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  My adventures with Turkish wine importer, Fine Turkish Wine, continue! Well at least the writing of them does, the adventures themselves ended in November. And it's taking ever so much longer to write about these visits than it took to make them! After two days in Trakya (aka Thrace), visiting first Arcadia, then Arda and Gürbüz Winery we headed for the Aegean. In this region, our first stop was Kuzubağ, then we went on to Heraki, and then on to Kastro Tireli which hosted a mega tasting for us.  Kastro Tireli It's been many years since I last visited Kastro Tireli, and I'm glad we were following José. I vividly recall

  My adventures with Turkish wine importer, Fine Turkish Wine, continue! Well at least the writing of them does, the adventures themselves ended in November. And it's taking ever so much longer to write about these visits than it took to make them! After two days in Trakya (aka Thrace), visiting first Arcadia, then Arda and Gürbüz Winery we headed for the Aegean. In this region, our first stop was Kuzubağ, and then we were on to Heraki. And buckle up, this post turned out much longer than I anticipated! [caption id="attachment_22367" align="alignright" width="500"] Çal vineyards by Rob İçsezen[/caption] Heraki Heraki Wines is, at its heart, a love story. First between its founders,

  My adventures with Turkish wine importer, Fine Turkish Wine, continue! Well at least the writing of them does, the adventures themselves ended in November. And it's taking ever so much longer to write about these visits than it took to make them! After two days in Trakya (aka Thrace), visiting first Arcadia, then Arda and Gürbüz Winery we headed for the Aegean.  First stop, Kuzubağ! Kuzubağ  Kuzubağ Şaraphane is one of the new generation wineries working to raise the profile of the Çal region. More than just a member of the Çal Bağ Yolu, Kuzubağ is (in my considerable opinion), the best of them. A family-run affair, the Kuzu family

  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?

  Label designs for wine is a big business. As with any company working on its marketing plan, a winery has to decide how it wants to present itself. Do they have an old-school Schloss or Chateau vibe? Do they want people to think of them as young, fresh, or unpretentious? Depending on the vibe they're going for, a winery might have a whole concept and their labels reflect one specific style. Or maybe they have (sometimes wildly) different styles for different wine series.  And then there are the times when a winery, with a very specific label style, releases a new line with entirely new branding. That's what happened

  This year the Jancis Robinson summer writing competition theme was "my favorite grape". Both an easy and yet incredibly difficult topic! My entry was not short-listed but I wanted to share it anyway.  My favorite grape: Çal Karası. Falling for Çal Karası What is a ‘favorite’ grape, anyway? Is it the one you prefer to drink? The one that challenges you? Or the one that you connect with emotionally? For many, each of those questions could be answered by a different grape. I believe that wine lovers drink wine for reasons beyond its pleasant taste. We’re the people who, while our friends roll their eyes, wax poetic about agriculture, argue about the

  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

  This post contains affiliate links Last June I visited Sofia for the first time. What a charming little city! Which maybe sounds slightly condescending but a) I don't mean it that way at all and b) almost anywhere is little when you live in Istanbul. I had a marvelous time exploring the Bulgarian wine scene there. For people like me who don't like to drive, the city offers quite a few opportunities to learn about and experience the wine. One of the places where I got a great crash course was Tempus Vini.  Tempus Vini Kalin Kushev's passion for wine went from hobby to business when he opened Tempus Vini in

  Except for my weird friend, Roy, I don't know anyone who doesn't at least like sparkling wine. For me, it's hands down my favorite wine category. I'm fascinated by the different processes by which it is made, how each creates a different style of wine, and offers different aromas and flavors. You could take the same grape from the same vineyard and make three very different sparkling wines with the traditional, charmat, and ancestral methods. Little surprise then, that I love exploring sparkling wine anytime I travel. For sure I like Prosecco, Champagne, and Cava