Turkish Wine Selection: Boğazkere

This year, we’re shaking things up a little! Instead of having a featured wine trio every month, we’ll focus on a local Turkish grape variety every month as part of our 12-month Turkish Wine Challenge. And in conjunction with this effort, we're making permanent our our holiday discount: for every purchase of six bottles or more, enjoy a 10% discount!

In our month-by-month tasting plan, January is dedicated to the most tannic of all Turkish grapes: Boğazkere.

Boğazkere

While most black Turkish grapes are named after the place where they’re grown, Boğazkere, pronounced: bow-ahz-ke-reh, is one of the few grapes to still carry its original descriptive name. These blue-black grapes earned the name, meaning “throat scratcher,” due to their highly tannic nature. One of the two most common red winemaking grape varieties in Turkey, Boğazkere is often blended with the fruitier and more medium-everything Öküzgözü to make a more balanced wine. Only recently have wineries really begun to master single varietal Boğazkere.

Boğazkere Wines

While it originates and still primarily grows in South East Anatolia’s Diyarbakır, Boğazkere has migrated to other parts of Turkey, including the Aegean and the heights of the Mediterranean’s Taurus Mountains. Where it’s grown significantly impacts the resulting wine.

• Diyarbakır wines are the heaviest and most tannic. Full of heavy, dark fruits and herbal/earthy notes, these wines can be a challenge.

• Aegean Boğazkere has its own sub-personalities! When grown at lower altitudes, wines are rich and full-bodied with smoother tannins but still high alcohol. Higher-altitude Aegean Boğazkere shows tamer alcohol and fresher fruits.

• Mediterranean Boğazkere, grown at heights of 3500 feet above sea level and higher in the Taurus Mountains’ marine fossil-studded limestone, has more vivacious acidity and elegance.

Regardless of where it grows, though, you can count on a wine of complexity with an aroma profile that can include: black cherry, raspberry, blackberry, black mulberry, pepper, clove, eucalyptus, tobacco, leather, pine forest, dark chocolate, and liquorice.

Pairing Boğazkere

Big and tannic, Boğazkere needs equally big and bold flavors to stand up to the grapes' sometimes ferocious personality. Strong and/or aged cheeses are a perfect foil for these wines, as are red meat-heavy dishes, dried fruits, and dishes featuring roasted root vegetables and nightshades. When cooking to this grape, you can really go to town with the seasoning and use spices beyond the usual pepper-garlic-thyme-rosemary etc. Think brown spices like cinnamon, clove, and nutmeg, or get a little more exotic with cumin, marjoram, fenugreek, or even sumac!

Wines to Try

While the 10% discount applies to all the wines in our shop, why not drink along with the 12-month Turkish Wine Challenge and try one or two of the Boğazkere wines we have?

Heraki Akuarela Boğazkere: This old vine unoaked Boğazkere is a gorgeous expression of the grape's natural fruit characteristics, with a medium body that will surprise any seasoned Boğazkere drinker! This wine is bright and austere, bursting with sour cherry, red berries and pronounced cranberry for a tangy pop, complemented by underlying slate minerality and a lift of anise. Soft tannins add a delicate gripping structure, supported by mouth-watering tart acidity. Unoaked purity of fruit and minerality result in refreshing refinement. Highly drinkable but can develop complexity with age.

Heraki Novakula Boğazkere: Complex and earthy with bold austerity, this red wine has incredible old vine personality! Its journey begins with raspberry, ripe cherry, tart cranberry, blueberry, and damson plum before revealing spicy black pepper, cloves, and cardamom. Raspberry leaf and eucalyptus notes lend aromatic complexity. Notes of dried fruit and vanilla hint at the deft use of oak. Bold acidity balances strong tannins, with sweet undertones of spice and dark cocoa nibs softening the body, leading to a refined and clean structure in every element. Tannic, fruity and savory throughout the long finish, promising beautiful evolution with decanting and cellar age. This wine is elegant, powerful and memorable.

As always, you can enjoy and purchase each of these wines and many more at the Fine Turkish Wine Bottle Shop + Tasting Room, located in Houston's Montrose District at 1909 Dunlavy Street.

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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. She is also the author of The Quick and Dirty Guide to Greek Wine and the founder of The Quirky Cork blog which is dedicated largely to Turkish wine.