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Turkish Wine

HomeTurkish Wine (Page 26)

  [caption id="attachment_16139" align="alignleft" width="225"] Pürneşe red label[/caption] Pürneşe is a semi-new series from Vino Dessera. Occupying a place in the winery's mid-range line up, the Pürneşe series includes a red blend and a blush. I have had them both but it was the blush that really stood out for me. Vino Dessera brings in grapes from vineyards across Turkey. For the Pürneşe Blush, they used Çalkarası and Kalecik Karası from Denizli in the western Aegean. Kalecik Karası we frequently see as both varietal and blended rosés. Very few wineries really work with Çalkarası though. The exception to that has been Paşaeli and it's nice to see other wineries, like Vino Dessera,

  7Bilgeler (or Yedi Bilgeler as you prefer) has long produced wines I've liked and admired. My one issue was that all the wines were international grape-based. No longer! The southern Aegean-based winery has released two* new varietal native grape wines under a new 'Vindemia' label: an Emir and Kalecik Karası. *7Bilgeler has used small amounts of Kalecik Karası for a while in blends and has now also released a Chardonnay-Emir blend under different labels. 7Bilgeler Vindemia Defne Emir, 2020 While I don't particularly love it when wineries drag grapes across the country, I must admit that Emir planted outside of Central Anatolia's Cappadocia region just doesn't work. At least not so

  If Turkey has a workhorse grape, this is it. Grown in the abundant vineyards of Denizli in Turkey's Aegean region, Çalkarası (chal-car-as-ser) has often been used to support red blends. In blends, it lends some acidity to flabby grapes and fills out a wine if the preferred grapes didn't do so well that year. Meaning the "black from Çal" this grape prefers the clay loam and chalky soils of, you guessed it, Çal (a district in the Denizli province). The dark purple have a slightly elongated shape, are small to medium in size, and don't have especially thin skins. They retain acidity well and when vinified as a red wine,

  While I list places to drink wine on my Istanbul Wine Guide page, I realized that I've never done proper reviews of any of these places. Rather than beginning at the beginning (which to me is Solera); I shall start with the place I most recently visited. Carafe Istanbul Wine & Bistro. The busy Barbaros Bulvari in chaotic, university area Beşiktaş is the last place I would look for a place like Carafe Istanbul. And yet. Immediately Carafe Istanbul sets itself apart from the coffee houses and cheap burger and kebab places around it with its bright, royal blue deck walls. Colorful glass panels separate inside from outside and

  “Body” strikes one as a strange word to use to describe a liquid. One thinks of a body as something solid. However, one [of the many!] definition describes it as the “consistency, denseness, or richness” of a substance. And it is that definition we mean when we talk about the “body” of a wine. Body is how wine feels in your mouth. Okay, so now we know what body in wine is. How do we know where the various Turkish grapes fall in this light, medium, full-bodied spectrum? There is one aspect of body that we have not discussed yet and that is the grape variety itself. By their

  Like the Likya Öküzgözü I was crushing on last week, Saranta winery also grows this grape outside its traditional home of Elazığ. Unlike Likya, Saranta is not based in the Mediterranean region, but in Turkey's Thrace. Specifically, the northern area of Kırklareli. Despite being on opposite sides of the country, the two regions do share a few features, namely elevation, and cool(er) growing climates. Although Kırklareli definitely has the Mediterranean beat there! Spread along the foot of the Istranca Massif, this is a place with cold, snowy winters. Thanks to those mountains though, it's also a place of highly diverse and often quartz and mineral-rich soils.  Saranta has grown

  The bulk of Öküzgözü in Turkey grows in the grape's homeland of Elazığ in Eastern Anatolia. The most widely-planted Turkish black grape sometimes gets trucked hundreds of kilometers from Elazığ to other parts of the country for production. However, it's not the most widely-planted grape for nothing.  Öküzgözü now grows in, I dare saw, all eight wine regions. It has proven to be adaptable to a variety of soil types and climates. I have enjoyed trying Öküzgözü from different regions to see how these adaptations reflect in wine.  Likya Şarapları is one of Turkey's Mediterranean wineries. Although you wouldn't know it when you visit! Located in Elmalı, it sits quite

  Given my recent complain about the current trend for blanc de noir Papazkarası and the lack of good red wines made with it, I thought it was time to take a look at Chamlija's newest blend, PaPiKa.  Chamlija is one of the few wineries really paying attention to this grape. The winery produces a handful of wines with Papazkarası (or Papaskarası as it's sometimes spelled) including varietals like the Kara Sevda and blends. Chamlija also produces the grape in all colors possible. This new wine takes its name directly from the blend: PA for Papazkarası (35%) PI for Pinot Noir (35%) KA for Kalecik Karası (30%) Chamlija PaPiKa, 2019 The blend aged

  The Urla district of İzmir in Turkey's Aegean region has become a hotbed of trendy wineries. Many belong to the Urla Bağ Yolu (the easiest wine route to navigate). Even those that do not though are not so far off the path. The newest winery to open its doors is Hus Şarapçılık. Founded in 2017 by Juan Pablo Diaz Leon and Ceylan Ertörer Diaz Leon, Hus Şarapçılık is a family venture that blends the Chilean wine background of Juan Pablo's family, and the agricultural history belong to Ceylan's family. When I talk about the Turkish-Greek population exchange of the 1920s, it's usually about the Greeks leaving Turkey (as that directly