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Red Wine

HomeRed Wine (Page 23)

  Mixed in my boxes of Advent wine I put a few disguised bottles. Because I don't have a wine geek community here I don't get to practice blind tasting a lot. My cat, Sherlock has yet to learn wine service and it's mighty tricky to choose, open, and pour a bottle completely blindfolded. Since I chose these wines months ago I thought I might stand a chance of forgetting what a few of them are and disguised a couple labels. This morning I pulled out the first of these! I managed to open the bottle without getting a peek at the cork. So, off to a good start! The medium

  Every year I'm envious of friends in the States who get wine Advent calendars. When I was a kid I found those little chocolate Advent calendars absolutely delightful. Occasionally I still send them to my siblings for the nostalgia. As an adult - and a wine lover! - a wine Advent calendar speaks to every part of me! But clearly we don't have those in Turkey. So I made my own! Well to be totally honest, two months ago I selected 26 bottles and moved them to a different part of my wine room. Some I covered in hopes that I might be able to make a blind tasting

  My brush with Jordanian wine comes thanks to my friend E who travels extensively for work. She bought me two bottles of Jordan River wine from Haddad Estates & Vineyards on her last trip to Amman. The first winery in Jordan, its wines were not released internationally, under the name Jordan River, until 2004. Some interesting facts about Hadded Estates & Vineyards/Jordan River: Founded in 1953 by Muthieb M. Haddad Located at 850 meters above sea level in the basalt soils of the Mountain Heights Plateau White grapes cultivated include: Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, Pinot Grigio, Riesling, Roussanne, Sauvignon Blanc, and Viognier Black grapes include: Barbera, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot

  Now one of the most widely known grapes in Turkey, Kalecik Karası was nearly lost to history.  This grape was nearly extinct until the 1970s when it was reborn. While studying for his Ph.D. in agriculture at Ankara University, Prof. Dr. Y. Sabit Ağaoğlu elected to form his thesis around clonal studies of dried Kalecik Karası vines. He finished his thesis and wound up with not only his doctorate but also a small vineyard. Rather than abandon it, and the grape he revived, he and wife decided to continue to work the vineyard and make wine. Sadly, his wife has since passed but the godfather of Kalecik Karası continues

  I frequently lament the vast amount of Bordeaux-style blends we have in Turkey. Partially because it does get rather tedious to drink the same blends over and over. Mostly though because Turkey has a plethora (1240+ at last count) of its own grapes! Of which we see maybe 40 in wine. But since I do so often complain about the sea of wanna be Bordeaux here, I thought maybe I should talk about a few of them for once. But first

  While it has been some time since my birthday (August) I still vividly recall one of the wines we drank: the Chateau Kalpak Petit Verdot 2010. Every year for my birthday I haul a suitcase full of wine, cheeses, and other delicacies to spend a night or two at my friend Istanbites' home on Büyükada. Despite my birthday being in the height of Istanbul summer heat, I don't bring only white wines. I choose a selection of white, red, bubbles, and sweet that I've been saving up all year. One special wine I chose this year was this single varietal Petit Verdot. I've had it for a few years

  While 2010 is not really that old as far as aged wines go, it’s old for the Turkish market. Finding wine commercially (frankly sometimes even at the winery) that’s more than a handful of vintages old is unusual. A lot of wine enthusiasts in Turkey have started to wonder if Turkish wine ages well or not. I cannot speak for all the wines, but this one sure did. Pamukkale Meridies Boğazkere Cabernet Franc 2010  For the Meridies Boğazkere Cabernet Franc, Pamukkale blended Boğazkere from Diyarbakır with Cab Franc from the Güney Plateau in Denizli. The Boğazkere underwent carbonic maceration to help bring out more of the grape’s fruit characteristics and

  Today is International Xinomavro Day! This new grape holiday was established only last year. While I missed my chance to post about it in 2019, I'm very excited to talk about Xinomavro this year. I previously wrote about Kokkinos Xinomavro (which was lovely). And while several bottles languish in my wine room, I do not often drink Xinomavro. At least not as often as I'd like! Today is a good reason to bust out some tasking notes though. But first, let's talk about the grape itself. Xinomavro Xinomavro (ksi-NO-mav-row) grows mainly in Northern Greece. The PDO most famous for this grape is Naoussa but it grows well also in Amyndeo, Goumenissa,