Just in time for the cooler autumn weather, we are delighted to present two premier red wine blends from Turkey: Hieron Oros by Gurbuz and Odrysia Red Blend.
Bordeaux-style red wines - blends containing at least Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, but which may also contain Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, Malbec, or Carmenère - have long held a special place in the heart of Turkish winemakers and consumers. In the early 20th century, the Ottoman Empire lost the majority of its winemaking know-how during the Turkey-Greece population exchange, and then lost its grapes when phylloxera decimated vineyards. For decades, vineyards lay dead and forgotten until Kemal Atatürk founded both the Republic of Turkey and the new country’s first winery.
Turkish winery owners had a long road to get the wine industry re-started. Their first stop was Europe, to learn winemaking and buy grape stock to revitalize vineyards. The wine that impressed them the most: red Bordeaux. So they planted Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, and to a much lesser degree Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, and set about creating a Turkish take on this famous red blend.
Today, despite the rise in popularity of native grape varieties, Turkish wineries and consumers alike still love their Bordeaux blends.
And we also think they're pretty fantastic, and so we are delighted to present his month's selection!
Our first wine this month comes from Akın Gürbüz. In the Şarköy district of Turkish Thrace sits a small mountain called Mt. Ganos. The Orthodox Christians who once heavily populated this area considered Mt. Ganos (Ganos Dağı) to be holy and called it Hieron Oros (old Greek for “sacred mountain”). Monasteries would have dotted these hills (the ruins of many remain), and monks and priests here would also have dominated the wine industry at the time.
Akın Gürbüz is from this region and when a friend of his suggested calling his new blend Hieron Oros, he loved the idea. It might not be a monastic wine, but this Left Bank style Bordeaux blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot, 10% Petit Verdot, and 10% Cabernet Franc is pretty darn heavenly!
Tasting Notes: A rich and very complex "Bordeaux" style blend, reminiscent of a gorgeous Left Bank expression with a jammy fruity nose, crushed red and black fruits on the palate with black and red currant, cranberries and plum leading to a lovely finish and notes of smoke, cedar and vanilla. Robust complexity with medium acidity and tannins make for easy but extremely rewarding drinking.
Odrysia winery co-founder Zeynep Arca Şallıel has said that Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot have been popular in Turkey much longer than the wine revival of the 1930s and 40s. According to her, (Ottoman) Palace records show both grapes being grown for wine within the city of Istanbul itself as long ago as the 17th century!
Our second wine shows a different style of Bordeaux and a different Turkish terroir. Moving from warmer, coastal Şarköy, to colder, more inland Kırklareli, is the Odrysia Red Blend, a Right Bank, Merlot-led wine blended with 25% Cabernet Sauvignon and 32% Cabernet Franc.
Tasting Notes: This medium bodied "Bordeaux" style blend displays bold notes of black cherry, black pepper, dark plum, pomegranate, violet flowers, and smokey spices all layered with dried herbs and structure to balance the rich ripe fruit. Suitable for easy drinking now, but could also evolve nicely with age. Pair with meats, herbed dishes and rich sauces.
You can enjoy and purchase each of these wines at the Fine Turkish Wine Bottle Shop + Tasting Room, located in Houston's Montrose District at 1909 Dunlavy Street.
Andrea Lemieux is an international wine expert with particular expertise in Turkish Wine. She is the author of The Essential Guide to Turkish Wine, the world's only comprehensive English language book on Turkish wine, and she is the founder of The Quirky Cork blog which is dedicated largely to Turkish wine.
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