La Croix Irresistible 2008

La Croix Irresistible 2008

My dear readers, I am writing this post in Marseille, France. While you are reading this post, I might even moved to another city of Provence.

Life is beautiful around here. Dinners last at least 2-3 hours, and people drink wines in lunch, dinner, or whenever they want to. I got used to it very quickly. I can't always have 2-3 hours lasting dinners though, but I ordered so many wines without even chosing them by name or region. We just ordered "vin de pays" (the category just above the lowest one) in carafe pr ordered wine in glass and they were nice.

I have a notebook with me to make tasting notes, but I could not make any notes yet, because I don't even see the bottle of the wines we order, so basically I don't know what I'm drinking. We only ordered the wine that you see in the above picture willingly and knowingly.

We chosed this wine when we had a dinner in Marseille, very close to the harbour. The wine menu was divided in regiouns of France, and we chosed a wine among the ones under "Provence". This was a very nice, fruity, a little tannic but round wine. I learned later that it was made of 80% Syrah and 20% Grenache. I think it is not as strong as Bordeaux wines. I believe I can tell you more about Provence wines after I taste a few more of them in the following days.

Turasan Seneler Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot Syrah (again)

Turasan Seneler Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot Syrah 2008

I told you about this wine before. It is definately a wine that is worth to try. I didn't like it this time as much as I did previously though. May be this is because my expectation was too high.

This is a lively wine with very intense red fruity and spicy aromas, full body, and marked tannin. I think it needs to be aired for a very long time. I was not so patient and this is probably a reason for why I didn't like it this time as much as I did in my first try.

Corvus Blend No3 2006

Corvus Blend No3 2006

We had a dreamlike vacation in Bozcaada in the summer of 2010. I mentioned this vacation in one of the first posts of this blog as one of my steps going into the wine world. At the end of the vacation, we brough a few bottles of Corvus wines to home. The last one of those wine bottles was Corvus Blend No3 2006.

We bought this wine from Corvus's wine store, where they also have their production facilities, if I'm not wrong. I remember it was around $ 45. I knew nothing about wines and wine prices then, so, I thought that it was so expensive that we should expect a miracle from within the bottle :)

The person helping us to choose said that the best time to drink this wine would be 2011. We obeyed her and waited until 2011. Since we still don't have a wine fridge, we kept the bottle in a dark and relatively cool corner in our living room.

Corvus Blend No3 2006 is made of Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Merlot, Malbec, Karalahna, Okuzgozu, and Cabernet Franc which all grown in Corvus vineyards in Bozcaada. It has rested in French oak barrels for 24 months, in bottes (I don't know what botte is. I would appreciate if someone could comment to this post and explain what it is.) for 2 months and in the bottle for 6 months. The bottle is very elegant and there is a legend written on the lable. 

Corvus Blend No3 2006

Corvus produces a Blend from the best grapes of the year and gives a number to each Blend. I have to admit that at the time I bought this wine, when I didn't know anything about wine or about Corvus, I read the list of the grapes on the lable and I thought "this grapes can't be good, if they were good, they would produce seperate wines from each of them" :) I still bought the wine since I was curious. Well, it turns out I was wrong.

It is a strong wine with dark burgundy color, raspberry and cherry aromas on the nose, medium body, strong tannins and vivid acidity. I tasted it after it rested about half an hour in a big glass but it was not enough. Then I left home and left the wine in the glass. When I came back 9 hours later, I smelled and tasted it again. I smelled a strong, earthy aroma and the wine's taste and tannins were almost as strong as they were 9 hours ago. I liked the wine, but I think it still carries characteristics of a ypung wine. I could like it more when it rested maybe for a few months longer  in the bottle.

p.s. The bottle in the photos is in a wine box which includes wine accesorries. The box will be the subject of another post soon...

Sevilen Syrah 2009

A few days ago, I felt like shoping for the kitchen when I was on my way home. So, I went to Migros (a supermarket chain). After I put a few onions and kiwis to the basket, I thought that it was enough for healthy food and I grabbed the beauity in the picture :)

I tasted Sevilen's wines in Kanyon Wine Tasting Days in November for the first time. I loved them all. The wines that I tasted there were surely more special wines made of high quality grapes, compared to the one in the above picture.

Sevilen Syrah 2009 has a dark burgundy color, medium-full body and a solid, round taste. As I drank it for three consecutive days at dinner with no complaints, I don't want to be unfair, but I would expect more fruity smells and a more complex beauty from this wine.

