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October 2019

Home2019 (Page 3)

By 0Turkish Wine, White Wine, Wine Reviews

  Turkey's Aegean region is home to beautiful coasts, vistas, and culinary delights. Thanks to these advantages, it's also a hotbed for both domestic and international tourism. Alaçatı, Ceşme is one of the prettiest villages along the southern Aegean coast and a big stop on the tourist trail. The city center is all low, white-washed buildings with colorful (mostly bright blue) shutters and simply dripping with flowering bougainvillea. Tucked in amidst all the restaurants, boutique stores, and tourist chachki shops one finds the Gemici Wine & Jam shop. In addition to homemade jams, soaps, oils, and the like, the shop also carries wine made by the Gemici family. The Gemicis make

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

  Turkey, the land of Süleyman the Magnificent, Atatürk, the Bosphorus, the battle at Gallipoli, fezes, fairy chimneys of Cappadocia, ayran, kebab, Turkish coffee, and wine. Wine is not the first thing that comes to mind when people think of Turkey, but with thousands of years of winemaking history, more than 100 wineries, and some 1200 native grape varieties, all that is changing. The evolution of Turkish wine and wine routes Previously a low-key industry dominated by a small handful of mega production wineries, Turkish wine really began to take off in the late 1990s with the advent of boutique producers. While the word “boutique” is now both over and misused

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

  Ever having tried Domaine Porto Carras' sparkling wine Yliana I've been wanting to try more of the winery's wines. During my next trip to Greece I kept a look out for the domaine's wines and happily found one. And not just any wine, my new (Greek) obsession Malagousia. Malagousia (or Malagouzia) is an aromatic white grape grown primarily in central Greece and Greek Macedonia. The pale yellow wines which are given by Malagousia have intense aromatic content that refers to white flesh fruits such as peach, fresh aromatic herbs, green pepper and citrus, while some notes of muscat stand out. According to Konstantinos Lazarakis MW, Malagousia's resurgence started in

By 0Red Wine, Turkish Wine, Wine Reviews

  Pinot Noir and I have not got on very well. Just not my grape. I have enjoyed a few, chiefly Chamlija's Felix Culpa. But overall the grape has always left me feeling flat. Until a visit to Ma'Adra in Turkey's north Aegean. Also, not going to lie. I love the Burgundy wine glass. Mother Earth in the Madra Mountains Former architect Fikret Özdemir once visited old vineyards in the Madra Mountains and was struck by the beauty there. When Özdemir retired, remembering his visit and reaction to the land, he decided to start a winery in the area as a retirement hobby. The land he selected has not been worked for anything,

By 0Turkish Wine, White Wine, Wine Reviews

  For some years now, Doluca has been making a red blend called Signium. The blend changes from year to year but it has always been red. Until now. Last year the winery released its first white Doluca Signium. As one of Turkey's largest wineries, I often look upon Doluca a bit distrustfully. The winery is responsible for putting some of Turkey's worst wines on the market. However, it was also one of the first to recognize the need for quality wine. In the late 80s it launched its Sarafin line. Together with wineries like Umurbey slowly began to change the face of Turkish wine. Now it offers wines at every

By 0Turkish Wine, White Wine, Wine Reviews

  Akın Gürbüz grew up among grape vines. In his childhood he worked the harvest in his family's vineyards. They did not make wine but sold the grapes to some of Turkey's larger wineries. It was not until later in life that Gürbüz developed a love for wine. It was an introduction that not only began a love affair with wine but that would put him on his path. After studying at UC Davis, working in California and News Zealand-based wineries, Tekirdağ-based winery Barbare brought him back to Turkey. Working at Barbare opened a new chapter for Gürbüz. He became a winemaking consultant for some of Turkey’s premiere boutique and small

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

  One of my friends here in Istanbul is a lovely Austrian woman, Su. Originally from Graz, she's been in Istanbul almost 10 years but goes back and forth to Austria relatively frequently. Su, bless her, is a great supporter of my goal to drink and learn about all the wines. She does her best to further my education by bringing back examples of Austrian wine. One she often brings is Welschriesling. Welschriesling, which is a completely separate grape from Riesling, is an important grape in Steiermark (also known as Styria). Many consider the wines to be uninteresting or at best neutral. Usually low in alcohol, fresh, and easy; I

By 0Turkish Wine, White Wine, Wine Reviews

  Last winter Istanbites and I visited Thracian winery Saranta. In addition to getting a tour of the winery, it's impressive cellars, and beautiful tasting room, of course we had a nice tasting. While I love all of Saranta's wines, particularly the Chateau Murou line, the highlight of our visit wasn't the tasting. Or at least not the official tasting. I most enjoyed the sip from the tank we had of the winery's new Chateau Murou Semillon. A new grape to Saranta, but not to Turkey. Semillon first appeared in the country over fifty years ago. Brought in by the then patriarch of the family behind the Doluca and Kutman

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

  Last December I met up with several friends in Ljubljana. We were there for the Christmas market (I try to visit one every year) and so that I could tick Slovenia off my former Yugoslavia country list. But most importantly, we were there for wine. A whirl-wind trip lasting just a few days, I nonetheless managed to discover a variety of Slovenian wineries and grapes. Vina Colja was one of those wineries. Part of the Primorska wine region along the Italian border, Vina Colja sits in the Vipava Valley. Sixty percent of the winery's vineyards is planted to white grape varieties including Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Malvasia, Zelen, and Pinella. While

By 0Red Wine, Turkish Wine, Wine Reviews

  Unless you're a serious student of history and/or a fan of the Roman Empire, chances are if you've heard of the city of Antioch it was in church. I know that's where I first heard the name uttered. Mostly I associated it with all the preachy letters from Saint Paul (never my favorite evangalist). Until I moved to Turkey.  [caption id="attachment_13300" align="alignleft" width="300"] Saint Pierre church in Hatay-one of the oldest Christian churches in the world[/caption] I feel every time I turn around I discover an ancient city (most of them from the Bible no less) that either has a new, Turkish name (for example Smyrna is now Izmir and Nicaea