Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Morbi eu nulla vehicula, sagittis tortor id, fermentum nunc. Donec gravida mi a condimentum rutrum. Praesent aliquet pellentesque nisi.
I don't write much about Kutman wines (anymore). While the winery continues to put out new vintages, it hasn't released a "new" wine of late so it's fallen a bit off my radar. However, I happened to have a bottle of the Kutman Kalecik Karası gathering dust in my wine room. I bought it years ago when we visited for the book interview. At first it just got shuffled around and then it started to get older and I wanted to see how much longer I could age it. Finally curiosity got the better of me and I opened my Adnan Kutman Kalecik Karası 2010. But before we get
Read More
Two years ago, I won a writing contest about Hungarian wine run by Hungarian Wine.EU. You can read my winning piece here! Part of the win included a study tour to several of Hungary's wine regions. On our first day, we spent the night at Dominium Pincészet. We tasted several of their wines at a Mátra regional tasting and later at their winery were able to taste a few more. That's where I learned about the grape Turán. And, after learning that it was my birthday, founder Dániel Orbán very kindly gifted me with a bottle! Dominium Pincészet Dániel Orbán, one of the founders of Dominium Pincészet found inspiration in his father's
Read More
I didn't have a horizontal picture of this wine so I hope you enjoy this picture of Sherlock lounging in one of my serving dishes. I've had my eye on Chatzivaritis for a while and would love to visit this estate. I initially fell in love with their Migma Pét-Nat and have since had the chance to try a number of their wines. One I was particularly excited to bring home was this Carbonic Negoska, Negoska being a Greek grape that I don't know very well. And there's nothing I love so much as learning about new grapes! Κτήμα Χατζηβαρύτη / Chatzivaritis Estate Chatzivaritis Estate, founded by Vagelis Chatzivaritis and his wife
Read More
Foça Karası is a grape we still don't know a lot about in Turkey. In Greece, where it's known as Fokiano, it's grown mostly on two or three of the Aegean islands where they use it in red, rosé, and sweet wines. In Turkey, Foça Karası grows in the Aegean region in the (surprise) Foça district outside Izmir. Two of the Urla wineries include small amounts in red blends and Öküzgözü Şarapçılık has been the only winery making varietal wines with the grape. Until now. I don't write about Yazgan a lot. Partially because I've had cause several times to be highly annoyed with them but also because, aside from the
Read More
Akberg winery is off and running since its addition of "real" vs fruit wine (for more on that check out this post). While it puts a heavy emphasis on native grapes with wines from Narince, Bornova Misketi, Papazkarası, and lesser known varieties like Osmanca; the winery also makes a few international grape-based wines. I first tried their Shiraz, which they source from vineyards in Denizli in the inner Aegean, at one of GustoBar's tasting events. It wasn't my favorite (spoiler) but I found it
Read More
Every year - well every year that I remember - I like to do a quick review of the wines I posted about during the year that I most enjoyed, that most surprised me, etc. So with no further ado, let's jump into my favorite Turkish wines of 2022! My Favorite Sparkling Wines Sparkling wines are always going to be at the tippy top of my list! Not many new sparkling wines were released this year but, even if it were the only one, the Arcadia Pét-Nat Sauvignon Gris would still sit at the top of the tippy top. Yaşasın is not new but it still makes my list. This year, I
Read More
If a Cabernet Shiraz blend from Akın Gürbüz has a hint of deja vous about it for you, you wouldn't be wrong. The Gürbüz Blend #1 also contains both Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz. If I recall correctly the story (which I hope I do!). Blend #1 was, as the name might indicate, the first blend he made. Later, after completing and bottling the blend, Akın repeated the blend. However, it was a separate batch from the first blend. As such, he did not feel comfortable bottling it under the same name because, to him, it was not the same thing and he didn't want to deceive anyone. If
Read More
While I've written about it a number of times now, Patkara is still something of an emerging grape in Turkey. The first glimpse we had of it was a handful of years ago from Urla Şarapçılık. In association with Anatolian grape expert Umay Çeviker and Tasheli, it was part of a limited release "Discovery" series. Why it remains relatively obscure has nothing to do with the grape's quality or suitability for wine production, and more to the fact that it's a highly localized grape grown where wineries are scarce. In fact, only two small, family-run wineries are dedicated to it: Tasheli and Selefkia. Patkara is at home on the
Read More
I'm not going to go into my rant about "natural" wine and why it offends me. Been there, done that. So if I've already bought the ticket to that show and walked out of the theater, why am I buying it? That's a good question. The 'why' in this case comes down to the fact that I trust Barbare to bottle a good wine, regardless of what they did (or didn't do) to it before the cork went in. Nötr in Turkish means "neutral", "minimal", "subtle". Made with organic grapes, fermented with ambient yeast, and no sulfites added prior to bottling, the Barbare Nötr Merlot seems to follow the
Read More