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Red Wine

HomeRed Wine (Page 14)

  I was so excited when the #WinePW 2021 calendar came out and Deanna from Wineivore suggested a Greek wine theme. You can view her initiation for this month's event here. If you can, join us on Twitter on Saturday, December 11 at 8am PT/11am ET and follow the #WinePW hashtag to join our discussion! Next to Turkish wine, I probably know Greek wine the best (which is NOT to say I'm at all an expert!). Yes we're neighbors and we share a few grapes but we don't get a lot of Greek wine in Turkey. However, two of my best friends live in Athens and regular visits over the

  Cabernet Franc doesn't get a whole month of celebration the way Merlot does. And while #CabFranc day has passed (you can read my post about that here!) I've still got Cab Franc on the brain! How convenient then that I have some unwritten up tasting notes lying around. Chamlija has been flirting with Cabernet Franc for years now. In fact, it was their original Cabernet Franc that really made me start paying attention to this grape here. I don't ever see that on the market anymore (sad) as the winery has moved into higher-end wines. With matching higher-end prices

  Last year, the #WinePW group celebrated the December 4 #CabFrancDay with pairings and wines from around the world. I of course joined in with a selection of Cab Franc wines from Turkey. This year the blog group chose another theme for December, but I'm celebrating the day regardless. And I am so thrilled to, at long last, be able to celebrate it with not just any Cab Franc, but with a bottle of wine from Dracaena Wines, the #CabFrancDay founders! The Story of Dracaena Wines and #CabFrancDay Lori and Michael Budd's winemaking story has a familiar ring to it. Wine lovers who became winemakers. But that's where the familiarity ends.

  It's December and Christmas is around the corner!! Is your tree up? Mine is and this year it's covered with a new selection of wine label ornaments! So far not even naughty Dr. Watson has attempted to climb it. Perhaps she'll received more than a lump of coal in her stocking this! What does your horoscope say you should try drinking in December? Read on and find out! Aquarius (January 20 - February 18) Take this month to stop and check in with yourself. How has the past year affected you? Often we blow off a lot of the external things in our life and don't pay attention to how much

  In 2005, the Erdem Yılmaze and his wife were lured by friends to the Çömelek village near Mersin on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast. Enchanted by the quality of the local grapes and lingering evidence, in the form of ancient grape processing areas carved into the rocks and grape and goblet motif reliefs on ancient, nearby tombs, they took up the challenge to stay and make wine here. In 2010, with many trials and learning experiences behind them, they officially established Tasheli Şarap. Since then, they've done a lot of work to bring Turkey’s attention to the local Patkara grape. Tasheli features it in varietal red and rosé wines as well as

  While for reasons beyond my ken Karasakız is not more popular in Turkey, it is certainly one of the country's most facile grapes. Also called 'Kuntra' the Karasakız (kar-ah-sah-kiz) grape is the oldest grape variety grown on the island of Bozcaada. Records show it growing here for at least 500 years. It likes a warmer climate and, in addition to Bozcaada, also grows on the southern part of the Gallipoli Peninsula and the Sea of Marmara island, Avşa. On Bozcaada, the grape is known exclusively as Kuntra. Here, where high winds can severely damage grapes and grape leaves, vines grow in head-trained, goblet bushes to protect the grapes. Elsewhere where

  Edirne-based Arda Bağcılık has been a favorite winery of mine for years now. One of the first I ever visited in Turkey, this family-run winery makes wines that I think get overlooked. On the one hand, it's terrible because they're not getting the recognition I think they deserve. On the other, it keeps the prices down and I am not mad at that! While they make an outstanding Narince and have recently really begun to highlight Thracian native Papazkarası, their focus rests largely on international varieties. Even that I'm not necessarily mad at, maybe because they do it so well! Both Arda's reserve red wines and the middle Kuşlu

  One of the very first boxes I received from the Oenotrian wine club was themed to look at how Turkish wine ages. The box contained two different vintages of four wines. Because I acquire wine at a much faster rate than I drink it, I unintentionally aged several of the wines even more while they stayed buried in my wine room. Honestly, I don't even remember when I got these! Finally I got around to drinking what I think was the last pair of wines from that box: Pamukkale's Nodus Cabernet Sauvignon. If you're outside Turkey, you probably know the name Pamukkale only as the fascinating, brilliant white, limestone travertine

  It's November and we're fully into Autumn. For some people, cooler weather means a switch to red wine. But much like I will happily eat ice cream no matter how cold it is out, I would also still prefer to drink white wine! Is that what my horoscope holds for me this month? What does your horoscope say you should try drinking in November? Read on and find out! Aquarius (January 20 - February 18) This is going to be a good month for you if you've been struggling to achieve a goal or move forward in your career. Breakthroughs are on the horizon but don't get distracted by some communication

  The last few weeks, I've posted about wineries like Likya and Saranta growing Öküzgözü outside of it's traditional home. This week, I'm making an about-face to talk about a winery using Öküzgözü from Elazığ. Uçmakdere.  With the Sea of Marmara lapping against the shore just a few steps from this family-run winery, the view here differs greatly from that in land-locked Elazığ. But the grapes were just as happy to be made into wine here after they arrived from their journey. In the winery they joined Syrah from Barbaros in Tekirdağ (which had a much shorter trip!). One of the first, if not the first vintage Uçmakdere produced, I don't