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September 2016

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  I bought this a little hesitantly since I had bad luck with Arcadia’s Sauvignon Gris but my friends at Solera promised me it would be good and they have yet to steer me wrong. And I’ll give another chance to anyone who uses peacocks on all its labels. At I think only 75 TL (minus the 25% take away discount) this Sauvignon Gris Pinot Gris blend isn’t cheap, but it won’t break the bank. Brilliant pale gold in the glass at least this Arcadia Zesty Gris was starting off on a pretty foot. The nose was also quite lovely with white flowers, melon, and tropical notes with an underlying sweetness

  What is Gelber Muskateller? you ask. It’s Muscat, or technically yellow Muscat. How is that different from any of the other Muscats I’ve reviewed? It’s not really, it’s the same grape. It just happens to be one of the German names (there are unbelievably almost 300 variations on the grape name!) and therefore a fitting name for the Austrian owner of the Amadeus winery to give his wine. German white wines like Riesling and Gewürztramiener often get a bad rap as being syrupy sweet dessert wines when really that’s not the case. German, Austrian, and Alsace Riesling, Gewürztramiener, and Muscat wines are usually produced as dry wines, not sweet. While Austrians

  I almost don’t even know where to begin with this. E and I set off on what was to be a relaxing weekend break at a winery spa in Bulgaria-it turned out to be something rather different. We left early so we could pick up our rental car at the airport and get the four-hour drive out of the way; unfortunately the travel troubles began right away. Enterprise’s system was down (“system problem” are words we often hear in Turkey) so despite arriving at their service counter before 9AM it wasn’t until 11 that we were finally on the road. With no traffic barring our way the drive through

  I have never had a Fume Blanc before and had to Google to remind myself what it even was. A Fume Blanc is basically just a Sauvignon Blanc that has spent some significant time in oak. The process and name were popularized by Robert Mondavi of all people in the 60s or 70s. This Sevilen 900 Fume Blanc I found at Solera, no shock there. When they told me that it had been sitting on the shelf for three years, was the only one they had, and was in fact so forgotten that they didn’t even know how much it cost I simply had to have it. And since

  On our second day on Bozcaada we shared a fantastic Turkish breakfast with our hosts that included products from the island and their own gardens as well my new obsession: tomato jam. But tomato jam Turkish style which means they were whole, kind of candied tomatoes in sugar syrup. Apparently they’re soaked in lye to give them their crunchy texture? After breakfast we headed for our first wine adventure of the day-to the Amadeus Winery. Amadeus is owned by an Austrian man who grew up in Turkey who turned a family hobby into a business. I was very luckily to be able to talk to the owner for a while