From vine to bottle, here is a story about the journey of Datca Vineyard’s award-winning blush wine and the man who makes it. The blush wine produced here is made from the native Turkish grape, Öküzgözü . This is a full-bodied red grape that when translated means, “eye of the bull.”
Megan and I arrived to our workaway in Datça slightly disappointed to find that the last of the vines had already been harvested. Luckily for us though, we got word that seven tons of grapes (that’ a lot of grapes!) would soon be arriving from the north. We were very excited at the prospect of getting to work with the fruit from the beginning stages and to help make a new batch of blush wine.
So It Begins…
When we arrived to the winery at 9am, the truck was already waiting for us. Seven tons of grapes waiting to be unloaded and sorted by hand. This was bound to be a long day but we, along with the team, were up for the challenge. One by one the crates were unloaded onto the sorting tables. We worked quickly, separating the good from the bad and making sure that no faulty grapes slipped by us.
Once sorted, onto the destemmer the selected grapes went. Crate by crate they were lifted into the large machine tasked with removing their stems. The Öküzgözü grapes were then pumped over to the crush machine.
If you are producing a wine where the juice will rest with the skins, this is where it will be pumped straight into the fermentation tank. The blush, however, requires that the juice be separated from its skins before fermentation, allowing the final product a beautiful blush hue. With the grapes loaded in the crush machine, it was time to make it rain beautiful crimson red.
The Manually Straining Part is Over
From there, the juice was pumped into the fermentation tanks where it needed to rest for 24-48 hours. Alpha yeast is added to kill off any bacteria and natural yeast that might influence the wine making process.
Finally, it is time for the magic: Turning grape juice into the 7000 year old drink that people have come to love!
The soon-to-be wine stays in these tanks between 10-15 days until the fermentation process comes to an end. At that time, the wine is moved into a conditioning tank leaving behind the dead yeast and particles that have sunk to the bottom.
Inside of the new tank, bentonite(1) and gelatin are added to bond with the proteins and swimming particles which will assist in the clarity of the blush wine. Over the next 3 weeks to 45 days it will be moved 1 or 2 more times as filtering and conditioning are needed.
I Can Already Taste the Sweet, Sweet Blush Nectar
The blush wine is now just hours away from public consumption. A small team is assembled for bottling, which is all done by hand. The bottles are sanitized (by my wife) and filled with argon gas for freshness. Here comes the wine! It flows from the tank straight to the capable hands of the fill station operator.
It is then passed off for corking (by me). Just a few labels and a tax sticker need to be added and it is ready to be delivered to the tasting room.
There you have it, blush wine from the vine to the bottle! The journey of the Öküzgözü grape and how Datca Vineyard makes its award winning blush. If you ever have the opportunity to help with a harvest, you should not let it pass you by. It is an amazing experience for any wine lover.
(1) bentonite is impure clay created by weathered volcanic ash. The material is very absorbent and it binds and bonds onto any floating particulates which cause haziness or cloudiness in wine. Once it binds to these particles, it will eventually fall out of the wine helping improve its overall clarity. (source : https://learn.winecoolerdirect.com/bentonite/)
Q&A with Winemaker, Melih Karaer
We met this talented wine maker, the man behind the magical blush, while spending our time on the vineyard. We had plenty of questions for him while helping in the winery and he was never too busy to answer any one of them. With the patience of a saint, he taught us about the ins and outs of the wine making process, the history of Turkish wine and about the traditional grapes grown in Turkey. It was also under his guidance that we discovered we are the very worst tango and salsa dancers in all of Datça, and maybe even the world.
Mr. Melih was kind enough to sit down with us one evening after work to answer a few questions so that we could all get to know him and his insights on Turkish wine just a little bit better.
Can you tell us a little bit about what first got you interested in wine?
“When I was younger, I was a traveler and a part of the Prime Minister’s team. There was an airplane full of young businessmen, CEOs, Export Managers, and members of the board. We were always packed and ready to leave for different countries to barter with and make trade agreements. When I was traveling with them, I saw that business wasn’t just done in conference rooms but at dinner tables as well. At the dinners, they would have these fantastic wines! Myself, coming from a country where I wasn’t too pleased with the quality of wines being produced, I decided I had to make my own.”
What would be your “unicorn” wine?
“My favorite grapes are Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. I still do not have my Merlot here [in Datça] yet. We have a small bit of Merlot, which is a very delicious grape, but I would love to have my own vineyard of Merlot and produce my own Merlot. This is something I would love to reach, but still haven’t yet.”
