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March 2016

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By 0Red Wine, Turkish Wine, Wine Reviews

  On one of the gorgeous days we had in February E and I ventured over to the Asian side to meet another friend for lunch. As much as I love riding the ferries it usually takes something pretty extraordinary to get me over to the Asian side. Turns out that the Viktor Levi Wine House in Moda, Kadiköy is just such a place. I was lured to Viktor Levi by the promise that the restaurant makes and serves its own wine so imagine my surprise when we ordered a bottle and the foil showed that the wine had been made by Kavaklıdere! I read the ‘about us’ section on

By 0Red Wine, Turkish Wine, Wine Reviews

  How much do I love Chamlija? A whole lot in case that rhetorical question wasn’t obvious and the Chamlija Papaskarası is no exception. I’d never heard of the Papaskarası grape before seeing this bottle at La Cave (65 TL). It’s a very old grape varietal, it’s been around for some 1,500 years. The “forgotten king of Thracian grapes” produces a table-style wine similar to Pinot Noir and traces likely roots (haha see what I did there?) to Prokupac grapes which have been grown in Serbia and Macedonia since the 5th century. The nose on the Chamlija Papaskarası was very promising, cherry, plum, forest berries, I think I got a little dried

By 0Red Wine, Turkish Wine, Wine Reviews

  Not even the Suvla shop in Cighangir has the Suvla Behramlı! I found it at the Macro Center in Levent for about 15TL and M got a bottle at the big Migros at Cevahir for 19TL. We must find it closer to home though because it was pretty darn marvelous. We started our evening with a pricey Vino Dessera and this inexpensive Suvla was so much better. So much better. I was pouring the Vino Dessera for everyone else to avoid drinking it and then plotting how to get more of the Suvla Behramlı for myself. So let’s talk about why it’s so good. Suvla’s 2013 Behramlı is a big blend

By 0European Wines, Red Wine, Rest of the World, Wine Reviews

  Aside from the Georgian restaurant a colleague and I found in Budapest on our free day, the only highlight, indeed the only thing that made the eight days I was stuck in Lake Balaton, Hungary bearable was the Hungarian Festival with its myriad of food, wine, and craft stalls. Especially the wine stalls like Tihanyi. Set in the middle of a park (which we don’t see too much of in Istanbul to begin with!) the festival was very atmospheric with lights strung up in the trees and communal tables for eating and drinking the many offerings. Many of those many offerings were pork-based foods and you can bet I

By 0Red Wine, Turkish Wine, Wine Reviews

  For no particular reason I rarely buy wines by Sarafin which makes no sense as Doluca has a reputation for making good wine under this label. The 2013 Sarafin Shiraz only supports that reputation. A nice, plummy purple color, the nose was full of red and dark fruits, pepper, and leather. Aged 12 months in both French and American oak it was very aromatic; really quite nice. On the palate the Sarafin Shiraz smooth with well-integrated medium tannins and acid. It’s a pretty big, full-bodied wine with lots of cooked fruit flavors, maybe some cassis, leather, and baking spices. Is it the most remarkable Shiraz I’ve ever had? No. Was it horrible? 

By 0Red Wine, Turkish Wine, Wine Reviews

  I’ve had this Vino Dessera Cabernet Franc for a while. I picked it up at Comedus maybe eight months ago, back when I still thought paying 70-something TL a bottle was outrageous. I feel like now that’s my median per bottle amount. I have an up and down relationship with Vino Dessera. I’ve had a couple amazing wines from them and a couple less wines. Unfortunately for me (and my drinking companions) this one fell into the latter category. In the glass the Vino Dessera Cabernet Franc was a not very attractive brownish red color. While it has been aged three months in oak I couldn’t detect any discernible oaky