I'm always leery of white wines but I got talked into this one against my better judgement. When I see "aged for 8 months in oak barrels" usually I run the other way. Sigh, there's a reason we pay attention to our instincts. But with the way the TL is going these days (sorry about that, Turkey) a 97TL bottle isn't as horribly expensive as it used to be.
Out of the bottle it was a lot paler than I expected, a very soft yellow. The softness of the tint belied the strength of the nose which was very perfumey and full of citrus and oak. Right there my concern over those eight months in oak barrels doubled but I gamely pressed on.
The first sip was very thick on the tongue and cloying, like honey. Then...I got hit in the mouth with an oak 2x4. A shudder ran through my body as it registered the extreme oakiness. I truly could not taste any other flavors for the oak.
I needed to recover from that first sip so I set the wine down and steeled myself for another round in which I could hopefully taste more than the barrel. This time, it was soft but with a bit of an acid backbone, buttery...and oaky. Oaky, oaky, oaky. It was like Suvla managed to fit the entirety of the Mirkwood Forest into the wine which, one must admit, is quite a feat.
I don't want to hate on this but ack, not for me. However if you like oaky as $@!% wines you'll like this. In fact I poured a glass a day later for a friend who not only laughed when I warned him he'd be drinking the Mirkwood Forest (#bless) but who also really liked it. In the end regardless of what experts (or amateurs like me) say, wine is a matter of taste and you should drink what you like. For me what I like does not include probably 90% of dry white wines whereas my friend obviously does like dry whites. If your palate is like my friend's then I think you'd really like this one.
Out of the bottle it was a lot paler than I expected, a very soft yellow. The softness of the tint belied the strength of the nose which was very perfumey and full of citrus and oak. Right there my concern over those eight months in oak barrels doubled but I gamely pressed on.
The first sip was very thick on the tongue and cloying, like honey. Then...I got hit in the mouth with an oak 2x4. A shudder ran through my body as it registered the extreme oakiness. I truly could not taste any other flavors for the oak.
I needed to recover from that first sip so I set the wine down and steeled myself for another round in which I could hopefully taste more than the barrel. This time, it was soft but with a bit of an acid backbone, buttery...and oaky. Oaky, oaky, oaky. It was like Suvla managed to fit the entirety of the Mirkwood Forest into the wine which, one must admit, is quite a feat.
I don't want to hate on this but ack, not for me. However if you like oaky as $@!% wines you'll like this. In fact I poured a glass a day later for a friend who not only laughed when I warned him he'd be drinking the Mirkwood Forest (#bless) but who also really liked it. In the end regardless of what experts (or amateurs like me) say, wine is a matter of taste and you should drink what you like. For me what I like does not include probably 90% of dry white wines whereas my friend obviously does like dry whites. If your palate is like my friend's then I think you'd really like this one.
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