For me, the best part about winter is curling up under a warm blanket with a glass of red wine in front of a fire. Even if you don’t have a fireplace, there’s something so cozy about drinking a big, full-bodied red wine when it’s cold and wet outside!
On these kinds of days, I reach for one of my favorite Turkish reds. Turkey has so many of its own grapes in addition to a plethora of international varieties. Which means that, for the enthusiastic wine drinker, there’s no end to the options available. Below are six red Turkish wines perfect for keeping you warm for the rest of the winter season. They’re perfect to enjoy on their own or alongside a hearty meal.
Büyülübağ Shah, Avşa Island, Marmara
A blend of Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Merlot, this inky, dark wine offers a fruit bomb of aromas. Blackberry compote and boysenberry combined with sweet spices, hints of vanilla, and a fresh lilt of grated lemon zest. The wine unfurls in the mouth with an evolving palate of tart fruits, spices, and a nutty coffee finish framed by structured tannins.
Vinkara Kalecik Karası Reserve Kalecik, Central Anatolia
The brilliant ruby color reflects all the red fruits found in the nose. Aromas of raspberries, cherries, and strawberries interwoven with hints of spices, vanilla, and cocoa. Smooth, with silky tannins, bright acidity, and juicy red fruit and spice flavors.
Doluca Tuğra Boğazkere, Elazığ, Eastern Anatolia
This Boğazkere offers aromas of ripe bramble fruits, cinnamon, sweet tobacco, new leather, and wet leaves. This spent time in oak which helped tame the grape’s usually aggressive tannins and rounded out pleasant flavors of cherry and deep baking spices.
Paşaeli Papazkarası, Lower Thrace
Like all Paşaeli’s wines, this Papazkarası comes from a single vineyard and fermented only with natove yeats. Barrel aged for seven months in French oak on fine lees, it offers bright cherry and red plum aromas with forest spices, black pepper, and hints of tobacco and earth.
Sevilen 900 PV, Güney Plateau, Aegean
Intense, inky black purple in the glass with heady aromatics of black currant, mocha, and tar, mingled with delicate florals, fresh herbs, and black currant leaf. Powerful, firm tannins and racy acidity combine for a big, bold wine with flavors of roasted meat highlighted by black fruits and violets, and lead to a long, bitter coffee finish.
Vinolus Kalecik Karası Kayseri, Central Anatolia
Made with organic grapes grown in the volcanic soils of Kayseri, aromas of red fruits sprinkled with crushed herbs and a whiff of leather like a tack room pour out of this ruby colored wine. Sipping reveals flavors very similar to the nose with lots of crunchy cherry, dried herbs, and leather. More savory than fruity with an edgy herbaceousness and streak of minerality that makes Vinolus’s Kalecik Karası very different from others.
All wines available in the UK.
