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Sweet Wine

HomeSweet Wine (Page 4)

  For the last four years, Hungarian Wines EU, founded by the fantastic Ágnes Németh, has run a writing competition. This was the first year I'd heard of it (thanks to an email from Ágnes and a nudge from a friend!). I entered in two categories, was a finalist in one (you can read me piece here), and actually won! Huzzah! I never win anything. And this wasn't just anything to win. Winners from each of the four categories (four each in English and four each in Hungarian) were invited to participate in a three-day study tour in Hungary. As soon as I got confirmation, I booked a flight, contacted

  Narince is made into fresh stainless steel aged wines, rich oak-raised wines, and traditional method sparkling wines. They are always dry. Narince is never sweet. No sooner were the words out of my mouth at a semi-recent wine tasting focusing on this grape than what did I see at the grocery? A semi-sweet Narince wine. Narince is the Black Sea grape. While many wineries work with independent growers in the region or have their own vineyards there, only Diren winery actually makes wine on site. Despite that, the winery has done remarkably little with the grape. I like the Diren Collection Narince quite a lot. I think it stands as

  I love sweet wines. Perhaps I have mentioned that a time or two on this blog! I'd been curious about the Corvus Passito, having seen it around, for years. But it's not an inexpensive wine. It shouldn't be, right? Passito wines are not cheap to produce so they shouldn't be cheap to sell. But when you're looking at that price tag, sometimes it doesn't matter if you understand that or not. A few summers ago, I again found myself on the Aegean island Bozcaada, home base for Corvus. At the winery's Wine and Bites café/shop I was able to purchase the wine by the glass and finally try. Love.

  It was recently pointed out to me that I never posted a list of my favorite wines from 2020. In fact, I have not posted a list like that since 2017! How embarrassing. However, I feel happy that someone reads this often enough to have noticed the oversight! We can all agree that very few of us enjoyed 2020. At least I had wine to cushion the blow! Below is a list of my favorite Turkish wines that I tried this year (in no particular order). Unfortunately my typing is a lot slower than my drinking so I haven’t posted reviews of all of them but for those I

  This month Camilla of Culinary Adventures with Camilla has invited the #Winophiles group to explore French grown around the world. You can view her original invite here. France is home to what are probably the world's most famous and widespread grape varieties. Grapes like Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, and Chardonnay can be found in almost every winemaking country from France to the Italy, the UK, the US, Argentina, Australia, China, and Tunisia. And pretty much everywhere in between! Turkey likewise is not immune to the charms of French grapes. They enjoy an overwhelming popularity here. Few wineries (in fact only four or five come to mind) do not feature a

  Meet, Öküzgözü (oh-cooz-goe-zue), the most commonly planted black Turkish grape variety. This tongue-twisting grape meaning "bull's eye" takes its name from its large, round shape and nearly black color. Originally grown in the red clay and sandy/limestone soils of Mid-Eastern Anatolia (Elazığ); Öküzgözü has spread across Turkey. Plantings now flourish in Mid-Southern Anatolia (Nevşehir / Cappadocia), Mid-Northern Anatolia (Ankara, Uşak), and Thrace (Kırklareli). While Elazığ is home to Öküzgözü, relatively few wineries make their home here. Many wineries either have vineyards there but wineries elsewhere. Or, more commonly, contract with independent growers for their grapes. With three exceptions: Kayra, Eskibağlar, and Kuzeybağ. Kayra, one of Turkey's wine giants, uses its

  Friday heralded the Year of the Ox in the Chinese calendar. The day before happened to be a good friend's birthday. She usually holds a huge Chinese New Year pop up restaurant feast. However, COVID etc, that got canceled this year. Instead she hosted our small bubble for a Singaporean-Chinese new year-birthday feast. I decided to use the opportunity to see how I could pair Turkish wine with Chinese food. I brought a number of wines to the feast to cover as wide a spectrum as I could: whites, semi-sweet, rosé, amber, red

  Much like I couldn't not include a sparkling wine in the Advent boxes 'o wine; I had to also include a sweet wine. I have stacks of sweet wine. As greatly as I love it; I treat it far too preciously and need an 'occasion' for which to open one. The occasion ought to be simply that I want one! Perhaps I will make doing that my new year's resolution! Along with buckling down to study for my Italian Wine Scholar exam, studying my Greek homework more, finding a publisher for my book. Sigh. The new year is starting to look overwhelming! Of all the sweet wines I have, I

  To be honest, this wine did not come out of my boxes 'o Advent wine. I happened to be at a friend's for dinner and she served this with dessert. But I thought, why not include it? I did after all drink it during Advent. So that counts. Georgian wine has a growing popularity in Turkey. However, so far what we get here are European-style wines (i.e. not qvevri aged or skin contact) from the larger, factory wineries. And while Badagoni fits into that large-format category, their wine is not available in Turkey. This I think she got in the UK of all places - which apparently imports a

  Misket, the Turkish name for Muscat, not only makes some of best sweet wines in Turkey but is increasingly known for quality dry wines. Most likely a child of Muscat Blanc á Petit Grains, Bornova Misketi has its own genetic characteristics and is a Turkish grape.  Although it's more common for the black grapes, like many Turkish grapes it takes its name from its place of origin. Bornova Misketi, which means "muscat of Bornova" originated around the village of Bornova just outside Izmir, Turkey's third largest city. It now grows primarily in Manisa in Turkey's Aegean region (of which Izmir is part). Bornova Misketi prefers warm climates and clay and gravel