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Red Wine

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  Iranian food meets Turkish wine? How often does this happen? Hopefully more and more often now if this Bitter & Sweet pairing inspires anyone! My friend Lorraine introduced me to The Caspian Chef some time ago. She tangentially knows him through a cousin and thought I would appreciate his style. I immediately fell in love with his recipes and way of cooking. So, when his cookbook, Bitter & Sweet came out, she got it for me. Apparently, The Caspian Chef - otherwise known as Omid Roustaei - and Lorraine's cousin 'do enjoy a wine of an evening' (imagine you're hearing this delivered in my friend's plummy British accent). So,

  Every year, wineries in Turkey release new wine vintages (I mean, of course they do). But new wines are much rarer. Finding out about them isn't always easy either given the ban on advertising alcohol. Sometimes, a wine enthusiast such as myself stumbles across a new wine (or even winery) via social media. Or, in a wine shop.  That's exactly how I learned about the latest release from The Wine Experience Project. Wine Experience Project Created by Göknur Gündoğan and Işık Gülçubuk, they launched the Wine Experience Project, aka Wine Ambassadors at the end of 2020. Per the group's mandate, The Wine Experience Project respects vine, wine, and are “winebassadors” who

  Disclaimer: I received these wines as samples. All opinions are my own. This article contains affiliate links. A couple years ago, I stumbled across Sagavin's wines, maybe on Instagram. I ordered a few bottles to give them a go, but unfortunately, they soon after fell off my radar. Sagavin has wines in maybe a couple few restaurants in Istanbul, but not in shops. I'd contacted the owner, Uğur, a couple few months ago as I wanted to make sure to include them in edition 2 of The Essential Guide to Turkish Wine (coming soon! - I hope, I feel like I've been saying that for months). He reached back

  Despite the massive expense and roadblocks thrown up by the current government, wine production in Turkey continues to expand. Each regions grows a little more every year - be it a new winery, a new grape, new wine offerings, or expanded vineyards. Over the last couple years, Thrace has seen a boom in most of those areas (excepting the new grapes), with Prius Winery becoming one of the region's newest wineries. It came on the scene maybe two years ago. But, I only recently was able to get my hands on some of their wine.  Prius Winery Does Prius Winery need this whole section with a big 'heading 2' sub-title?

  Lent was a wee little while ago. But, I've never been great about blogging about wine as I drink it. Why is Lent even important to the story? I'm glad you asked! I am a big fan of Fat Tuesday - the day before Ash Wednesday when Lent and fasting begins. Catholic fasts are pretty weak sauce when held up against other religions, but I still love Fat Tuesday. This year, I decided to go full Georgian feast and get takeout from one of Istanbul's Georgian restaurants. Naturally, therefore, I needed a Georgian wine to pair! In my wine room exists a collection of dust encrusted red Georgian wines.

  Disclaimer: Tomurcukbağ flew me to Ankara for the experience but all opinions are my own. The wineries in Kalecik have not traditionally encouraged visiting. When Tafli opened a few years ago, they were really the first to do so. It's a shame, on several levels, that wine tourism isn't more encouraged in Kalecik. It's literally the home turf of one of the country's greatest grapes. There are multiple wineries all relatively close to one another. It's also easily accessible and a short-ish drive from Ankara. While there's no full-blown wine route here yet, Kalecik does seem to be opening up a little. First was Tafali, and now the iconic Tomurcukbağ

  There's so much advice, so many opinions and stories about pairing wine and chocolate floating around. The dos and don'ts of pairing the two can be a little complicated. On the one hand, even dark chocolate is sweet which makes pairing it with dry wine tricky. On the other hand, milk or dark chocolate are really wrong with sweet (white) wines. If you want to be on the safe side, chocolate with sweet red wine is usually a winner. But why limit yourself? A few years ago, an Instagram algorithm introduced me to a local chocolate maker and I felt inspired to pair wine with her chocolates. The pairing

  How do you pair fine Turkish wine with one of the country's iconic staples, börek? That's a question I found myself asking recently.  For ages, my friend, Başak, has been telling me that she wants me to try this 'amazing' börekci in her mother's neighborhood.  Not that I dislike börek, far from it, but my börek experiences in Istanbul have always left me a little cold. She finally wore me down, but I thought, let's turn this into a wine pairing exercise. We were for sure going to be drinking wine anyway so, wine not? Börek Börek is a traditional food found throughout Turkey, the Balkans, arguably Greece with its

  Have you ever wondered what kind of wine Homer drank? It seems that he was a fan of Limnio, (one of) the oldest grape variety in Greece.  This month, Susannah of Avvinare invited the #WorldWineTravel group to explore the lesser-known wine regions of the world. Greek wine has seen a major increase in popularity over the last few years, especially in America. However, mostly what people know is Santorini and Assyrtiko. Or, maybe you've heard of the Peloponnese and Agiorgitiko. But not many people have heard of or had wine from the Slopes of Meliton in Macedonia. PDO Slopes of Meliton/ΠΟΠ Πλαγιές Μελίτωνα Situated in the southern part of

  Disclaimer: This post includes wines received as a sample. All opinions are my own. Just when you thought Heraki winery couldn’t get any better… they've dropped new wines that’ll make your taste buds dance. Alternately bold, unexpected, and impossibly smooth — these bottles are the next chapter in your wine love story. Are you ready to uncork something unforgettable? And yes, these aren't exactly "new" anymore. But we all know that my writing usually lags a bit behind my drinking! Heraki Heraki’s story could easily be told as a love letter to Turkey. Founded in 2019 by Fulya Akinci and José Hernandez-Gonzalez —whose names combine to form “Heraki”—the winery is a tribute to their

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