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February 2021

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By 1European Wines, Sparkling Wine, White Wine, Wine Reviews

  For our February #WorldWineTravel event, Susannah Gold of Avvinare has invited us to explore Catalunya - Emporda, Alella, Pla de Bages, Penedès, Conca de Barbera, Priorat, Montsant and More. You can view her invitation here. As you can tell from the event title, there is a lot going on with wine in Catalunya! [caption id="attachment_15621" align="alignright" width="498"] Image from https://cava.wine.com[/caption] D.O. Penedès and Cava Penedès is in northeastern Spain in Catalunya. Within the D.O. Penedès lies the D.O. Cava. Cava is one of those interesting regions that is actually larger than the demarcated D.O. It's like the Tardis. While it originated in San Sadurní de Noya in Catalunya, Cava can be made

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

  I am so excited to share a guest piece that Moshé Cohen of In The Vineyard With kindly invited me to write! Reviving the Lost Grapes of Turkey Turkey. The mention of this country evokes thoughts of sultans and harems, sticky sweet Turkish delights, thick coffee, and hot air balloon rides over the fantastical ‘fairy chimney’ cave homes of Cappadocia. Wine is not the first thing to come to mind. Nor is it usually the fourth or the tenth. And yet, Turkey is, and for thousands of years has been, a wine producing country. Six grapes make up the backbone of wine production (with native vs international grapes): Boğazkere, Bornova Misketi,

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

  Yanık‌ ‌Ülke‌ Bağları translates as “vineyards of the burnt land.” Located at 924 meters above sea level on the rocky‌ ‌volcanic‌ ‌slopes‌ ‌of‌ ‌the‌ dormant ‌Divlit‌ ‌Volcano, the winery prides itself on its black volcanic soil. It likes to compare itself to the vineyards and wines of Mount Etna, Sicily. To further this association, the winery cultivates several Sicilian grape varieties including Cataratto, Nerello‌ ‌Cappuccio,‌ ‌‌and Nerello‌ ‌Mascalese.  I've never had the Nerello Cappuccio. It's not something I see often on the shelf. The other two though are generally much easier to find. Yanık Ülke Nerello Mascalese, 2018 Bright ruby in the glass with aromas of mulberry, black raspberry, cherry, vanilla, and

By 1Articles, Red Wine, Rose Wine, Sweet Wine, Turkish Wine

  Meet, Öküzgözü (oh-cooz-goe-zue), the most commonly planted black Turkish grape variety. This tongue-twisting grape meaning "bull's eye" takes its name from its large, round shape and nearly black color. Originally grown in the red clay and sandy/limestone soils of Mid-Eastern Anatolia (Elazığ); Öküzgözü has spread across Turkey. Plantings now flourish in Mid-Southern Anatolia (Nevşehir / Cappadocia), Mid-Northern Anatolia (Ankara, Uşak), and Thrace (Kırklareli). While Elazığ is home to Öküzgözü, relatively few wineries make their home here. Many wineries either have vineyards there but wineries elsewhere. Or, more commonly, contract with independent growers for their grapes. With three exceptions: Kayra, Eskibağlar, and Kuzeybağ. Kayra, one of Turkey's wine giants, uses its

By 3Red Wine, Rose Wine, Turkish Wine, White Wine, Wine Reviews

  We spent Valentine's Day in Istanbul under both our regular weekend lockdown and a blanket of snow this year. Since we couldn't go out for Valentine's, I invited a couple people from my pandemic bubble over on Monday for a Galentine's Day wine tasting. The wines: four wines based in the Çalkarası grape from Paşaeli Wines. I've had all four wines individually but have really been wanting to open them together. Since even I have my limits I knew I needed help to open them all at once! I recently wrote conducted an interview with Paşaeli Wines owner Seyit Karagözoğlu for the Vintner Project. There are a lot of

By 0Amber Wine, Orange Wine, Red Wine, Rose Wine, Sweet Wine, Turkish Wine, White Wine, Wine Reviews

  Friday heralded the Year of the Ox in the Chinese calendar. The day before happened to be a good friend's birthday. She usually holds a huge Chinese New Year pop up restaurant feast. However, COVID etc, that got canceled this year. Instead she hosted our small bubble for a Singaporean-Chinese new year-birthday feast. I decided to use the opportunity to see how I could pair Turkish wine with Chinese food. I brought a number of wines to the feast to cover as wide a spectrum as I could: whites, semi-sweet, rosé, amber, red

By 0Red Wine, Turkish Wine, Wine Reviews

  Flipping through my wine notes recently reminded me that I haven't written about my favorite pirate-themed winery lately. Well, okay no, Barbare is not pirate "themed" (although wouldn't that be cool?!). However, the winery does take its name and label design from Turkey's most famous pirate, Barbarossa-Red Beard. If you're curious about how that came about, check out my previous post about wine and piracy! Its dubious swashbuckling aside, Barbare sets itself apart from other Turkish wineries in how it was influenced by French wine. A good deal of wineries here take their influence and cues from France. Specifically from Bordeaux. And while Barbare demonstrates a strong French influence;

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

  In Georgian white wine, Rkatsiteli reigns supreme. If you've had Georgian white (or amber) wine you've likely had this grape. Or maybe a Mtsvane. But, while the most common, these are not the only white grapes in Georgia's winemaking arsenal. While I do like Mtsvane wines, Rkatsiteli has never been my favorite. I tend to seek out wines from some of the less well-known grapes when I'm in Georgia. In particular I've long been a fan of Kisi. Because I do hunt them down, my last trip netted me wines made from not only the Kisi I like so well but also Tsitska, Tsolikouri, and Krakhuna. Lagvinari Tsitska, 2015 After a

By 0European Wines, Red Wine, Wine Reviews

  To kick of 2021, the #ItalianFWT group is embracing the cold weather. Host Camilla of Culinary Adventures with Camilla has invited us all to pair any Italian wine we like with braised or stewed meat dishes. You can view her invitation here. And since Istanbul was briefly blanketed in a layer of fluffy snow, this really was perfect timing, for me, for this theme! For this event, I tracked down some oxtail. It's not super common in Istanbul but there's a tiny butcher shop off the famous Istiklal Street that sometimes carries it. Happily, I got lucky and picked up two kilos for a braised oxtail stew. The original

By 0Red Wine, Turkish Wine, Wine Reviews

  I've been taking the Wine Scholar Guild's (Northern) Italian Wine Scholar course. Even though I have a million other things I should be doing, the allure of online courses and exams, plus the opportunity to procrastinate those other things, is strong. Of course now I'm finding excuses to procrastinate this course and not study. So that's all worked out marvelously well. Why is this digression germane to a post about Turkish wine? Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc blends. One of the things I've managed to retain so far from the reading is that a number of the norther Italian wine regions make blends of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc