everything we tasted, visited our table along with each meal and told us how each of the meals were cooked and what was inside of them (if I did't miss the beginning, I would not have to give you such ambigious information, sorry for that).

It was a lovely and intersting evening, but I have to admit that it is not my kind of thing to talk so much about what we eat and what we drink :) Naturally, I mostly listened to what was being said. If you would like to attend one of these events, I believe they organize similar events every month with a different menu. You may follow their schedule here. If you want to see the menu we tasted, you may click on the title above picture.

Kayra Vintage Shiraz with a touch of Petit Verdot

Kayra Vintage Shiraz with a touch of Petit Verdot 2008

I mentioned this wine before somewhere and some of you wanted to see its picture. Here it is! I find the sticker on the bottle very classy. The wine itself is also very nice of course. Vintage is a special collection of Kayra. They describe it as a collection serial and say that these wines are made of the best blend of the year. I do not think that it would be fair to consider this one as a blend though. There is only very little Petit Verdot in it as far as I understand.

I did not want to drink this promising wine in an ordinary evening. Therefore, I opened the bottle when my brother came to us for dinner. After having one sip from the wine, he decided that he wanted to drink bear instead! Being young means to get bored in two seconds :) I did not care of course. I would have find another excuse to drink the wine anyway. 

I noticed the wine needs dekantation as soon as I tasted it. How did I noticed? There was sharp fruity aromas and unexpectedly high acidity. Besides, I expected to see sediments as well, but I thought carefull pouring to glass would be sufficient (it was indeed sufficient). So, I let the wine rest in our glasses since I was too lazy to use a dekanter. After 20-30 minutes of rest, the wine became creamy and delicious.

With aromas of red & black fruits and spices, it is a wine that leaves a rich and permanent flavor on the palate. It appeared to me that the usually too intense fruity aromas of Shiraz are a little settled and got calmer. I do not know whether it is the impact of Petit Verdot's touch. It's taste reminds me the taste that I encountered before when I tasted relatively older wines. It is a calm and round taste with distictive flavors rather rasped.

(For those who wants to get a price idea, I can say it is around 45 TL. I don't remember how much I paid since it was quite a while ago.)

Wine in Pavyon*

A few days after I talked about how a good wine serving should be (or should not be), I encountered once more with a wine glass that was filled up to the top. Do they try to train me or what?

Once more, I drank my wine silently, smelling almost no flavor at all. Since the place was in the form of pavyon (yes, I went to pavyon! Actually, I was brought to, but I really had fun. I guess the range of ambiances to which one can accomodate widens as one gets older.) my expectation was to pretend as if I am drinking the cheap wine served there. Once I had the first sip, it appeared to me that the situation is much better than I had expected. After a while, the wine bottle was left on our table and we had the chance to see what we were drinking.

Leona Merlot-Kalecik Karası 2008

We were drinking Kayra Leona Merlot - Kalecik Karası, which is moderately priced blend of Kalecik Karası, one of the most popular local grape varieties, and Merlot, a universally known and popular grape variety. If I can not stick my nose down in the glass, if I can not concentrate in anything but the loud live music, then this would be a good choice. It is easy to drink, has soft tannin and fruity taste, was enough to let us enjoy that night.

*Pavyon is the name we use in Turkey for a specific kind of night club. It is an old, traditional kind of night club, which is conceived as low quality/cheap, since it serves cheap drinks and the live music is mostly performed by unpopular local musicians. The one mentioned in this post is a modern and fancy version which aims (as far as I understand) to regenerate the spirit of payvon in a more decent and high quality environment.

Kayra Vintage by the glass

Kayra has a collection called Vintage. This collection's wines are described as "Kayra's collection serial" on their website. I have one of them at home, but have not tasted it yet. I bought it once upon a time, when I had no idea about Kayra Vintage. I bought it for a special occasion, because the bottle's design reveals that this wine is special. Anyway, we drank another wine at that special occasion and this one is still waiting to be tasted.

I'd like to share an announcement about this collection of wines. There will be a special campaign between 17-31 December in certain restaurants in Istanbul. You will be able to order the wines of this collection by the glass in those restaurants. I doubt that you may normally have the chance to order any of these wines by the glass. That's why I think it may be worth the take this chance.