In fact, this was my mistake. It is better not to expect too much from the wines that can be bought from supermarkets around $10. There can be suprisingly nice wines sometimes, but as I just mentioned, those are just surprises.

Diren Collection Syrah 2007

Diren Collection Syrah 2007

Last monday, I decided that I was going to open a wine to accompany the steaks that I prepared one day earlier. This was my plan for Valentine's Day; having steak for dinner at home with my husband and tasting a new wine. 

While I was preparing the meal, my husband already had opened the bottle of Diren Collection Syrah. I tasted it immediately of course and I liked it very much. This was my second favourite wine of the same collection following Diren Collection Merlot.

Diren Collection Syrah 2007

It is made of  Syrah (85 %), Cabernet Sauvignon (7,5%) and Kalecik Karası (7,5%). I smelled strong aromas of spices and red fruits, but my husband, on the other hand, said that he smelled flwary aromas. It has a very strong and permanent taste on the palate. Despite its strong taste, I believe it is easy to drink even for people who are not familiar with wine drinking, probably due to its balance. In fact, I can argue the same for Merlot of the same collection. Both wines entered my list of the wines to be bought for the second time without hesitation.

I wonder how I will be buying those wines in the future. I bought these from www.sarapshop.com to which I was directed by the website of the producer. Considering that I will not be able to shop online for wine as soon as new regulation comes into effect, shall I step by stores and ask them if they have any wines of Diren? Now I understand how much I like online shopping. It is so comfortable! Shall I rather say it was confortable?

Kavaklıdere Kalecik Karası Syrah 2009

Kavaklıdere, Kalecik Karası Syrah 2009

We opened this bottle of Kavaklıdere Kalecik Karası Syrah 2009 to add joy to an ordinary dinner at home. It has a lively burgundy color, red fruity (cheery mostly) and spicy aromeas, soft tannins and moderate acidity. These all make it a light and almost sweet tasting wine. It does not stay long on the palate, but this does not prevent it from having a lovely ending. This was a good choice for our end.

Turasan Seneler Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot Syrah 2008

Turasan Seneler Cabarnet Sauvignon Merlot - Syrah 2008

When I heard that my brother was travelling around Kapadokya, I urgently called him and ordered wine from Kapadokya. He complained that he was travelling for business reasons and had no time for shopping etc., but he could not escape since his company surprisingly organized a trip to Turasan's wine production facilities :) Then he called me to tell that he would not let me drink the wine alone and that he was going to come to dinner to us soon.

I ordered Turasan Seneler Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot Syrah 2008 based on the writings about it on vinografi.blogspot.com. This wine gained golden medal in Concours Mondial, Bruxelles 2010.

While opening the bottle I told to my brother and my husband a few things about wine tasting so that they could enjoy it properly :) Then we tasted it and we loved it!

We drank our first glasses without waiting so much, so basically without airing it, but we drank our second glasses after approx. 30 minutes of resting in a carafe.

The wine has a beautiful dark red color, medium-full body and noticeable tannins. There were also blackberry and oak aromas on the nose. I liked the very much.

This wine can be bought in İstanbul for around $ 26. If you visit Kapadokya, you may buy it there for around $ 20. In both cases, I think it is worth buying it.

Dinner in Garden

I had the chance to sit on a big dinner table set in a beautiful garden full with fruit trees and flowers. Unfortunately, our wine was not as nice as the garden! Therefore, I'm going to show you the garden mostly, instead of the wine.

Since there wasn't anyone else drinking wine, I had the liberty to choose whichever wine I prefer among the available wines in the house. However, after I carefully cooled and opened the wine, I was very disappointed since the corck falled into pieces. The worst part was the vinegar-like taste of the wine in which small pieces of  cork were swimming. I believe the wine, Yazgan Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot 2006 was not really suitable for aging and since it was kept in imprpoer conditions, so it was spoiled.

When I saw how sad the host was, I opened another wine, Yazgan Dolcevita Cabarnet Sauvignon Boğazkere Syrah. I had to drank it almost immediately after opening the bottle, but it was ok. Since I coulf not cool it or dekant it properly, I'm not going to comment further on the wine's taste, but I'm just going to show you how it looks like.

This distastefully started wine experience could not ruing mu night because I'm a person who can settle for less :) I just enjoyed the atmosphere and the conversation that was going on.

I'd like to mention that the term "cooling" menas here that I put the wine into the regular refrigerator. This will go on as it is until I buy a wine fridge.