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.

Red Wine

HomeRed Wine (Page 27)

  Named for its elevation on the Güney Plateau, Sevilen’s 900 series includes three wines: Cabernet Sauvignon, Fumé Blanc, and Petit Verdot. At 900 meters elevation on the plateau, Sevilen’s vineyards experience a large diurnal swing allowing grapes to reach full phenolic ripeness while retaining good levels of acidity. For that reason, these vineyards make some of the winery’s top quality wines. I love Petit Verdot. I’m pretty sure I’ve had every varietal (and most of the blends) Petit Verdot wines in Turkey. Generally I don’t like to say if I have favorites of anything but I can’t not admit that this has been my absolute favorite Petit Verdot. Sevilen 900 Petit

  Suvla Wines, on the tip of the Gallipoli Peninsula offers a huge range of wines. Currently the winery produces some 12 or 13 series. Many wines, like Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Karasakız, and Yapıncak feature across multiple series which gives consumers the chance to compare single grapes across quality levels.  Unfortunately, the Cabernet Franc comes only at the Reserve level. A real pity as I would love to make a comparison tasting. Suvla Reserve Cabernet Franc 2015 Tasting Notes There's a lot of 'medium' happening with this wine: medium alcohol (13.5%), medium-bodied, medium (plus) acidity, a medium ruby color

  As my wine tastings wind down, sometimes a few of my regulars stick around for a chat. More often than not when that happens, I'll take a break from cleaning and open another bottle to share. One night, I reached for a bottle of Shiraz made by a new winery none of us knew much of anything about, Bodrum Winery. I've written about Bodrum Winery a couple few times already, but never about my first experience with their wine. The very first of their wines I tried was the VinBodrum 2014 Shiraz and it was one of those wines I wish I'd saved for myself! Bodrum Winery VinBodrum 2014 Shiraz

  As close as I am to Armenia, living in Turkey, I still haven't visited. A pity as I hear Yeravan is nice. And of course I'd love to check out the wine scene in Armenia. We certainly don't see any here. Relations between Armenia and Turkey being what they are, Armenian wine isn't exactly thick on the ground here. It's not even thin on the ground. Luckily, thanks to some well-traveled friends, the wine came to me. Karas Wines, founded in 2002, is a relatively new winery by anyone's standards, let alone by a country that measures years making wine by the thousands. Yet the winery has already managed

  Vinolus Winery makes possibly my favorite Kalecik Karası wine. Therefore, it came as a great surprise to me whenI realized that I hadn't posted about it yet! A boutique producer in Kayseri, near Cappadocia, Vinolus makes unique wines from organically grown grapes. Oluş Molu and her brother Aziz took over the family farm in the early aughts to create the first ecological farm in Turkey. The project includes 50 acres (20 ha) planted to  native Kalecik Karası and Narince as well as international varieties: Chardonnay, Roussanne, Shiraz, and Tempranillo. Here grapes planted on native rootstock grow on a combination of head and trellis trained vines. Oluş keeps production

  Barel Vineyards was founded in 1997 with the aim of adding a little bit more taste to the life by the Akın family. While Barel’s name comes from the names of two siblings Elif and Barkın Akın brothers; the winery is in the hands of youngest of the Akıns, Barkın. The Akın family was making wine on their land for family and friends years before the winery was officially founded. Barkın, who always had a dream to open a restaurant in his home town, studied gastronomy before settling on his family’s land in Trakya. As a wine lover he believes that you should be able to put a bottle

  Nestled in the sunny slopes of Megara, just 60 km from bustling Athens, lies Ktima Evharis. In 1992, owners Eva-Maria Boehme and Harry Antony began planting Assyrtiko, Malagouzia, Sauvignon Blanc, Roditis, Chardonnay, Agiorgitiko, Syrah, Merlot, and Grenache. Part of PGI Gerania, the vineyards cover about 12 hectares between the Gulfs of Salamis and Corinth, surrounded by tall pine trees and old olive groves. Vines here, many of them traditional goblet, are interspersed with rosemary, lavender, colorful roses and fragrant mimosas, lustrous almond trees and pomegranates; lending the vineyards a Garden of Eden atmosphere. With its limestone soils rich in lava, sand, and fossil shells, cool summer and mild winters, the

  There's some argument here whether or not the grape Karalahna means 'black pumpkin' (per Wine Grapes) or if it's a derivative of the Turkish word for 'kale', karalahana (with an extra 'a'). Regardless, this native Turkish grape a variety rarely seen of its home island Bozcaada. Even on the island only two producers really feature it, Corvus and Çamlıbağ. Bozcaada based winery Corvus is one of the most recognized names in wine in Turkey. When Reşit Söley decided to give up architecture for winemaking, he did it with a meticulousness and considerable energy. Söley threw himself into regenerating old island vineyards and planting new plots. Now, nearly 20 years after

  At the end of November during Turkey's annual Sommeliers' Selection event, I had the chance to participate in a vertical tasting of two wines from Doluca: the Karma Cabernet Sauvignon Öküzgözü and the Karma Shiraz Boğazkere presented by the winery's Education and International Marketing Manager, Ebru Günaçan.  Circa 2000, Doluca owner Ahmet Kutman decided to make the Karma line to show that Turkish grapes could blend well with recognized, European varieties. Blending Turkish and international varieties isn't new (well maybe it was in 2000, that was before I got here).  Now, at least, such blends are not uncommon as a) many of the grapes really do work well together; and