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March 2015

  As I’ve had uneven luck with them in the past I don’t tend to buy a lot of wines from Duluca. Nor did I buy this one. It’s interesting having partners in wine tasting shenanigans as E&M often buy wines that I wouldn’t. Sometimes for very good reasons but they’re still new to the Turkish wine scene so we forgive them. I was intrigued by the Villa Duluca Klasik when I saw that, accompanying the Öküzgözü-Shiraz blend was Alicante. Alicante, being a region in (central I think) Spain known for producing Monastrell wines, is not a name I see here often and I eagerly opened the bottle to see how

  Despite my previous, failed attempt to enjoy a Turkish-produced, Spanish-style wine I decided I would try again with the 2012 Mon Reve Tempranillo. Despite costing far more than anyone should pay for a young Tempranillo (46TL at Carrefour) it was pretty decent. In the glass it was a lovely burgundy with purple hints. On the nose-red fruits, cherry, plum,and  tobacco; all of which also presented on the palate. Low tannins, low acid, not really much of a finish at all…if you’ve enjoyed Tempranillo before then imagine your standard Tempranillo, water it down a little, and viola. In the end, it tasted pretty similar to your $5 Spanish Tempranillo. And while

  It’s funny how I never notice that I rarely cook meat at home; until Lent comes and then every Friday it’s an absolute trial. Much like living in Turkey with limited access to pork. I’d cook up some bacon every once in a while in the States but it was pretty rare for me to make pork dishes; but now that it’s difficult to get it’s all I can think of. I’m using my meatless Fridays to experiment with new vegetarian dishes-and pairing wines with them, of course! I wanted to let the Suvla Syrah breathe a bit (I recommend one-ish hour) so I opened it while the onions

  Usually I write these posts later in the afternoon but my regularly scheduled activities are frustrated by the need to wait around for DHL to turn up with a package. Usually they arrive shortly after calling to see if I’m home but it’s been an hour already. At least the package I’m waiting for is really cute shoes. I heard about Chateau Nuzun recently and while La Cave in Cihangir carries four of this nearby winery’s wines, they range in price from 90 to 140 TL. And I haven’t been a good enough girl to merit that of late. So I was happy to discover that my new favorite