Kastro Tireli Junus

In a recent Turkish Wine Masterclass and Dinner, I got an opportunity to savour the wonderful wines of Türkiye and even speak about some of these. In this post I talk about one of such wines.

This Masterclass on Türkiye Wines was conducted by Tûba Yargic de Wilde, a certified aspirant sommelier who is the spouse of a senior diplomat in India. As the President of Delhi Wine Club, I also got to speak about the wines served during the dinner after the masterclass.

The two wines which I talked about were the Kastro Tireli Narince Viognier and Cehennem Deresi Hell’s Creek (you can read about these by clicking on the link attached to the names of both wines). In addition I also covered about a wine called Kastro Tireli Junus and this post is about the same.

Kastro Tireli Junus

To start with let me break down the name of this wine for you, which consists of two parts – Kastro Tireli and Junus.

Kastro Tireli is the name of the winery where this wine is produced and it further consists of two words – Kastro and Tireli.

Kastro in Kastro Tireli means a Castle in Turkish language. The story behind this goes back to ancient times when the city where the winery is located used to be surrounded by high walls of white colour, which gave it a look of a castle. Infact the present name of this city is Akhisar which also means a White Castle.

Tireli is the name of the family which has owned the land where the vineyards are located since a long time. Hence the words Kastro Tireli.

Junus – the second part of the wine nomenclature is Junus which takes this name from that of the winery’s owner i.e Yunus Mermerci

Making of the Wine – Kastro Tireli Junus is a blend of 46% Kalecik Karası, 40% Boğazkere and 14% Öküzgözü . Grapes are hand picked, destemmed and fermented with ambient yeasts and thereafter aged for 24 months in French oak barrels which produces a ripe, rustic and tannic wine of deep ruby colour with a long finish.

Aegean Wine Region of Türkiye

Aegean Wine Region from where this wine comes from is located in the western part of Türkiye.

This region produces about 52.7% of Turkish wines. Whereas its climate is Mediterranean on the coast, however as we move inside towards Türkiye mainland, it gets more continental.

Three Indigenous Grapes

As I mentioned earlier, there are three indigenous grapes which go into making of the Kastro Tireli Junus. These are Bogazkere, Ocuzgozu and Kalecik Karasi. (Here Bogazkere is the boldest of the three grapes and its name itself translates as “throat-burner”).

For the moment, let’s talk about the first two grapes – Bogazkere and Ocuzgozu. In order to understand these two iconic grapes, think of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot (where Bogazkere is akin to Cabernet Sauvignon and Ocuzgozu to Merlot).

Now think of what Merlot does to Cabernet Sauvignon in a typical Bordeaux Blend. That’s exactly the same thing which Ocuzgozu does to Bogazkere – it adds a bit of softness to it and makes the bold and tannic Bogazkere little more approachable.

However, the Turkish winemaker didn’t stop here and he wanted to add more complexity to the wine. And so he added another indigenous grape to the blend – Kalecik Karasi. This is also an indigenous Turkish grape which is akin to a Pinot Noir.

So here is a wine made with a blend of three indigenous and structured grapes of Türkiye to produce a harmonious wine with a lot of character and harmony. And going by the response of the audience in the masterclass and dinner that day, I’m sure they loved this wine.

A Thoughtful Gesture

A highlight of the evening was that it was attended by a large number of diplomats and their families with the Distinguished Guest being the Hon’ble Ambassador of Türkiye to India.

Although His Excellency doesn’t drink wine but being a major Turkish event, he made it a point to be present for some while, where he also addressed the audience to share his views.

In a kind and thoughtful gesture, the Ambassador sent across the home made Mezze prepared by the Turkish Chef at his home for all the guests that evening.

The Turkish Wine Masterclass and Dinner ended on a sweet note with the signature Turkish Dessert – yes you guessed that right, The Baklava.

I do hope that you liked this blog post as much as I loved writing it. Do share your views and comments.

Cheers !!