Whats more important: A good winemaker or good grapes?*
“With good grapes you can produce good wine, but also bad ones. You must use good yeast and good ingredients. You must not use synthetics and more chemically produced things. But a winemaker has to have passion. The more natural, the more beautiful.”
So what you’re saying is, a good grape is non-negotiable but the real magic lies in the winemaker himself?
{laughter} “Yes, exactly.”
*Question contributed by award winning podcast We Like Drinking
How would you say your wines have evolved over the years?
“I started making home wine in 1979 and it has seen many changes over the decades. When you are a home wine maker, the most important thing is first malolactic fermentation. It happens or does not happen – you never control it. Second is storage. It’s always been a problem with homemade wine making in regards to keeping them safe. Lastly, filtering. Unfiltered wines are okay, but at home you want to start consuming them as quickly as possible.”
“When I moved into making wines professionally, I gained access to things like good quality equipment and oak barrels. My personal growth came in the difficulty of the grapes that I worked with. I did not start with things like Pinot Noir, Riesling, or Gewurtztraminer. I started with the ones which these lands love and grapes that love them.”
“Through reading, seminars, and my experience, it [making wine] started to be like my kitchen. Just like cooking, I know at what time that the wine wants me to get in touch with it and start making love.”
Which wine that you currently produce would you say is your favorite?
“The Grand Reserve, of course!”
Datça Vineyard’s Grand Reserve consists of 50% Cab/50% Merlot. In our time working at the vineyard, several aging barrels were demoted of that status. Once it makes it into the bottle with the title of Grand Reserve, you know it must be good!
What was it about Datça that brought you here to produce wine?
“When I started producing wine it was in a town outside of Bursa [northern Turkey] because the atmosphere there made me feel good. It was in an old, small church that was 400 years old and only 200 square meters. It was so limited that you couldn’t even find your cases [of wine], they were on the street!
“I was looking at ways to make the capacity bigger and then a friend of Hasan [founder of Datça Vineyard] and I made us come together. Hasan already had this house with a small wine making basement and a small vineyard. I already had a winery and it was suggested that we combine our powers and move the winery to Datça. So we decided to make the place bigger, put in more vines, and make wine together. When I first visited Datça it was by sailing. The wind, the soil, and the location to the south – everything was very suitable for wine making. So I moved here in 2012.”
Where do you like to kick back and enjoy a glass?
“My terrace. I will invite you to my terrace once and you will understand why.”
Outside of wine, what is your favorite libation?
Single malts from the islands and raki. I love raki and it is a great way to start any meal.”
We had the opportunity to have some of Mr. Melih’s own homemade raki one night with dinner and it did not disappoint.
When you are not making award-winning wines, what can you be found doing?
“Sports. I love tennis and I play it 2-3 times per week. Also, golf. I either referee or play in tournaments myself. I used to play a lot more before moving to Datça. And of course the sea – sailing and boating. I enjoy my family and spending time with them.”
If you could have a drink with anyone from the past or present who would it be?
“My mother. She loved drinking my wines” “Thomas Jefferson. He was very big into wine. And Kennedy, because his favorite wine was Petrus. Out of all the wines, I want to know why that was his favorite.”
Do you have a favorite food and wine pairing?
“In white, I enjoy salmon with chardonnay – a little oaked. Another favorite one is Chablis with seashells [oysters]. If we’re talking about red, my favorite is lamb with Merlot.”
If you could give one piece of advice to an aspiring wine maker, what would it be?
“Experience is very important. Keep tasting as much as possible but believe your heart. It shows you the right way to make wine. It will show you which way a wine wants to go. If you have heart, you will make very nice wines.”
What needs to change to see Turkish wines world wide?
“Ages. Ages because we have already lost the value in our hand hundreds of years ago. To gain it back we have to have political change first and then economical power to make a lot of advertisements. But I think people will need to recognize that this is the land of wine in the past and there is a big history here. People will recognize day-by-day that the birth place of something is very, very important. Then they will start searching what the land was giving in the past. Knowing that, I planted some historical grapes that I found in various places. I have 14 of these plants. If I find the right grape that is thousands of years old and produce wine out of it, people will travel from all over for that wine.”
A huge special THANK YOU to Mr. Melih for the exclusive interview – but more so for everything you taught us and encouraged us to experience while in Datça. And thank you to the rest of the Datça Vineyard family for your hospitality. You welcomed us into your business and for that we are grateful. To anyone reading – if you make it to Turkey, be sure to order a bottle of the blush! Or maybe the Grand Reserve, if you’re feelin’ fancy!
Cheers friends,
Matt + Megan
Comments
I very much enjoyed reading this blog. Good story/history.