Turkish Wines - Richard Bost

So, Turkish Wine, presented by Richard Bost, Wine Educator. I've been to Turkey a few times, and I have to say I never really thought of it as a great wine region – the best that could be said was that it was drinkable. Back in the early 1980's one of my friends described the Turkish Champagne as “Fizzy Diesel”. But that was then... Richard presented a good selection of Turkish wine, all well priced, with one top-of-the-range absolute cracker

Richard did say that 10 years ago he wouldn't have presented Turkish wine, but it’s come a long way – and indeed it has. Turkey is a pretty small producer, with very limited internal consumption, an average of 1 litre per head per year. It is a Muslim country after all. Much of the wine is for tourist consumption and export.

The general feeling was that the whites were good, competitively priced, but not perhaps stand-out. Worth trying if you feel like it, but not worth the detour. The reds had a couple of belters, the Kav and the Okuzgozu, with the consensus view being that the Kav was much better value – I’d rather buy 2 bottles of it than 2 of the other. But the Okuzgozu does bear comparison with other classy wines at that price.

The last wine - the Mahlep - was “Interesting” some liked it, I didn’t. It’s a dessert wine with wild cherry in it – those who liked it felt it was worth the money at £9.99. So if you want something different…

Whites

Kavaklidere Altin Kopuk NV (Sparkling) £10.99

Kavaklidere Cankaya 2011 £7.49

Diren Collection Narince 2009 £7.99

Rose

Pamukkale Anfora Trio Rose 2010

Red

Diren Collection Kalecik Karasi 2010 £7.99

Doluca Kav 2009 £10.29

Kayra Single Vineyard Okuzgozu 2009 £19.65

Dessert

Diren Mahlep £9.99

All wines can be got from Mark Hopkins at Taste Turkey -  www.tasteturkey.com