TURKEY?!

Not the bird, silly. The country.

Ready for something completely different? Slightly crazy. Crazier than the government issuing a warning against braising chicken in Nyquil (it’s called “sleepy chicken”)?

Something unlike any wine you’ve had - at least in relation to its origin.

We were quite shocked, a bit skeptical, and then totally swept away by this - the first Turkish wine ever featured on our site! Prepare to have your vinous loving wig blown clean off by this category 5 Grenache storm!! This was a shocker when we first tasted it.

OH YEA, 94 POINTS from Dunnuck, and a very cool $25 price makes it even more enticing.

This gorgeous bottle arrived with the box of samples from Xavier Vignon and left us scrambling for words. Amazing. Transcendent. Splendiforous. We shouldn’t have been surprised though, because Xavier Vignon is a mad genius who always delivers insanely tasty wines for the money.

And we’re not alone in loving it.

Jeb Dunnuck called it a “remarkable wine” and gave it a colossal 94 points. The only sad part…we could not get more than we did.

Maybe you remember a few weeks ago we received our allocation of Xavier’s La Réserve. It sold out so FAST and we heard the begging for more from a good number of you. Well, here’s that same astounding quality, and a crazy good bargain from where you’d least expect.

Robert Parker raves that “Xavier Vignon, along with Philippe Cambie, are probably the two most highly renowned oenologists in Châteauneuf-du-Pape as well as some of the surrounding Côtes du Rhône regions. He is the consultant for such well-known domaines as Raymond Usseglio, Jerome Quiot, Beaurenard, La Nerthe, Mont Redon, Marcoux, Grand Veneur and La Gardine.” A mad wizard, he does things nobody else dares, you seriously need to experience his masterpieces.

Add to that how Decanter highlights that “the best Turkish wine is underrated… Turkey has an ancient winemaking history stretching back millennia, well before the classic civilizations of Greece and Rome helped to cement the popularity of wine as a cultural cornerstone. But it’s only recently that Turkey’s wine industry has grown sufficiently to become recognized internationally… and rightly so – the many regions and sub-regions are developing individual identities, with Thrace, the Aegean Coast and Cappadocia producing the highest quality wines.”

Talk about the highest quality! Who says terroir can’t be replicated? Especially in ancient lands, in the right hands, this is as close as you can get to Châteauneuf-du-Pape… yet with an additional dimension that must have come on both with a decade of bottle age and being from where grapevines thrived long before they made it to the Rhône Valley! The color is a deep garnet, deeper ruby to the core, and a paler crimson to the rim. Dark fruits mingle with dusty earth and exotic spices. A silky mouthfeel carries on a rich tannic depth that resonates towards the extensive, complex finish. Simply scrumptious.

By the way, Agent Noir, our Curation Chief, is Turkish which makes him extra picky and skeptical when it comes to Turkish wine as he is one of the foremost experts. He actually went there to serve as a judge in a wine contest one time. He put this one right up there with the very best of classic and modern Rhône blends from anywhere in the world, unbiased as he is, while proudly Turkish-American.

One last interesting fact - the label and capsule feature “nazar” or evil-eye beads, a traditional cornerstone of ancient Turkish culture, believed to ward off evil looks or thoughts. No wonder Noir left the empty bottle on his desk…

Xavier’s wine delivers at all levels from the upper echelon all the way to approachable projects like this. Every single one seems to smash deep into the 90s with critics from all over the place. So when Jancis Robinson wrote of Turkish wines as “rapidly improving and modernizing, with great potential” she must have had this Thracian gem in mind.

94 Points – Jeb Dunnuck

“Xavier Vignon is one of the top oenologists in the Southern Rhône and releases a bevy of outstanding wines under his own label. While outside this report, I was able to taste the 2012 Barbare XL Premier with winemaker Xavier Vignon and it’s a wine that’s well worth seeking out. A blend of Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre from clay soils along the Mediterranean Sea in Turkey, it boasts a stunning bouquet of blackberries, leather, spice box, cedar, and flowers. Complex and medium-bodied, with an elegant, seamless texture and fine tannins, it’s a remarkable wine that will keep for 8-10 years. Drink 2019-2029.”