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  A few months ago I finally got a chance to go back to Michigan. I want to say it's been about four years since I've been back. Eek. My trip started out a little rocky when I got to my parents to discover that the bottle of pomegranate syrup I'd brought had shattered in one of my suitcases. I've never lot a bottle of wine in transit (knock on wood) but apparently I have no luck with thick, sticky, red syrup. Before I even went into the house I had to unpack my suitcase in the garage then take the case and hose to to front lawn and clean

  Nothing can stop my love for Assyrtiko. Much as I love exploring other and new grapes in Greece, I always buy a couple few Assyrtikos when I'm there. Not usually the same wines though. I like to look for producers I haven't tried before. On my last trip to Athens, the colorful Dougos Winery Meth'Imon Acacia label caught my eye. Dougos Winery Located in Thessaly at the foot of Mount Olympus, Dougos Winery was founded in 1991 by the Dougos family. Still a young winery, it's already in the hands of the second generation with son Thanos as the agriculturalist and daughter Louiza, the chemist and oenologist. The Dougos family vineyards

  Akın Gürbüz has built a name for himself in Turkey as a talented winemaker and wine consultant and his latest wine, the Akın Gürbüz Hieron Oros, only solidifies that reputation. In October, 2020 I visited his winery with a friend and we were privileged to take part in a massive barrel tasting with Akın of his 2019 vintage. We did not try literally every barrel, but we tried every kind of wine in the barrels. Different plots of Cabernet and Merlot, different barrel toast levels, a few experimental grapes he had going on at the time

  Did you participate in dry January? I surely did not! If you did though, I'll be you're really ready for a little tipple! In which case, I've got you covered. What does your horoscope say you should try drinking in February? Read on and find out! Aquarius (January 20 - February 18) When was the last time you felt entirely like yourself? Do you even remember what that feels like? Use this month to try to reconnect to that feeling. Maybe it means changing up your style, hunting down a friend you haven't seen in years, or resurrecting a childhood dream. You may also find this month that you're having difficulty finding

  Foça Karası, a nearly extinct grape from Izmir’s Foça district, is currently championed by only a few wineries, namely Öküzgözü Şarapçılık. Foça Karası (foe-cha ka-ra-sih) berries are small to medium in size and slightly elongated with thick skin. They grow in kind of loose, single-lobed, medium-sized bunches. It’s a mid-ripening grape that makes aromatic wines full of sour cherry, strawberry, prune, clove, black pepper, dill, black currant leaf, and licorice. While in Turkey this grape follows the "black of" naming pattern, this grape also goes by another name: Fokiano. While we know it as Foça Karası in Turkey, in Greece Fokiano (Φωκιανό) grows mainly on the Aegean islands (and a

  I go to Greece fairly often. It is just kind of next door and two of my best friends live in Athens. Partially for that reason, for almost two years now, I have been taking a once weekly Greek class. I have not learned that much, lazy student as I am. But I'm not learning Greek because I go to Greece frequently. Let's be honest, they all speak English ever so much better than I will every speak Greek. I'm learning the language though, because I like to learn the language of wine countries I love. And I loves me some Greek wine. Knowing this, my Greek teacher very

  One of the world’s first empires, the Assyrian Empire (circa 2500 BC - 609 BC) spanned the periods of the Early to Middle Bronze Age through to the late Iron Age. Their empire covered vast territory including areas of modern day Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria. In addition to being a great military power, the Assyrians were talented artists (particularly sculpture and jewelry making), astronomers, and were believed to use technology like telescopes and magnifying glasses. They were also great lovers of wine. [caption id="attachment_16265" align="alignright" width="352"] 60+ year old Kerküş vine[/caption] During their heyday, records from their time show the expansive planting of vines, especially around Nineveh in Turkey’s

  Katarina Andersson of Grapevine Adventures wears many hats. She is a historian (Ph.D. in history from EUs European University Institute in Florence!), wine writer, wine educator, live streamer, content writer, digital marketing strategist for wineries, and a translator. I knew Katarina through her blog and Twitter. Then last year she reached out to ask if I'd be interested in taking part in Radici del Sud. Unfortunately, in the end I wasn't able to go due to pandemic travel restrictions. And enviously followed Katarina's posts about the event! Happily, when she reached out to ask if I'd like to appear on her livestream to talk about my new book, we

  In September Lori Budd of Exploring the Wineglass and Dracaena Wines reached out to me and asked if I'd be interested in being a guest on her podcast Winefabet Street. Obviously! Lori shares the Winefabet Street podcast with Debbie Gioquindo, the Hudson Valley Wine Goddess. I'd "met" Lori before. She's kindly had me as a guest on her her Exploring the Wineglass podcast previously. I've also done a guest post for her blog about Natural Wine in Turkey. But this was my first time meeting Debbie and as a long-time follower of her blog I was thrilled to get to talk with her. Even if it was at 2

  While 2020 was straight-up awful, 2021 had a few more ups. Certainly there were downs! But the slowly slowly back to normal life certainly made the downs more bearable. Oh and my book finally came out! So that was a huge highlight for me! Of course I drank a ton of wine in 2021! I haven't actually posted reviews of all of them yet (I drink faster than I write); so just a quick look at some of my favorite wines from 2021. The Whites I won't lie, I vastly prefer white wine to red wine. Sadly for me, Turkey seems to think that it's a red wine country so there