The wines that you may order during this campaign are: Kayra Vintage Cabernet Sauvignon 2008, Kayra Vintage Merlot 2008, Kayra Vintage Boğazkere 2008, Kayra Vintage Shiraz 2009, Kayra Vintage Öküzgözü 2007 single vineyard, and Kayra Vintage Chardonnay 2009.

The places where you can order these wines: El Besso, Fratelli la Bufala, Park Şamdan, Urza, Zazie, Nusr-et, Obika, Midpoint, Beymen Brasserie, Mavi Balık, Happily Ever After, Oben Şarap Evi, Lacivert, Bistro 33, CKM Hayal Kahvesi, Antochia, Smyrna, Kahvedan, Susam, Develi Restoran Levent, Develi Restoran Samatya, Pano Şarap Evi.

Kayra - Terra

Kayra has a brand (serial) called Terra. I tasted and mentioned some wines of this brand before. Now, I'd like to tell you what we should understand when a wine is branded under Terra.

All Kayra wines named as Tarra are produced based on the "terroir" principle, which basically means that the wine is produced where the underlying grape is grown. The term terroir is a French term, which basically means "place, earth, homeland" etc. The term is used in wine business to indicate the characteristics of the grapes caused and shaped by the geographical features of the area where the grape was grown. Terra's wines are produced in production facilities located in the areas where the grapes used in those wines are grown. For instance, Terra Bogazkere is made of Bogazkere grapes, which is grown in Diyarbakır ( in South-Eastern Anatolia), and is produced in a production facility located in Elazığ (Eastern Anatolia).

There is a group of wines named under Terra Anataolia: Shiraz, Bogazkere, Okuzgozu-Bogazkere, Okuzgozu, Kalecik Karasi, Kalecik Karasi Roze and Sauvignon Blanc-Sultaniye. These are all made of grapes grown in Turkey. As far as I understand, Terra Shiraz and Terra Kalecik Karasi, are produced in different places than where the grapes were grosn. So, they are exceptions I guess.

There are other also wines of Terra called Terra de France, Terra Italia and Terra California. Those are produced in the places mentioned in their names and imported to Turkey by Mey Icki.

Terra de France - Pinot Noir 2008

Terra de France Pinot Noir 2008

Pinot Noir is a sensitive, demanding grape variety and it is not produced in Turkey (at least as far as I know). It is produced in some European countries, especially in France, in South Africa and in America. I hereby ask the Turkish producers: Why don't you have it in Turkey? When I was a little kid, Turkey imported banana and kiwi, but they are very cheap now, so I guess they are locally produced in Turkey. So, you can do it if you want :)

As you may guess, I recently tasted a wine made of Pinot Noir, for the first time in my life. I don't want to be unfair to Shiraz, Bogazkere or Chardonnay, but this was something. I felt like I tasted tagliatelle for the first time after eating only penne for years! In short, I thought something like "where was my mind" or "where was Pinot Noir before?".

I am very good at discovering such beauties earlier than other people. The first make-up tool (poudre or similar) I ever bought might be a Chanel and then I would never like anything from another brand. When I think wisely, I can say that I was lucky that I did not start wine drinking with Pinot Noir.

Terra de France Pinot Noir is a wine made of the grapes harvested in Languedoc, France. It is bottled there too and brought to us in Turkey by Kayra. It has strong red fruity aromas, soft tannin and isn't long lasting on the palate. This discription does not really reveal how delicious it was. I can say everyone on the table admired it, not only me. I think you should try it by yourself.

Kayra Terra Shiraz 2007

Terra Shiraz 2007

I continue with wines made of Shiraz. I think Terra Shiraz 2007 is the one I liked most among the wines of Shiraz that I have ever tasted. I'm not sure if it was due to the nice atmosphere or the nice conversation we were having, but I'm sure the wine itself has contributed to this. It is a wine of Kayra's brand Terra produced in Elazig.

I think I am close to understanding what is meant with saying that a wine is "round". Terra Shiraz 2007 was a round and bodied wine, based on my notes. It has fume-oak and fruit aromas on the nose. I looked around the web and noticed that nobody ever mentioned about fume or oak in this wine. I would appreciate if someone could provide their own comments about the aroma of this wine and let me know if they smelled fume or oak :) I would but this wine again without even thinking about it.

Tasting Notes from Wine Tasting in 5 Steps

We tasted 6 wines in the recent seminar that mentioned a short while ago. I could manage to taking notes, but unforunately could not take any pictures for you.

