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Rose Wine

HomeRose Wine (Page 7)

  If you've seen the movie, Sideways, you'll remember the infamous line about Merlot. Some attribute the movie to the grape's loss of popularity in the US. Related or not, growers pulled up some 10,000 acres of Merlot in California alone following the film's unaccountable success. Sales of Merlot were already rebounding by 2013 when #MerlotMe got its start, but the hashtag and its devoted followers I'm sure helped! #MerlotMe takes place during all of October,

  Earlier sunsets, cooler temperatures, and slate grey, rain-threatening skies are heralding the waning of summer in Istanbul. While I completely plan to continue drinking rosé wines throughout the autumn (and likely winter!) now seems like a good time to go through my spring and summer Turkish rosé notes and post about those I haven't written up yet. Kayraklı Şarapçılık Asarcık Rosé, 2019 A new-ish winery, based in the Muğla district of the Aegean, Kayraklı Şarapçılık has just a few vintages under its belt. Although the lack of an established name/quality and limited distribution doesn't stop it from charging outrageous prices for its wine. This rosé, an Öküzgözü - Merlot blend, retails at

  After our tasting and dinner at Lajvér Borbirtok in Szekszárd, we got back in our cars for the day's final drive. Happily, not three hours again. This time just one hour to get us to Villány. Half of us were dropped off at the winery Csányi Pincészet (producers of Teleki Villány wines) to stay in the winery's guesthouse. While day 2 involved a great deal of road time, day 3 of our Hungarian wines tour with Hungarianwines.eu would see us in just this one location. [caption id="attachment_16460" align="alignright" width="451"] Map courtesy of Hungarianwines.eu[/caption] Villány Due to its location in the south of Hungary, near the Croatian border, Villány (pronounced vie-añ) is the

  We left Tornai after our tasting to continue our Hungarian wines tour with Hungarianwines.eu in a different region: Szekszárd. But first, another three hour drive! There was lots of driving on this trip. I was pretty happy to not have to be the one driving at least! I'm usually the one behind the wheel. Plus, all these long drives gave us time to get to know one another. [caption id="attachment_16420" align="alignright" width="449"] Map courtesy of Hungarianwines.eu[/caption] Szekszárd  Szekszárd (sek-sard), was not entirely a new-to-me region in that I'd heard of it and had previously drunk some Szekszárdi wines. But I'd never been before this tip! Located in southern Hungary, a stone's throw from

  I am slowly slowly coming around to rosé. Well, I say "slowly slowly" but I'm discovering more and more wines that I enjoy. In fact, I dare say that I might be a full-on fan of rosé. I've avoided a fair number of wines because of my previously anti-rosé stance and I'm trying to correct that. Now I'm digging up pink wines I'd previously bypassed and have uncovered a couple gems! Prodom, one of Turkey's Aegean wineries based outside İzmir has made a rosé for years. I've never tried it. But when one of my favorite wine shops, Mensis Mahzen, recommended it, I decided to give it a go.

  After lunch at the Paris Passage, we headed east of Budapest to the Mátra region. With vineyards located on the lower slopes of the Mátra mountain range close to the border with Slovakia, this is Hungary's second largest PDO. Just west of Eger, the soils here consist largely of volcanic soils, sand, and loess which contribute to the region's signature aromatic whites and structured red wines. [caption id="attachment_16378" align="alignright" width="500"] Map courtesy of Hungarianwines.eu[/caption] White grape varieties here include Irsai Olivér, Rizlingszilváni, Olaszrizling, Zenit, Leányka, Hárslevelű, Sauvignon Blanc, Szürkebarát (Pinot Gris), Chardonnay, and Tramini. For reds, Kékfrankos dominates but Turán, Zweigelt, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, and Merlot. Getting to Know Mátra We arrived

  While I have embarked on a journey to learn to love rosé, that's not why I bought this one. Of all the wine tasting themes events I've done, one theme I'd never done was pink wine. To correct that, I planned one ages ago and bought all the wine. Then. Pandemic. The wine sat, and sat, and sat some more. By the time I finally did get around to hosting a Drink Pink tasting (which I did a few months ago), all the pink wine I'd previously purchased had sat so long that I couldn't get the same vintages. So, you know, I drank them myself. One of those wine

  Some Turkish grape names are very straightforward. Kalecik Karası, for example, means “black from Kalecik.” Very little to argue about there. Others, like Gök, have unknown origins. A few, like Karalahna, have hotly contested translations. Papazkarası (pa-paz-ka-rah-sih) is the only grape with a spelling dispute! Wineries seem to be split down the middle on whether they spell it Papazkarası, with a ‘z’, or Papaskarası, with an ‘s’.  However it gets spelled, one thing everyone agrees on is that this Thracian variety makes darn good wine.  The name means  “black of the pope” or “pope’s black” which allegedly goes back to the Byzantine era when wines made from this grape were