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August 2019

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By 0Turkish Wine, White Wine, Wine Reviews

  Solera is my favorite wine bar in Istanbul. Frankly it's the only real wine bar in Istanbul. The staff here are friendly, largely knowledgeable about wine, and have wine service more or less down. Putting them head and shoulders above even many of the high-end restaurants and hotels whose staff have no clue. Owner Süleyman Er approaches wine differently than many restaurant owners. For him, wine isn’t a business, it’s his life. Süleyman doesn’t just own Solera, he also has his own vineyards in Tekirdağ. Twenty years ago while working in the restaurant business he fell in love with wine. After studying to become a sommelier he traveled extensively

By 1Red Wine, Rest of the World, Wine Reviews

  I used to travel a great deal for my job. One such trip, in 2012, took me to Lebanon. On my one free in Beirut I went on a day tour to Anjar, Baalbeck, and Chateau Ksara. As this was in my days of casual wine enjoyment I appreciated the trip to the winery but not to the levels of geeky delight I would achieve today. For me at the time, Lebanese wine was merely a curiosity and a fun souvenir to bring home. How differently I would do things should I ever return! [caption id="attachment_13195" align="alignleft" width="449"] Baalbeck[/caption] Chateau Ksara, one of the oldest wineries in Lebanon, carries on

By 0Turkish Wine, White Wine, Wine Reviews

  The Aegean island, Bozcaada - formerly Tenedos-has a long history of winemaking. So long in fact, it rated mention in The Iliad. Today this storied island, now in Turkish hands, produces far less wine than it did in history. Some of the wineries, like relatives Talay and Çamlıbağ, also have long histories. Not ancient Greece long, but beginning of the Turkish Republic long. Some, like Corvus and Amadeus MMX are new comers. Amadeus MMX, as its name might indicate, is owned by an Austrian family; one that came to Turkey in the 60s and stayed. The current head of the winery, Oliver Gareis, was born here. While the family

By 0Red Wine, Rose Wine, Turkish Wine, Wine Reviews

  The Zero Kilometer food trend that began a few years ago involves restaurants that source ingredients from their immediate area. In many cases this often means not only getting produce and other products from local farmers but growing and producing everything in an onsite restaurant garden. This trend gained popularity for a variety of reasons: it supports local agriculture, ingredients are always fresh and in season, and because the resulting food both expresses a sense of place and is appropriate for that place. It was this sense of locality that spoke to Türgay Gümüş when he founded his winery, Buradan, in the coastal village Çeşme outside Izmir. "Buradan" is

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

  After an exciting day exploring Tokaj with Taste Hungary I fell into bed at my hotel. A good night's sleep was definitely in order to prepare me for the next day's tour. My Somló tour guide Sebastian greeted me bright and early the next morning with these amazing, buttery, savory pogácsa. Imagine a scone and a biscuit had a baby. And you ate the baby because it was delicious, buttery goodness. The day already off to a good start, we hopped in the car to head west to the Balaton region and Somló Hill. The Essence of Somló It might be Hungary's smallest wine district but lack of hectarage does not

By 0Red Wine, Turkish Wine, White Wine, Wine Reviews

  I joke that my research into Turkish wine essentially involved drinking from the bottom of the shelf up. But honestly that's actually what I did. After being more than a year in Turkey I still was not convinced that the wine here was especially good. At that time I was still pretty near the bottom of the shelf and was only doing my "research" halfheartedly. One night, I paired a semi-sweet Bornova Misketi with a spicy Chinese dry pepper chicken. Apparently I thought I knew better how to cook than the person who made the recipe. Spoiler alert, I didn't. The recipe called for me to saute Chinese peppercorns

By 1Rose Wine, Turkish Wine, Wine Reviews

  In high school one of my favorite songs was Aerosmith's Pink. And while pink anything, let along wine, is not my obsession, I'm no longer so obsessed with hating it. In my previous post about Turkish rosé, I covered a handful of pink wines I've had here which have helped (slowly) change my mind about rosé. As winemakers respond to the global trend that has popularized rosé as serious wine so too has the quality increased. There's still more than enough plonk available. However, one can find a few gems out there ranging from the fruity and simple to more complex and savory. Maybe the next time you reach

By 0European Wines, Sweet Wine, White Wine, Wine Reviews

  Recently I took a break from all things Turkey and, as an early birthday present to myself, spent five days in Hungary to learn about their wines. However, where to start? I've had enough of driving myself around Turkey so I knew I wanted a tour. That's how I found Taste Hungary. Making arrangements through Taste Hungary was the best decision. They arranged two private wine tours for me, one to Tokaj and one to Somló. I also spent some time at their Tasting Table in Budapest attending their Hungarian Wine Crash Course and [caption id="attachment_13133" align="alignright" width="300"] Tokaj town[/caption] generally tasting. And shopping! More on the Tasting Table and Somló later