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  The rarity of my posting about Australian wines the rarity of drinking them. Not necessarily by choice, but by lack of availability. Luckily for me, my good friend Roy, who splits his time between Istanbul and Melbourne, brought me a couple bottles on one of his last visits! I'd selected three bottles but he surprised me with three more that he'd picked out himself. One of those, Yarrh Wines Sangiovese, is not something I'd ever have selected for myself.  I don't love Sangiovese. The magnificence of Brunello di Montalcino and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano aside, it's a grape that on the surface I should like, but rarely ever do.

  Some months ago, I visited Bologna and took a side trip to Modena for the sole purpose of doing a balsamic vinegar tasting. You might be thinking, Hang on, vinegar?  But you do wine. You do Turkish wine. And yet, here we are. To be fair, balsamic vinegar is fermented grape juice, so I'm not all that far off my usual topic!  I've known balsamic vinegar for what seems like ever. I cook with it, make salad dressings, splash it in oil for dipping bread

  At the very least they rule Turkey! If you have ever been to Turkey, particularly Istanbul, or seen social media posts highlighting Istanbul, you've seen the cats. Cats of Istanbul is a popular Instagram account. Stylized cats adorn all sorts of tchotchke here from pillow cases and tote bags to ceramics. There's even good trade being done in cat portraits. [easy-image-collage id=21298] You're probably thinking: "That's interesting. You have a lot of stray cats. So?"  The "so" is that it's about so much more than stray cats. It's about the spirit and heart of a people.  Istanbul, a City of Cats Several theories exist as to the abundant presence of cats in Istanbul. One

  With a view of living a life closer to nature, Can and Duygu Kırış bought some land in Bayramiç in 2017, with the view to starting an eco-tourism-related business. The land they bought came ready planted with olive trees, a local nectarine variety, a vegetable garden, and a small plot of Karasakız vines. Becoming winemakers was not part of their initial plan. In 2019, Can, out of curiosity, asked the original planter of the vineyard to show him how to make wine with the grapes…” being 100% it was going to taste awful.” It might very well have turned out exactly as he expected. Being new to wine and

  It's November! The year is drawing closer and closer to a close. Are you ready for it? Or are you, like me, still enjoying being in the moment of crisp autumnal weather and searingly blue skies? I find it hard to care much about tomorrow when today is so beautiful. Really the only thing about tomorrow that I think about, is which wine I am going to open! What will you be opening in November? Read on to find out! Aquarius (January 20 - February 18) With chillier and greyer weather, we'll all feeling the desire to hermit up with blankets and to not do anything. This month won’t be about

  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

  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

  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

  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

  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