28 October 2015

Turkish Wine of the Week - Yanık Ülke 2013 Strabon

During my buying spree at Sensus they gifted me with a half bottle of Yanık Ülke 2013 Strabon which is a Boğazkere, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, Merlot blend. It's like a personal bottle of wine! Well, who am I trying to kid? All bottles of wine, regardless of size, are personal sized for me!

The dark, dark, dense red color matched the hot, spicy, smokey nose to perfection. And wow it's got some legs.

What are "legs" anyway? When I first started drinking wine I always looked for them during the swirl stage thinking, erroneously, that they were an indication of quality. Legs are actually an indication of the amount of alcohol in a wine (lots and lots of legs) or with sweeter wines legs that flow more slowly and stickily down the inside of the glass. Considering the hotness in the nose it wasn't really a surprise that this wine had so many legs it could likely run faster than I can.


Although to be fair, just about anytime can run fast than I can.

On the palate the Strabon has some nice tannins, less acid than I expected given the hotness, and lingers well. Flavors of clove and tobacco possibly with some red fruits, however the fruit flavors didn't come through a whole lot for me so I'm not too confident on that note.

Since this was a gift on my way out of the shop I did not get a look at the price, but I'd probably drink it again. I can't say it was fantastic or outstanding but neither did I want to spit it out. 2.8 stars.

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