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  This morning I pulled out from my Advent boxes o' wine another disguised bottle. Probably in punishment for how poorly I did at guessing yesterday's wine! But, part of super enforceable and binding agreement I made with myself included having to drink whichever wine I selected. No putting anything back to try my luck again. So let's see if my blind tasting skills improved at all since yesterday! Once again I had reasonable assurance that I'd pulled a Turkish wine based on the tax label on the capsule. I did include a number of wines from other countries in this calendar. However, the majority are Turkish so it's not

  Mixed in my boxes of Advent wine I put a few disguised bottles. Because I don't have a wine geek community here I don't get to practice blind tasting a lot. My cat, Sherlock has yet to learn wine service and it's mighty tricky to choose, open, and pour a bottle completely blindfolded. Since I chose these wines months ago I thought I might stand a chance of forgetting what a few of them are and disguised a couple labels. This morning I pulled out the first of these! I managed to open the bottle without getting a peek at the cork. So, off to a good start! The medium

  My homemade Advent wine calendar consists of two case-sized boxes. About two months ago I pull 26 wines from my collection and put them in these boxes. Every day I plan to pull out one wine in the morning (in case it's white and requires chilling!) and at some point during the day drink, write, and post about it! I visited Datça Bağcılık ve Şarapçılık

  Every year I'm envious of friends in the States who get wine Advent calendars. When I was a kid I found those little chocolate Advent calendars absolutely delightful. Occasionally I still send them to my siblings for the nostalgia. As an adult - and a wine lover! - a wine Advent calendar speaks to every part of me! But clearly we don't have those in Turkey. So I made my own! Well to be totally honest, two months ago I selected 26 bottles and moved them to a different part of my wine room. Some I covered in hopes that I might be able to make a blind tasting

  Gordias winery, based in Polatlı (near Ankara), rests in the hands of former pharmacist Canan Gerimli. The winery posses a cleaner and Canan brings in people to help during harvest. Otherwise, she does all the work herself. This one-woman army makes an array of red, rosé, and white wines with both native and international grapes. Her Cabernet Franc, Boğazkere, and Narince count among some of my favorites here. And as if making 10 wines on her own wasn't enough; this year Canan introduced us to two new grapes: Fesleğen and Narınç.  Gerimli was on the lookout for grapes in her region that needed some love. After doing extensive research

  My brush with Jordanian wine comes thanks to my friend E who travels extensively for work. She bought me two bottles of Jordan River wine from Haddad Estates & Vineyards on her last trip to Amman. The first winery in Jordan, its wines were not released internationally, under the name Jordan River, until 2004. Some interesting facts about Hadded Estates & Vineyards/Jordan River: Founded in 1953 by Muthieb M. Haddad Located at 850 meters above sea level in the basalt soils of the Mountain Heights Plateau White grapes cultivated include: Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, Pinot Grigio, Riesling, Roussanne, Sauvignon Blanc, and Viognier Black grapes include: Barbera, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot

  Now one of the most widely known grapes in Turkey, Kalecik Karası was nearly lost to history.  This grape was nearly extinct until the 1970s when it was reborn. While studying for his Ph.D. in agriculture at Ankara University, Prof. Dr. Y. Sabit Ağaoğlu elected to form his thesis around clonal studies of dried Kalecik Karası vines. He finished his thesis and wound up with not only his doctorate but also a small vineyard. Rather than abandon it, and the grape he revived, he and wife decided to continue to work the vineyard and make wine. Sadly, his wife has since passed but the godfather of Kalecik Karası continues

  I frequently lament the vast amount of Bordeaux-style blends we have in Turkey. Partially because it does get rather tedious to drink the same blends over and over. Mostly though because Turkey has a plethora (1240+ at last count) of its own grapes! Of which we see maybe 40 in wine. But since I do so often complain about the sea of wanna be Bordeaux here, I thought maybe I should talk about a few of them for once. But first

  Every time I go to Tbilisi I look for new wines I haven't seen before. One of my favorite sources is g.Vino wine bar. Great wines, food, service, and you can buy all their wines to go. g.Vino sports a fantastic collection of quality Georgian wines and often has things that I cannot find easily elsewhere. Like this Gotsa Chinuri Pet-Nat! Gotsa Winery At Gotsa winery, wine is a family tradition that founder Beka Gotsadze is determined to preserve. Located 4200 feet above sea level in the hills of the Asureti Valley, in the Atenuri appellation, Gotsa is only about a 30 minute drive from the Georgian capital Tbilisi. If, that