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European Wines

HomeEuropean Wines (Page 11)

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

  For our February #WorldWineTravel event, Susannah Gold of Avvinare has invited us to explore Catalunya - Emporda, Alella, Pla de Bages, Penedès, Conca de Barbera, Priorat, Montsant and More. You can view her invitation here. As you can tell from the event title, there is a lot going on with wine in Catalunya! [caption id="attachment_15621" align="alignright" width="498"] Image from https://cava.wine.com[/caption] D.O. Penedès and Cava Penedès is in northeastern Spain in Catalunya. Within the D.O. Penedès lies the D.O. Cava. Cava is one of those interesting regions that is actually larger than the demarcated D.O. It's like the Tardis. While it originated in San Sadurní de Noya in Catalunya, Cava can be made

By 0Amber Wine, Amphora, European Wines, Orange Wine, Rest of the World, White Wine, Wine Reviews

  In Georgian white wine, Rkatsiteli reigns supreme. If you've had Georgian white (or amber) wine you've likely had this grape. Or maybe a Mtsvane. But, while the most common, these are not the only white grapes in Georgia's winemaking arsenal. While I do like Mtsvane wines, Rkatsiteli has never been my favorite. I tend to seek out wines from some of the less well-known grapes when I'm in Georgia. In particular I've long been a fan of Kisi. Because I do hunt them down, my last trip netted me wines made from not only the Kisi I like so well but also Tsitska, Tsolikouri, and Krakhuna. Lagvinari Tsitska, 2015 After a

By 0European Wines, Red Wine, Wine Reviews

  To kick of 2021, the #ItalianFWT group is embracing the cold weather. Host Camilla of Culinary Adventures with Camilla has invited us all to pair any Italian wine we like with braised or stewed meat dishes. You can view her invitation here. And since Istanbul was briefly blanketed in a layer of fluffy snow, this really was perfect timing, for me, for this theme! For this event, I tracked down some oxtail. It's not super common in Istanbul but there's a tiny butcher shop off the famous Istiklal Street that sometimes carries it. Happily, I got lucky and picked up two kilos for a braised oxtail stew. The original

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

  Today is Furmint Day! I love, love, love Furmint. Dry, sweet, and everything in between. Sadly, my extremely limited supply of Furmint has dwindled. And with this year of COVID travel bans I've been unable to get back to Hungary to restock. So for today's Furmint Day I'm looking back at some of the very nice wines I've had in the last few years. Furmint, or Šipon? Furmint is probably best known as a Hungarian grape variety. While several theories exist as to how the grape ended up there; we do do know it's been growing there since at least the 16th century. An offspring of Gouais Blanc and an

By 0European Wines, Rest of the World, White Wine, Wine Reviews

  It seems difficult to think of a time when Greece and Malagousia were not synonymous. Granted my entrée to Greek wine is recent. But I feel like I learned about Assyrtiko and Malagousia at a similar pace. And yet, until the 90s, Malagousia was largely unheard of. In the 1970s Professor Logothetis from the Agricultural University of Thessaloniki rented a small plot of land from Yiannis Carras. There he planted several grapes he'd encountered on his travels around Greece, including Malagousia. While his early plantings were vinified with other grapes, Evangelos Gerovassiliou, then winemaker at Domaine Carras, quickly realized its potential. He began propagating the variety at Domaine Carras

By 1European Wines, Red Wine, Wine Reviews

  We're kicking off the new #WorldWineTravel blogging group with a trip to La Rioja! Well a virtual trip in any case! You can read host Jeff Burrows' of Food Wine Click! invitation post here. Arguably the most well-known word in Spanish wine, people mostly associate the Rioja region with the Tempranillo grape. However, there's far more to Rioja than just Tempranillo. Authorized grapes in Rioja include Tempranillo, Garnacha, Graciano, Mazuelo, and Maturana Tinta for red as well as Viura, Malvasía, Garnacha Blanca, Tempranillo Blanco, Maturana Blanca, Turruntés (not to be confused with Torrontés), Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, and Verdejo. Despite this broad allowance of grapes my wine does indeed come from

By 0European Wines, Red Wine, Wine Reviews

  Here in Turkey we have a grape called, Öküzgözü, which means "bull's eye." Hungary goes one step further with a wine they have: Bikavér which means "bull's blood." That's far more hardcore. But what is Bikavér? Bikavér has a fantastic origin story which I won't try to recreate but which I highly recommend checking out on Taste Hungary's blog. It is a red wine (usually a blend) made in two of Hungary's wine regions: Eger and Szekszárd. While production rules differ slightly between the two regions, a few things are consistent: A minimum of four grapes must be in the blend Kékfrankos (Blaufränkish) as the dominant blending grape

By 0Amber Wine, European Wines, Orange Wine, Rest of the World, Wine Reviews

  The Renčel family has always had a homestead in in Karst. Each generation added to the homestead somehow. And while the family produced wine from the beginning (along with crops and animals), their wines were simple: a Terrano and a white blend. Until Joško Renčel. The transformation of this small farm into a dedicated and well-respected winery began slowly. First by abandoning other agriculture in favor of vines. Next, Renčel deviated from the classic Karst grapes. He planted and experimented with a variety of grapes to see what else would work in the fertile red "terra rossa" soils of Karst. Located in Slovenia's Primorska on a limestone plateau that

By 0European Wines, Rest of the World, White Wine, Wine Reviews

  Even before I visited one of Estate Gai'a's wineries I was a fan. While I went to the winery in the Nemea, Gai'a also has a winery in Santorini and it was the Assyrtiko from this winery that began my love affair with them. In addition to the winery's Thalassitis, a more traditionally made Assyrtiko wine, Gai'a also crafts a wild ferment Assyrtiko. The grapes for the wild ferment come from the winery's Pyrgos vineyards, part of the PDO Santorini. Here vines grow in the traditional ‘kouloura’ (basket) in the island's low nutrient pumice soils. Water is often scarce but humidity is retained by and fed back into the

By 0European Wines, White Wine, Wine Reviews

  It's almost Christmas! Really really almost Christmas! This was the second to last bottle of wine in my Advent box 'o wines. This was also the final disguised for blind tasting bottle. Of course I would end on a blind tasting. But, let's see if I manage to go out with dignity. Energetic and mouthwatering with distinctive sea spray salinity that made me think: hmmm, I know you! High, lively acidity, medium-bodied, guessing moderate alcohol. Citrus and sea water