Points : 8,5:10

Price : 97,50 TL with Eylem Kurt wine shop.

Büyülübağ is the one and only winery located on the island of Avşa on the Marmara sea. Apart from the local grape called Ada Karası, all the other grapes used to make wine are French (Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay…). It seems the family of the owner, Alp Törüner, has relatives in France.

The winery was founded in 2003 and a gravity-flow system was launched in 2005. The first one at that time.

To be short, it allows to avoid pumping and this treats the grapes more gently. It’s also more expensive.

To all that you can add limited filtration and long ageing in french oak barrels.

But let’s taste this Syrah Reserve 2014 :

The wine shows spiced plums, cloves, fruitcake, earth and leather on the nose and the palate is moreish, delivering rich, ripe, dark berry fruit and tobacco flavours for a persistent, savoury finish.

As I said, It was ripened in French oak barrels for 14 months following its fermentation, after being bottled by limited filtering for 12 months.

You may want to pour it in a carafe to avoid any sediments.

I really liked it.

Definitely not french in style. It’s more like a south Australian kind of Shiraz.

It should be in good company with kebabs or steaks.