Арто Коскело (Финляндия)
Arto Koskelo (Finland)
Writer (sociologist) on Finnish cuisine and wine.
I am sitting in my kitchen the corkscrew is halfway into a bottle of Kazakh wine. I want to share with you the story of how a bottle of wine came to me. I begin with a confession that I did not know about the existence of winemaking in Kazakhstan. Facebook posts are usually not taken seriously. Usually they are stories about a wealthy African widow who died in a plane crash and left a huge winning lottery in your name. You no longer pay attention to such messages. However, this time I read the message from Zeinulla Kakimzhanov with great interest:
“Hello, dear Arto! I came to Finland for a ski marathon. I'm into winemaking. ArbaWine is the name of our winery. Could we meet?"
I decided to google for some details before giving an answer. That day I was not very busy so some work was waiting for completion. Through Google I found a winery near Almaty. Google provided me quite professional and convincing information.
(Snow-covered mountain ranges surrounded the vineyards.)
In my opinion Kazakhstan is a beautiful country. I thought about it and agreed to meet up at one of the best public places. “Maybe we will meet for a cup of coffee in a couple of hours, Zeynulla Kakimzhanov,” I replied to the message.
I walked into Torrefasion with no idea who I was going to have coffee with. On the second floor at a table near the window sat a grey-haired Kazakh gentleman who, as it turned out, was better at skiing than me. Kakimzhanov was pleasant and polite. During our coffee drinking he told me about his ambitious plans to create the best quality wine in Kazakhstan. It turned out that he was the former Minister of Finance of the Republic of Kazakhstan. I was impressed that he thinks deeply. He said that he got tired of politics 10 years ago. I didn't ask questions but it seems that in order to make an effort to become happy you need to keep a decent distance from power. An hour and a half flew by quickly and I noticed that our meeting turned out to be good for me.
Kakimzhanov suggested that I take a bottle of Arba Pinot 2013 with me which I kept in the wine rack until the right moment. I'll send you a couple more bottles, said Kakimzhanov before parting.
I stood in line to receive a parcel through Europe Union two weeks after that meeting. It turned out that it was not easy to receive a package containing wine and chocolate from Kazakhstan. “Is there definitely Kazakh wine and chocolate in the parcel?” the customs officer asked suspiciously. I replied, “I think probably wine.”
An hour later I got the package. These bottles are still waiting in the wings for almost a year now. And I'm waiting for the right moment or I just don't want to be disappointed. The winemaker was very nice to me. And it would be simply ugly to get disappointed after the exciting story that a second Pinot Noir El Dorado may appear outside of Kazakhstan.
I WOULD LIKE TO BELIEVE IT. Before tasting the wine a few words about Arba. The products are natural and the grapes are harvested by hand. Experience and knowledge were sought out from European knowledge. Growing conditions in Assa Valley look great but are difficult.
The climate is continental: warm day, grapes warmed by the sun cool down at night due to the wind blowing from the mountains. There is time for the grapes to grow but care must also be taken to retain the acid towards the end of the ripening period. In winter, the vine must be protected, laid on the ground, which makes the work of the winemaker more difficult. Insufficiently warm difficult climate. It seems that it is not very suitable for winemaking, perhaps there is a hidden potency in this. The playful cool climate is a difficult condition for growing a universal Pinot Noir wine.
According to Kakimzhanov, viticulture in the Soviet language was formed with deep study by Soviet agronomists who created excellent grape plantations. But winemaking was subordinated to the production of mass wines no attention was paid to quality. All territories were explored and the best grape varieties were selected. Soviet Pinot Noir is successful in Assa Valley.
Kakimzhanov recommended testing the wine blindly. Expectations have been outdone. Who
knows maybe even too high to a high level. We will find out with a tasting. Pour ArbaPinot Noir 2013 into a glass. Wine in a ruby glass. The walls of the glass reveal the tones of flowers to a deep red. A bouquet of smells from ripe grapes, delicate violets, dried fruits, spices, to tobacco. Feelings are between medium to rich aromatic wine, tingling feeling in the mouth like silk and pouring water on your tongue and rolling down. What the hell! Excellent wine! Ripe cherries and a familiar sense of ripeness are felt on the palate. Beneath it all lies a dark berry flavor. Still underdeveloped but already fruitful and very lively taste of wine. This quality of grapes cannot be mistaken. The real taste stays for a long time.
Arba Pinot contains the airy texture that only great wines carry. And this is a big surprise for me. What can you compare the style of Arba Pinot to? The quality of the Burgundies comes to mind not so much the Baden Spat burgunder. Perhaps, the Alto Adige his best Pinot Noir which is made with great taste.
Arba uses French oak and in my vision adding a little more than the world wine community but more classic French style. The wine develops at a moderate rate which indicates the great potential of the wine. Also on the palate, first-class wine flavors of fruit - this feature makes the wine juicy and it is a little difficult to estimate its age limit. Quietly can withstand 10 years. I wouldn't expect more without more information. A quick look at the marketing reveals that prices for Arba Pinot range from €20 a bottle. The price can be much higher depends on the quality of the wine. This wine is able to change the opinion about Kazakhstan in one sip. At the same time, it shows that it is possible to produce quality wine in unexpected places that we have not heard about. And what other new territories are to be discovered.