Friday 20 November 2015

Bonum vinum laetificat cor hominis


 "Good wine gladdens a person's heart." -- Latin proverb

"Iyı şarap kalbini neşelendirir" --  Latince atasözü 


This blog is nearly 4 years old and this is the first time I've mentioned the vineyard 45 minutes walk from our house. There's a good reason. Despite walking past many times and chatting to the owner at various social events, we hadn't ever ventured inside. Considering the number of 75cl empty bottles I bag up and take out every week, this seems a serious and unexplainable oversight.  It took a visit from  a friend from my university days who, unlike me, recognises a good vintage when she tastes one, to inspire us to visit. 



Mehmet Vuran is the brains behind the establishment. He has planted several different grape varieties on his family farm and runs a hobby winery, i.e. all the produce is for home use or entertaining friends, he doesn't sell his wine. He opened a bottle of zinfandel for us and knocked us out - I get to try some serious wines when I'm at work and I can swear that Mehmet's wine was as good as any of the $75 plus wines I've tasted this year, in fact better.  I would have loaded up with enough cases for the rest of the year if I could have, but this wasn't an option.  


Helen, wine tasting in Pınarlı Belen. 
Mehmet kindly gave us a bottle to take away and we've kept it in the cupboard as it needed an appreciative audience to share it with us.  The opportunity came on Sunday and our label-less bottle got decanted into a vessel suited to its quality.  Second tasting was just as good as the first. 

Beautiful decanter thanks to Claire and Chris

So the good news is that fantastic wine is being made locally in the Bodrum area. The bad news is that you can't buy it. But the better news is that Mehmet's wine has received such good feed-back from vintners all over the world that he is considering turning his vineyard into a commercial enterprise. If he does, I'm thinking offering my services if he opens a cafe - as long as he pays me in wine. 

Mehmet writes a brilliant blog Garova Günlüğü, if you speak Turkish, it is a mine of information on agriculture, viticulture and local lore, if you don't, it's worth looking at just for the photographs. 










17 comments:

  1. That would stump me not having an interesting label - that's how I choose 'my' wine when faced with a whole aisle full of bottles!! Serefe or Iechyd Dda!! x

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  2. . . and there's us travelling to Denizli to buy in bulk under the counter! (we're here now and loading tomorrow) Why do you think we built a cabin near here?

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    1. You might abandon Denizli if you tasted this wine

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  3. I hope he decides to go commercial if his wine is that good...

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    1. Me too, except it price is indicative of quality, i won't be able to afford it.

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  4. B to B, Wow. What a treasure Mehmet is. I just checked out his blog and the photos of the persimmons just blew me away. Very interesting guy. One problem with commercial wine producing in Turkey is how terribly expensive alcohol is here. A friend of ours knows the man who produces Suvla brand wine and we hear about how difficult it is to be commercially successful at it. You almost have to approach it as a hobby. For selfish reasons, I hope he does, but I wouldn't blame him if he didn't.

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    1. It is very difficult to get the correct permission to make wine for sale.

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  5. Blimey! How much wine can one family get through? Come to think of it, quite a lot based on my experience!

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    1. I think 350 litres is the Turkish government's quota for home brew.

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    2. or was it 3,500 litres - or was that your home consumption?

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  6. What a gem of a find, many thanks for this - do hope you get that job in Mehmet's cafe and we all come and visit, all the best to him, fantastic blog too. By the way, Mark enjoyed your Latin proverb, he's greatly enjoying learning Latin. Cok sevgiler, Ozlem x

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    1. You should drop by next time you are in Bodrum

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  7. I'm going to check out his blog too! How wonderful that he is right there and producing fabulous wines!!! We have two sets of friends around Assos also producing wines and we consider ourselves blessed!

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    1. You'll enjoy the blog - lots of useful information.

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  8. Oh wow, what a great find. Love stories like this! :) Very kind of him to give you a bottle, too. Will definitely check out his blog - my Turkish isn't great but I can just about make sense of what's going on...and I can look at the pictures, too. ;)

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