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European Wines

HomeEuropean Wines (Page 5)

  My first introduction to Oenops was a few years ago at Athens' Oenorama. My friend, Anna Maria of Unravelling Wine and Chania Wine Tours (who knows everyone in Greek wine) told me that, while not Cretan, Oenops makes the best Vidiano. Nikos Karatzas founded Oenops Wines in 2015. While his winery sits in Drama in the eastern part of Macedonia, his grapes come from everywhere. Karatzas tours Greece looking for high-quality, native grapes like Xinomavro, Limniona, Malagousia, Assyrtiko, Roditis, and of course, Vidiano. Once he's found a grower, he works almost like a micro-négociant creating partnerships with growers who share his ideals. In the winery, Karatzas strives to make low

  Bubbles bubbles everywhere! This month, Deanna from Wineivore has invited the #WinePW crew to explore Cava. Join us for a brief chat on Twitter Saturday, July 8 at 11 AM EST (that's 18:00 Istanbul time!) by following the #WinePW hashtag. Cava is an often overlooked sparkling wine. Significantly less expensive (usually) than Champagne but also a traditional method sparkling wine, Cava can be a simple and enjoyable bottle of bubbles. However, there are Cava houses making serious wines with depth and complexity as well. It can be difficult to know what you're getting though. Part of that reason is because, while the "heart" of Cava production is in Catalonia,

  A friend of mine drives back and forth from Istanbul to Austria and back every summer. Last year she drove through Romania on the way back home and stopped a winery where she picked up a couple bottles of wine for me. Fantastic friend that! I know that Romania has a wealth of native grapes and I've had a few, but only in blends which made me even more excited to try these. 1000 de Chipuri Located just north of the Bulgaria-Romania border and a bit west of the Black Sea is 1000 de Chipuri. The name means 1000 faces and pays homage to the people who work in wine.

  As the Italian Food Wine Travel group continues its exploration of Italian wines this year, Katarina from Grapevine Adventures has invited us to look at wines from Umbria and Lazio. You can see her preview of the event here. We'll be chatting about Umbria and Lazio on Twitter on Saturday June 3 at 11 AM EST. Even if you haven't written a blog post about it, join us by following the #ItalianFWT hashtag! I chose to feature a wine from Umbira. A couple cool facts about this region to get us started!: [caption id="attachment_19081" align="alignright" width="500"] Map by www.winetourism.com[/caption] It's the only landlocked region in central/southern Italy An important producer of

  I've had a few wines before from Szászi Birtok and now they're one of the wineries I routinely try to find when I'm in Budapest. The very first of their wines I had was a Kéknyelű which immediately became one of my favorite grapes. On a not so recent trip, I managed to snag another of their wines: a Rózsakő. Szászi Birtok Owned and operated by Endre Szászi and his wife, Szászi Birtok is one of the oldest certified organic vineyards in Hungary. He farms 24 hectares on the southern slopes of Mount Saint George, Szigliget, Hajagos, and Lesencetomaj where he grows a wide range of grapes including: Riesling, Pinot Gris,

  For May's #ItalianFWT topic, Linda of My Full Wine Glass has invited us to explore the wines of Abruzzo and Le Marche. You can read her invitation here. Don't forget to join us for our Twitter chat on Saturday, May 6 at 11 AM EST ! No need to have written a post for the event, jump in with the #italianfwt hashtag and let us know which wines from these regions you have enjoyed! Unusually, I was spoiled for wine choice for this event! In the end, I chose a Pecorino from Le Marche. I've only had this grape a small handful of times before but, loving acid as

  Moldovan wine has been quietly moving into the Turkish wine market for a few years. Unsurprisingly, a fair amount from Purcari. The story of Chateau Purcari mirrors the story of Moldovan wine itself. In 1827 Tzar Nicholas I issued a special decree granting Purcari the status of the first specialized winery in Bessarabia. Run by German immigrants for most of the nineteenth century, the winery first achieved fame in 1878 when a bottle of Negru de Purcari won a gold medal at a Paris exhibition. Chateau Purcari went on to survive nationalization and the Soviets, several wars, and emerged into the new Republic of Moldova pretty much where

  This month, Katarina of Grapevine Adventures has invited the #ItalianFWT group to explore the wines of Calabria and Sardegna. Check out her invitation here. Of these two southern regions, I chose to focus on Sardegna as I was lucky enough recently to get my hands on two wines.  I was really hoping I could get both wines to pair with the same dishes. A little bit of a challenge as I had both a white and a red. It didn't work out so well for the red. Something I saw coming but barreled into (haha pun) anyway. The "herb garden" chicken, boiled chicken marinated overnight in olive oil and lots

  I can't believe my visit to Crete was so long ago now. I went a few Decembers ago for a friend's 40th birthday. According to Unraveling Wine, we had the dubious luck to experience the worst winter weather she's had in her entire time there. Also an earthquake.  Despite that, I made many amazing wine discoveries. One of my favorites - Thrapsathiri.  [caption id="" align="alignleft" width="274"] photo from Wines of Greece[/caption] Thrapsathiri / Θραψαθήρι While Vidiano holds the spot as the white grape on Crete, Thrapsathiri quickly gaining popularity. Highly drought resistant, it does well in the hottest areas of the island. High yields lead to poor fruit and wines so producers

  Markogianni was not a winery with which I was familiar. A friend recommended this wine and, really, as soon as I saw the label, I was sold. Vorias (Βορέας) god of the north wind and Helios ( Ἠέλιος) is of course, the god of the sun, two things that influence their vineyards, are beautifully depicted in their label. Then I drank it. This one wine was all it took really to sell me on the whole winery. I cannot wait to get back to Athens and snap up as many different of their wines as possible! Located to the far west of the country, near the Ionian sea and