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December 2021

Home2021 (Page 2)

By 0American Wines, Red Wine, Wine Reviews

  Last year, the #WinePW group celebrated the December 4 #CabFrancDay with pairings and wines from around the world. I of course joined in with a selection of Cab Franc wines from Turkey. This year the blog group chose another theme for December, but I'm celebrating the day regardless. And I am so thrilled to, at long last, be able to celebrate it with not just any Cab Franc, but with a bottle of wine from Dracaena Wines, the #CabFrancDay founders! The Story of Dracaena Wines and #CabFrancDay Lori and Michael Budd's winemaking story has a familiar ring to it. Wine lovers who became winemakers. But that's where the familiarity ends.

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

  It's December and Christmas is around the corner!! Is your tree up? Mine is and this year it's covered with a new selection of wine label ornaments! So far not even naughty Dr. Watson has attempted to climb it. Perhaps she'll received more than a lump of coal in her stocking this! What does your horoscope say you should try drinking in December? Read on and find out! Aquarius (January 20 - February 18) Take this month to stop and check in with yourself. How has the past year affected you? Often we blow off a lot of the external things in our life and don't pay attention to how much

By 0Red Wine, Turkish Wine, Wine Reviews

  In 2005, the Erdem Yılmaze and his wife were lured by friends to the Çömelek village near Mersin on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast. Enchanted by the quality of the local grapes and lingering evidence, in the form of ancient grape processing areas carved into the rocks and grape and goblet motif reliefs on ancient, nearby tombs, they took up the challenge to stay and make wine here. In 2010, with many trials and learning experiences behind them, they officially established Tasheli Şarap. Since then, they've done a lot of work to bring Turkey’s attention to the local Patkara grape. Tasheli features it in varietal red and rosé wines as well as

By 0European Wines, White Wine, Wine Reviews

  I don't drink a lot of Moschofilero when I'm in Greece. But every time I do, I chide myself all over again for neglecting such a great variety. While one generally finds white wines made with Moschofilero, it is in fact a pink-skinned grape. Grown mainly on Greece's Peloponnese peninsula, this aromatic grape has a floral and grapey character often compared to Traminer and Muscat grapes. According to Yiannis Karakasis MW, Moschofilero has: "

By 3Articles, Red Wine, Rose Wine, Sparkling Wine, Turkish Wine

  While for reasons beyond my ken Karasakız is not more popular in Turkey, it is certainly one of the country's most facile grapes. Also called 'Kuntra' the Karasakız (kar-ah-sah-kiz) grape is the oldest grape variety grown on the island of Bozcaada. Records show it growing here for at least 500 years. It likes a warmer climate and, in addition to Bozcaada, also grows on the southern part of the Gallipoli Peninsula and the Sea of Marmara island, Avşa. On Bozcaada, the grape is known exclusively as Kuntra. Here, where high winds can severely damage grapes and grape leaves, vines grow in head-trained, goblet bushes to protect the grapes. Elsewhere where

By 0European Wines, White Wine, Wine Reviews

  Recently, I have read more than a few pieces about Wiener Gemischter Satz which reminded me that I'd also recently drunk some. Thanks to my very good friend from Austria who brings me interesting wines; I got to try this wine for the first time over the summer. And it was delightful. That spoiler aside, let's talk about what Wiener Gemischter Satz is. Wiener Gemischter Satz DAC Without getting up too high on my horse about it, I find people avoid wines from German-speaking countries because they're afraid of the words. Personally I find French much more difficult to deal with and feel something akin to pleasure when I massively

By 0Articles, Turkish Wine

  Visitors to volcanic regions often have little doubt about where they are. Volcanic mountains and hills (active or not) make up places like Mount Etna, Santorini, Somló, and the Canary Islands. Wherever you happen to be, you know you’re on land created by violent, fiery, eruptions. But not all volcanic regions are so obvious. In Turkey’s Central Anatolia, Cappadocia, famous for its hot air balloons, hidden cave churches, and strange fairy chimneys, does not have a towering volcano. There are no craters or deep piles of lava rocks. But this land too was created by fire, ash, and lava. While volcanoes have not been active here in a very

By 0Rose Wine, Sparkling Wine, Turkish Wine, White Wine, Wine Reviews

  Turkey is no stranger to sparkling wine production. Ankara-based Vinkara wines made the first traditional method sparkling wine (with Kalecik Karası) years ago. Suvla followed with its traditional method wines, also from native grapes. Then Arcadia made one, then Kavaklidere with Chardonnay (the only not made with a native grape). Turkish sparkling wine is also made via the tank method. And we have a plethora of inexpensive bubbles made by adding carbonation.  What we did not have, was the recently fashionable pét-nat. And I say 'was' because we now do have. And not just one! No no. Four. But what IS Pét-Nat? Affectionately called, pét-nat, this style of sparkling wine is

By 0Red Wine, Turkish Wine, Wine Reviews

  Edirne-based Arda Bağcılık has been a favorite winery of mine for years now. One of the first I ever visited in Turkey, this family-run winery makes wines that I think get overlooked. On the one hand, it's terrible because they're not getting the recognition I think they deserve. On the other, it keeps the prices down and I am not mad at that! While they make an outstanding Narince and have recently really begun to highlight Thracian native Papazkarası, their focus rests largely on international varieties. Even that I'm not necessarily mad at, maybe because they do it so well! Both Arda's reserve red wines and the middle Kuşlu

By 1Red Wine, Turkish Wine, Wine Reviews

  One of the very first boxes I received from the Oenotrian wine club was themed to look at how Turkish wine ages. The box contained two different vintages of four wines. Because I acquire wine at a much faster rate than I drink it, I unintentionally aged several of the wines even more while they stayed buried in my wine room. Honestly, I don't even remember when I got these! Finally I got around to drinking what I think was the last pair of wines from that box: Pamukkale's Nodus Cabernet Sauvignon. If you're outside Turkey, you probably know the name Pamukkale only as the fascinating, brilliant white, limestone travertine