While I will be writing my tasting notes, I will also try to tell you what I've learned about whine tasting for those who are curious.My notes are generally based to the common comments of the group, but I didn't include the comments which I don't agree :)

When Cüneyt Uygur (Manager of Kayra Wine Center) mentioned "bodied", I asked him what this meant. I felt like a hero because I was sure everyone was wondering waht it meant :) He explained it carefully by using many adjectives. I can summarize it as the intensity and the weight of the wine in the mouth.

In addition, I also learned how is acidity felt, how is it felt when a wine has lots of tannins, and other things that I don't remember now.

We tasted one sparkling wine, one roze, two while and two red wines.

1. Cameo D'oro
Before we tasted this sparkling wine of Kayra, we also learned how we should open a sparkling wine bottle. This was the best part for me :) because I am not really interested in tasting sparkling wine since I don't like high acitity or sparkles. My notes say that it was a wine with medium body, high acidity, fruity, lemon and yeast aromas on the nose.

2. Terra de France, Sauvignon Blanc 2008
This wine has a darker color compared to the sparkling wine, but it has still a light yellow color. It has a high acidity and fruity aromas. When I tasted this, two sides of my tounge burned from acidity and I though I could not ever like a white wine. This negative thoughts only lasted until I tasted the following white wine. It was clear to me that it was not only about color, there are huge differences among the white wines.

3.Terra California Chardonnay 2006
I was the first one who commented that the acidity of this wine is much lower than the previous two :) I think this was how a white wine should taste like. How could I drink those whites with burning acidity? It is still not my favorite, because the fruity and spicy aromas of the wine were so sweat that I would think if it could be a semi sweet wine. I smelled fume and oaky aromas for the first time from this wine.

4.Terra Kalecik Karasi Roze 2009
This was the second time that I had ever tasted a roze wine. The first one was in Bozcaada, in Corvus's store. I don't know which wine it was, but it had an orange or salmon like color. Terra Kalecik Karasi Roze, on the other hand, had a lively pink color. It was a medium bodied, highly acidic wine with a little tannins, fruity and flowery aromas.For me, it is a wine that can be tried only if necessary in social events.

5. Kayra Vintage Merlot 2008
I was happy that I could eventually taste a red wine, but high acidiy disappointed me a little. I still think that it can be a very nice wine after a little dekantation. It has a dark burgundy color, a medium body, moderate tannins, fruity, spicy and oaky aromas.

6.Buzbag Rezerv  2006 
We just listened to the reasons of why Okuzgozu and Bogazkere blends make good blends and therefore I was really curious about this wine. This was clearly the peak of the tasting that day. My curiousity left its seat to joy! I am grateful whoever thought first about blending these two grapes. The wine has a dark red but rather transparent color. It has medium body, moderate acidity, a lot of tannins, fruity and spicy aromas.

Wine Tasting in 5 Steps

I attended a wine tasting seminar recently. It was the best wine experiance I had recently. It was an introduction to wine tasting, which anyone who likes to drink wine can enjoy.

I guess there are many institutions that organize seminars like this. I just chosed this one only for practical reasons (its date was suitable for me). It was Kayra Wine Center's Wine Tasting Seminar in 5 Steps. I had to leave the office a little earlier than normally, but it was worth it.

I have to admint the the content of the seminar was exceeding my expectations. As it was my first time in such a seminar, I was expecting answers to my simple questions like "what should I look for in the glass?", " could I ever smell those aromas people keep telling about like flawor or sweaty horse!" or " what is a wine with full body?". I found more than my answers in this seminar, it was like receiving a desert with icecream while expecting only a single desert :)

In summary, I could say that I learned how every single part of a grape contributes to the wine, what are the differences between production and consumption of different kinds of wines, what I should look for when I'm tasting wine and even which food is compatible with the wines that we tasted there.


It was important to me to learn that high acidity bothers me a little and that lots of tannins do not bother me at all. I even like tannins. While I could only smell  a little fruity and oaky aromas from a wine, other people managed to smell blackpepper, plum, strawberry, mineral etc. This made me a little sad, because I thought that I had a strong nose. I always notice people from their parfumes and I always notice if someone around has used lemon cologne even if they had it hours ago (because I hate the smell of lemon cologne. However, I can't understand how one can smell moldy carton or sweaty horse when tasting a wine! I comfort myself sayin that everything is possible with enough time and experience. I just need to be patient.