20 July 2016

Turkish Wine of the Week - Sevilen Isa Bey 2013 Narince

My second foray into the land of Mr. Jesus wines was the 2013 Narince (35 TL at Carrefour). Isa Bey is a "concept" wine from Sevilen produced with the principle of "tek bağ tek üzüm" (one vineyard, one grape). As such they produce a smaller number of bottles each year than wineries that take grapes from other vineyards.


Narince is often compared to Chardonnay but other than sometimes sharing pineapple flavors I personally find them to be quite different. While it can be used to create dömisek wines, more often than not Narince is a dry wine with a sweet nose. The Isa Bey follows this pattern with a nose of stone fruits and plumeria and light hints of of oak influence.


In the glass this light-bodied wine is a clear, pale yellow but with no hints of green. On the palate it is softly acidic and smooth with flavors of white peach and pineapple and light minerality.

I liked it more than I thought I would, frankly. However I do recommend serving this one on the colder side if you do not like the taste of oak in white wine. As it warmed the under tones of oak became more obvious and I found it to be very off-putting.

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