Following the Footsteps of Dionysus ... or the past 365 days I let my thirsty tongue float around the Eastern Mediterranean

Like the not so overly concise headline sufficiently implies: in the past year I laid my vinophile concentration on the lands the ancient Greeks use to swirl around. The voyages of my tongue stretched from Sicily in the West to the Levant in the East, Macedonia and Albania in the North and unfortunately not to Egypt in the South. I tried to get a wine from the outskirts of Alexandria, but well … you know I think my tongue wasn't ready enough for a 15 year old Syrah straight our of the Nile delta. One of those sweet ancient classics from the Sinai or a Cru des Ptolémées would have been nice! Anyway, I digress … like so many times. Speaking of lengthy proliferations: No worries, I've decided not to introduce each wine with an overboarding and tiring introduction about soils, production methods, origins or even worse mostly useless analytical values. I've done my homework before tastings. So can you, if you wish to have a little bit of input about one or the other wine. Plain tasting notes! That's what the stuff that follows is all about. At least I hope so! So just shut up and give it a go ...

Happening Now Tasting 23: Thera Şarapçılık Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot 2009, Mugla

Herkese selâm! Still incapacitated, still too displeased to write my usual wine blather, however always willing to give offbeat wine potations a try! Today I am willing to provide my palate with another Turkish wine adventure. Not an autochthonous like at various occasions on this blog. This time I am going fully international on it with a classical blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. The offbeat character of this wine might be its origin. Turkish wine from Central and Eastern Anatolya (and perhaps sometimes from the European part of Turkey) might be somehow prominent – at least here and there (and unfortunately most of the time nowhere). Wine from the Aegean mainland coast isn't well known at all. 

In 2006 half way between Izmir and Antalya alongside the Mediterranean coast two German wine enthusiasts from Ahr Valley – Frank Josten and Herrman-Josef Kreuzberg of the fairly respectable Weingut Kreuzberg – started with their local partner Mustafa Al a mostly daring and microscopically tiny project called Thera. 

The grapes for today's blend – 70 % Cabernet Sauvignon and 30 % Merlot – were cultivated in Yerkesik and Yenikoy in Mugla Province on an elevation of 300 to 700 meters above sea-level. The 15 to 18 months aging took place in lightly toasted Allier oak barrels. So … enough input for today. My wrist and tendon sheath is starting to hurt again. What a relief, even in times of incapacitation and pain there are a few positive aspects. I leave it up to you to imagine which ones I mean … anyway let's have a sip before the preventable blather is about to have an unfortunate comeback ….

Auto' x International Turkish Delight? Kavaklidere Narince-Chardonnay 2010, Central Anatolia and plenty of other whites

This time it had to be a wild assortment of white'sters from Turkey, France and Germany. Some really nice surprises and maybe one slight disappointment. 

Another Dark Horse wine from Turkey: Doluca Kav Narice 2005

The Kav is a white blend made of some autochthonous varietals from Eastern Anatolia. It showed a style of white wine I have never experienced before. The main flavours remind me of a well aged, slightly roasted pear as well as a bit of older red apples. There were some scents (and flavours) of flowers, too. The colour appeared to be rather dark yellow. Surely something for a curious wine drinker. In this case your curiosity might be rewarded. For me another very fine surprise from Turkey and a bargain, too (approx. 9 Euro). The only problem might be its availability outside Turkey.

Indigenous grape variety red blend from Turkey: Kavaklidere Selection 2003

This red blend made of the Turkish varietals Öküzgözü and Bogazkere comes from South East Turkey. It was rather bright in colour and showed some brown dicolourations on the rim. The fragrance was dominated by pepper, hay, slight oak and aged cherries. Its taste showed clear aromas of raisins, pepper, old hay, well matured cherries and a bit of marzipan!?! There wasn't too much fruitness left in this already well aged wine. The strong acid and the still remaining tannins were a little bit too strong for my taste. Its style wasn't over concentrated or did not have the usual character of a wine from such a southern region. It was more like a nice mid bodied wine which might be suitable for summertime consumption. I guess it should be finished off this or next year at the very latest.