about Chateauneuf des Papes

Mehmet: Welcome to the Wine Spectator Boards.
The 2005 Chateauneuf de Pape are, in general, really good. I assume you are talking of reds. If you search on the boards you will find some good tasting notes.

Where do you live? Istanbul?

Yes of course i meant red Irwin, thanks for your reply though. I used to live in Istanbul for over 10 years until the last year but now i have moved to the west coast of Turkey that is similar to US's California both in climate and landshape, not to mention it is half responsible for my new acquired enthusiasm for wines. There ia an emerging market for small family owned wineries where i live now, that is Urla near the town of Izmir.

Mahmet, I don't believe the Saint Clémentin Chateauneuf is imported to the U.S. Robert Parker has never reviewed it, or at least there's no review of it on his website. In October 2007 he reviewed 564 CdNs from 2005 and 2006 but did not mention Clémentin.

2005 was an excellent year for CdN, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they're all good. Perhaps you can find reviews in the French or British wine press -- try Google.

Let us know what you learn, and post your own tasting notes.

Have a great new year!

quote:

Originally posted by mehmet cabuk:
Yes of course i meant red Irwin, thanks for your reply though. I used to live in Istanbul for over 10 years until the last year but now i have moved to the west coast of Turkey that is similar to US's California both in climate and landshape, not to mention it is half responsible for my new acquired enthusiasm for wines. There ia an emerging market for small family owned wineries where i live now, that is Urla near the town of Izmir.

Please keep us informed of new Turkish wines!

For what it is worth, I love your country, I've vacationed in Istanbul as well as on the West Coast of Turkey, and I think you may be selling your country a bit short when comparing its west coast to ours. (I have to tell you, Kusadasi is one of my favorite places on Earth to visit... I've never stayed in Izmir but I did have a good lunch there once )

As far as the 2005 vintage is concerned, I've only had a couple, but they were terrific. I cannot say I've tried the wine you mentioned, however.

Mehmet:
I've never been to Izmir, but I was also at Kusadasi for two days, and sailed up the coast into Istanbul. A lovely country for sure.
We did buy some jewelry in Kusadasi from a store where the family was from Izmir. Closest I've come.
Best wishes.

Thanks a lot for the replies, and yes probably it is a kind that doesn't get to be imported into the US. I am intending to keep them another year before i taste them but i will post my tasting notes when i do. Yes i know i undermarketed my own country by comparing to the west coast US but but didn't want to sound too chauvenistic either. Otherwise yes, Turkey probably has some of the best few coastlines and unspoiled nature and intense historic, archaeological heritage. When the world archaeolgy comes up it usually is limited to Greek and Roman in the minds of most people from the Western hemisphere. They don't go back earlier than 1000 B.C. but here i am doing tours in Turkey including visits to 8.000-10.000 years old sites-some of the earliest human settled places in the world. And back to the wine, our region is where the first wine of the world comes from. Turkey is a nation that has a secular regime and therefore for centuries, alcohol was a taboo. In the last century, we have a bit deviated from Islamic ways and now are -at least a considerable percentage of the nation- are alcohol consumers. But the alcohol industry is more geared to the satisfaction of the traditional 'raki'. It is the same thing with Greek ouzo. Wine is just becoming but there are exciting developments. Every year a few newcomers are coming into the market.

2005 will show well but I'd give them 10 years. Had the 2005 vieux Donjon notably last night at an offline and was nice now but somewhat closed and almost pinot like now. Look for Brashley to post notes for the Dec 30th offline at Edina country club. We had alot of young Cdp that was enjoyable but alot of infanticide going on!