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October 2024

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By 1Amber Wine, Orange Wine, Turkish Wine, Wine Reviews

  It's been quite a few years since Kastro Tireli debuted its first "natural" Hermos wine, a blend of Narince and Viognier. The line takes Kastro Tireli's clean winemaking practices one step further. The winery has always used organically-grown grapes and, when possible, native yeast fermentation. Hermos goes another level by using skin contact for the white wines, no filtration, and adds the barest hint of sulfur before bottling. What started with one wine is now five: the original Narince-Viognier blend, a Bornova Misketi (one of my favorite wines), varietal Viognier, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Syrah. I have not tried any of the reds, but very much enjoyed the two

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

  Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. This past summer, I took a trip I've been wanting to make for a few years now: Sofia. Bulgaria may not be on the top of everyone's travel wish list (although it should be, it's beautiful!) but it's been on mine for a while now. Why? Wine, naturally! I've heard great things about Bulgarian wine and two years ago, Shoyu Sugar brought back an amazing Riesling pét-nat that cemented my desire to explore the country's wine scene.  [easy-image-collage id=20618] As I've only been to Bulgaria once before and wanted to do at least one non wine activity. In the end, I settled on a day

By 0Articles, European Wines, Red Wine, Rose Wine, Turkish Wine, White Wine, Wine Reviews

  For my birthday in August, my friend Malia of Shoyu Sugar made SPAM musubis for me!! I remember eating SPAM a bit when I was a kid. My mom mixed ground SPAM with American cheese and white onions and we made hot sandwiches with it. I actually really kind of liked it. But it wasn't until I had Malia's musubis that I understood what kind of magic you can make with this meat.  I won't go into the history of SPAM or how deeply embedded it is in Hawaiian culture. Suffice to say, SPAM musubis are a common snack food in Hawaii. When she can get the ingredients, Malia

By 0Red Wine, Sparkling Wine, Turkish Wine, Wine Reviews

  Disclaimer: This post includes wines received as a sample. All opinions are my own. Two years ago, I was privileged to try Paşaeli's experimental, super limited edition Karasakız Pét-Nat. Due to a supply chain problem, they were unable to make one for the 2022 vintage. Lucky for me though, everything came together for the 2023 vintage and I was again privileged to receive a bottle.  Karasakız has long been an underappreciated grapes here. Not unknown, not exactly rare. It has recently caught a lot more attention though with four wineries (since my last post about the Paşaeli pét-nat) making wine with it. Long overdue in my opinion! I'm so happy

By 8Amber Wine, Articles, Orange Wine, Red Wine, Sweet Wine, Turkish Wine, White Wine

  How is it October already?! I know that I for one wanted the heat and humidity of summer to be over, but I blinked and it's October?? Possibly I missed September while my power and water were out because this city can't get itself together to actually fix the infrastructure. Hopefully though, October will go better than did September.  Regardless, autumn is truly upon us! Calendarily in any case and if we're lucky, cooler weather and lower humidity will follow. Does this mean that it's time to break into all those big red wines again? Read on to find out! Aquarius (January 20 - February 18) October invites you to engage

By 0European Wines, White Wine, Wine Reviews

  I get very little Croatian wine where I am but have enjoyed (as far as I recall!) every one that I've got my hands on. The Saints Hills St Ante Posh was certainly one to enjoy!  Owner Ernest Tolj established his Saints Hills winery, as he says, " but a stone’s throw away from Dubrovnik, and two from Diocletian’s Palace in Split and Vespasian’s Amphitheater in Pula." A romantic description to be sure. But for clarity's sake

By 1Red Wine, Turkish Wine, White Wine, Wine Reviews

  Chamlija winery is known to many in Turkey for its enthusiasm for planting grapes not native to Turkey. In addition to grapes that have become so common as to be passé (e.g. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay), Chamlija likes to stretch things by planting uncommon grapes. It is, for example, one of the few wineries cultivating Riesling. It is the only winery growing Albariño, Assyrtiko, Mavrud, Kadarka, and Xinomavro.  All of these wine are good, because Chamlija undeniably makes good wines. Some of them are even interesting. But they wouldn't always jump out of a blind tasting lineup as what they are. Regardless, it is always exciting to

By 0European Wines, Red Wine, Wine Reviews

  Crete is an amazing place to visit, for so many reasons, but especially so if you're a wine enthusiast. The island is home to so many grape varieties, many not found elsewhere, not even the Greek mainland. One variety I learned about during my visit was the black grape, Kotsifali.  Kotsifali is a little tricky to work with in the vineyard. It is vigorous and highly productive and largely disease-resistant. All good things. But, it can be prone to downy mildew and botrytis. The main trick is to try to curb the grape’s naturally high alcohol tendency but still leave it on the vine long for sufficient time to

By 0Amber Wine, Orange Wine, Turkish Wine, Wine Reviews

  The first Experimental Series wine Kayra released was an old vine Semillon. A couple years have passed since that one, which made me wonder if there even was going to be another in the series. I don't know if the winery was waiting for inspiration to strike or waiting for perfection, but it hit it big with the new Karkuş. [caption id="attachment_16265" align="alignright" width="225"] 60+ year old Karkuş vine[/caption] Karkuş (also known as Kerküş) has lived in shadows for some time. A grape traditionally used by Turkey's small Assyrian population, Karkuş grows in the high heat, semi-arid southeast near the country's borders with Syria and Iraq. New plantings of this

By 6Amber Wine, Articles, Red Wine, Rose Wine, Sweet Wine, Turkish Wine, White Wine

  While actual autumn does not begin until later this month, the beginning of September heralds to many the end of summer. Summer vacation is over, people are getting back to work, school, to "normal" life. Even if you didn't have the whole summer off, there's always an intangible sense of freedom and ease during June, July, and August and a lot of people feel a little let down at the end of the summer season.  Don't dwell on the let down this month! Concentrate instead on the good things. In Istanbul, for example, the end of summer means the return of charity ice cream producer Soulful Scoops! It means