My homemade Advent wine calendar consists of two case-sized boxes. About two months ago I pull 26 wines from my collection and put them in these boxes. Every day I plan to pull out one wine in the morning (in case it's white and requires chilling!) and at some point during the day drink, write, and post about it! I visited Datça Bağcılık ve Şarapçılık
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Every year I'm envious of friends in the States who get wine Advent calendars. When I was a kid I found those little chocolate Advent calendars absolutely delightful. Occasionally I still send them to my siblings for the nostalgia. As an adult - and a wine lover! - a wine Advent calendar speaks to every part of me! But clearly we don't have those in Turkey. So I made my own! Well to be totally honest, two months ago I selected 26 bottles and moved them to a different part of my wine room. Some I covered in hopes that I might be able to make a blind tasting
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Gordias winery, based in Polatlı (near Ankara), rests in the hands of former pharmacist Canan Gerimli. The winery posses a cleaner and Canan brings in people to help during harvest. Otherwise, she does all the work herself. This one-woman army makes an array of red, rosé, and white wines with both native and international grapes. Her Cabernet Franc, Boğazkere, and Narince count among some of my favorites here. And as if making 10 wines on her own wasn't enough; this year Canan introduced us to two new grapes: Fesleğen and Narınç. Gerimli was on the lookout for grapes in her region that needed some love. After doing extensive research
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Now one of the most widely known grapes in Turkey, Kalecik Karası was nearly lost to history. This grape was nearly extinct until the 1970s when it was reborn. While studying for his Ph.D. in agriculture at Ankara University, Prof. Dr. Y. Sabit Ağaoğlu elected to form his thesis around clonal studies of dried Kalecik Karası vines. He finished his thesis and wound up with not only his doctorate but also a small vineyard. Rather than abandon it, and the grape he revived, he and wife decided to continue to work the vineyard and make wine. Sadly, his wife has since passed but the godfather of Kalecik Karası continues
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Turasan winery, based in Turkey's iconic Cappadocia, holds the spot as not only the largest winery in Cappadocia, but one of Turkey's most recognizable brands. Operating since the early 1940s, Turasan has built a reputation for consistent quality. Sometimes the quality is quite good. Other times
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I frequently lament the vast amount of Bordeaux-style blends we have in Turkey. Partially because it does get rather tedious to drink the same blends over and over. Mostly though because Turkey has a plethora (1240+ at last count) of its own grapes! Of which we see maybe 40 in wine. But since I do so often complain about the sea of wanna be Bordeaux here, I thought maybe I should talk about a few of them for once. But first
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While it has been some time since my birthday (August) I still vividly recall one of the wines we drank: the Chateau Kalpak Petit Verdot 2010. Every year for my birthday I haul a suitcase full of wine, cheeses, and other delicacies to spend a night or two at my friend Istanbites' home on Büyükada. Despite my birthday being in the height of Istanbul summer heat, I don't bring only white wines. I choose a selection of white, red, bubbles, and sweet that I've been saving up all year. One special wine I chose this year was this single varietal Petit Verdot. I've had it for a few years
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While 2010 is not really that old as far as aged wines go, it’s old for the Turkish market. Finding wine commercially (frankly sometimes even at the winery) that’s more than a handful of vintages old is unusual. A lot of wine enthusiasts in Turkey have started to wonder if Turkish wine ages well or not. I cannot speak for all the wines, but this one sure did. Pamukkale Meridies Boğazkere Cabernet Franc 2010 For the Meridies Boğazkere Cabernet Franc, Pamukkale blended Boğazkere from Diyarbakır with Cab Franc from the Güney Plateau in Denizli. The Boğazkere underwent carbonic maceration to help bring out more of the grape’s fruit characteristics and
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It's #Merlober! Earlier this month I participated in the #WinePW conversation about #Merlot which you can read about here. While my original intent was to have that as my sole #MerlotMe post this month, I felt so inspired by many of the pairings the group came up with so I decide to keep going with the theme! One of the wines I featured in my original post was the 2013 Merlot from Chateau Nuzun. I realized, looking back at my notes, that I've had several Merlots from Chateau Nuzun over the last year but never wrote about any of them (other than the 2013). So that's what I want
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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
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