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European Wines

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By 1American Wines, Articles, European Wines, Sparkling Wine, Turkish Wine, Wine Reviews

  Sparkling wine is almost universally associated with celebrations. Yes, bubbly wine is a happy drink and happy drinks are great for celebrations, but that's not why the association. It is largely due to how expensive sparkling wine tends to be. People generally, therefore, save it for special occasions. Why is sparkling wine so expensive? How are sparkling wines made? Let's pop a cork and get into it! This post ended up being way longer than I expected. So, I'm trying for the first time to add a table of contents.  Table of Contents Everything You Need to Know about Sparkling Wine Traditional Method Sparkling Wine Martinotti Method Sparkling Wine Ancestral

By 0European Wines, Red Wine, Wine Reviews

  While most of my focus is in Turkish wines, it's nice to sometimes walk in the vineyards of our neighbors. Metaphorically speaking of course. I've yet to visit Romania at all let alone its vineyards. But that's one of the great things about wine. Opening a bottle is like opening a magic door through which you can step and discover new worlds. Maybe you've never been to that region, or even that country, but wine lets you taste what you cannot see.  For me, one of those recent journeys too me to Romania and to the discovery of one of the country's native grapes, Fetească Neagră. Fetească Neagră [caption id="attachment_22440" align="alignright" width="350"]

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

  We've had some rather chilly days lately in Istanbul. I should be neither surprised nor resentful. It is, after all, winter. Just because we've had ridiculously warm winters for the last several years and I've largely managed to avoid turning on my heat doesn't mean things will always be so. While I don't love it, the cold weather does encourage me to reach for one of the many, many red wines languishing in my wine room.  If you want to wrap yourself in a cozy red wine, perfect for cold winter weather and drinking by the fireplace, look for a bottle from the Goumenissa PDO.  Goumenissa PDO (ΠΟΠ Γουμένισσα) The what

By 2European Wines, White Wine, Wine Reviews

  It's a pretty rare day for me to post about wine from one of the "main" (aka Italy, France, Spain) European countries. Partially, because it's more difficult for me to get my hands on those but also because that's what almost everyone else writes about. However, some things are too exciting to not share. Such is the case with a wine I picked up on a trip (a while back) to Bologna: Leoni Conti La Mia Albana Progetto 1. Previously, I shared some notes on a few of the Lambruscos I got there. The Lambrusco grapes weren't the only native grapes I was hoping to find during my trip.

By 1European Wines, Red Wine, Travel, White Wine, Wine Reviews

  This post contains affiliate links While I was only in Bulgaria a few short days last summer, its wine left a lasting impression on me. I did several great tastings, found some fantastic wine bars, had my first canned pét-nat! and brought home some great wine. It's time to dive back into Bulgarian wine and talk about one of those great tastings - in fact the first one I did - at Sofia's Coupage. Coupage Located just a few blocks off Sofia's Slaveykov Square, Coupage Wine and Cheese is the brainchild of Aleksander Angelov. As the shop's name promises, it is more than wine (although that's enough in my opinion!). He also

By 3European Wines, Greek Wine, White Wine, Wine Reviews

  It might be trite, given how many different grapes grow in Greece, but I love Assyrtiko. Love it, love it, love it. And while I've recently started coming around to mainland Assyrtiko, my heart will always be on Santorini. It was my great privilege to work for a time with Vassaltis Vineyards, one of the best wineries on Santorini. I learned so much working with them, and walked away with some of their incredible wines, including the Gramina, Santorini, and the Vassaltis Vineyards Plethora.  Vassaltis Vineyards One of the youngest wineries on the island, Yannis Valambous established Vassaltis Vineyards in 2014. Vassaltis produces a wide range of wines, most of them

By 1European Wines, Greek Wine, White Wine, Wine Reviews

  Of all the wines I've been able to try from Crete's Lyrarakis Wines, its Thrapsathiri somehow fell between the cracks! With this being one of my favorite Greek grapes, I'm not really sure how I allowed such a travesty to occur. Lucky for me, a friend visiting the winery graciously brought back a bottle for me! The Lyrarakis Wines Armi Thrapsathiri marries one of my favorite Cretan wineries with one of my favorite Greek grapes for (spoiler!) a richly flavored wine full of fruits and the sea.  Lyrarakis Wines It is thanks to wineries like Lyrarakis Wines a lot of unloved and nearly lost Cretan grapes are being reintroduced to the

By 2European Wines, Rose Wine, Sparkling Wine, Travel, Wine Reviews

  This post contains affiliate links Last June I visited Sofia for the first time. What a charming little city! Which maybe sounds slightly condescending but a) I don't mean it that way at all and b) almost anywhere is little when you live in Istanbul. I had a marvelous time exploring the Bulgarian wine scene there. For people like me who don't like to drive, the city offers quite a few opportunities to learn about and experience the wine. One of the places where I got a great crash course was Tempus Vini.  Tempus Vini Kalin Kushev's passion for wine went from hobby to business when he opened Tempus Vini in

By 3European Wines, Greek Wine, Rose Wine, Sparkling Wine, White Wine, Wine Reviews

  Except for my weird friend, Roy, I don't know anyone who doesn't at least like sparkling wine. For me, it's hands down my favorite wine category. I'm fascinated by the different processes by which it is made, how each creates a different style of wine, and offers different aromas and flavors. You could take the same grape from the same vineyard and make three very different sparkling wines with the traditional, charmat, and ancestral methods. Little surprise then, that I love exploring sparkling wine anytime I travel. For sure I like Prosecco, Champagne, and Cava

By 1European Wines, Turkish Wine, White Wine, Wine Reviews

  Riesling is one of my absolute favorite grapes in the whole wide world. I have a three-way tie going for 'favorite grape' title and Riesling is one of the trifecta. Bone dry, lusciously sweet and every variable between, I love it. But, Riesling in Turkey? Riesling in Turkey Quite interesting, Riesling was one of the first foreign grapes to come to Turkey during the start of the modern wine industry. Back in the 1930s, Nihat A. Kutman, founder of Doluca Şarapları, made exploratory visits to France and Germany looking for grapes that might do well in his Mürefte vineyards. One of those grapes was Riesling. Very few are planting Riesling anymore.