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Turkish Wine

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  Hello, heatwave! July has cannonballed into the pool of your life with flip-flops, sunscreen, and power outages due to everyone turning on their air conditioning. Whether you're road-tripping with your ride-or-dies, firing up the mangal, or just trying to keep your houseplants alive, this month promises surprises that are as spicy as a sidewalk taco stand. I don't understand summer people. Although, to be fair, I don't understand winter  people either. It's just too hot. If only the universe had air conditioning in store for me. Let's see what wine it has in store! Aries (March 21 - April 19) Today in overly bold decisions and caffeine-fueled confidence

  There's so much advice, so many opinions and stories about pairing wine and chocolate floating around. The dos and don'ts of pairing the two can be a little complicated. On the one hand, even dark chocolate is sweet which makes pairing it with dry wine tricky. On the other hand, milk or dark chocolate are really wrong with sweet (white) wines. If you want to be on the safe side, chocolate with sweet red wine is usually a winner. But why limit yourself? A few years ago, an Instagram algorithm introduced me to a local chocolate maker and I felt inspired to pair wine with her chocolates. The pairing

  *this post contains affiliate links A couple weeks ago, I flew to Izmir to give a wine tasting for a group from Roots Adventure Travel. It's been years since I last visited the 7Bilgeler winery, so I felt pretty psyched about going for the tasting. Over the years, 7Bilgeler has slowly added native grape wines to its portfolio, which reminded me that I'd recently opened a bottle of one of its newer wines: the 7Bilgeler Vindemia Rüzgar Karasakız Rosé. Karasakız While there are many grapes in Turkey I like, some of which I like quite a lot, my favorite Turkish black grape is undoubtedly Karasakız.  More well-known as Karasakız ("black gum"), the

  Congratulations, you’ve made it to June — the halfway point of the year, where to-do lists meet beach days, and productivity wrestles with balcony lounging. This is the season of long evenings, spontaneous road trips, and discovering that yes, sunscreen should have been applied 20 minutes ago. June is that magical time when the mangal is always hot, your calendar is suddenly full, and everyone starts pretending they’ve always liked rosé Whether you’re chasing big dreams, weekend naps, or just the ice cream truck, this month brings the perfect blend of chaos and charm. So grab your wine glasses and get ready — June’s here, and it has some new wine recommendations

  How do you pair fine Turkish wine with one of the country's iconic staples, börek? That's a question I found myself asking recently.  For ages, my friend, Başak, has been telling me that she wants me to try this 'amazing' börekci in her mother's neighborhood.  Not that I dislike börek, far from it, but my börek experiences in Istanbul have always left me a little cold. She finally wore me down, but I thought, let's turn this into a wine pairing exercise. We were for sure going to be drinking wine anyway so, wine not? Börek Börek is a traditional food found throughout Turkey, the Balkans, arguably Greece with its

  Riesling is one of my absolute favorite grapes in the whole wide world. I have a three-way tie going for 'favorite grape' title and Riesling is one of the trifecta. Bone dry, lusciously sweet and every variable between, I love it. But, Riesling in Turkey? Riesling in Turkey Quite interesting, Riesling was one of the first foreign grapes to come to Turkey during the start of the modern wine industry. Back in the 1930s, Nihat A. Kutman, founder of Doluca Şarapları, made exploratory visits to France and Germany looking for grapes that might do well in his Mürefte vineyards. One of those grapes was Riesling. Very few are planting Riesling anymore.

  When Ardıç Gürsel founded her Vinkara winery in 2003, she did it with one main goal: introduce the world to native Turkish grapes. It seems rather unbelievable that as little as 20 to 25 years ago, Turkish grapes were relatively unknown, even in Turkey! Dr. Şeyla Ergenekon's Book Türk Şarapları published in 2002, addresses only 14 native grapes. Sure, people were making wine with native grapes, I mean, obviously. But any commercial reach was limited, which makes Ardıç's goal (and all those who still share it) so very important.  Having founded her winery in Kalecik, the initial focus was on the region's very own grape: Kalecik Karası. Vinkara has

  Wow, April was something else, wasn't it?  Ah, May—after the cold-warm-cold of April, the world has finally awakened. Green, leafy trees, blooming flowers, spring has sprung! Hopefully, it's finally time to shake off the winter blues, swap sweaters for sunshine, and see what the stars might have in store. Whether you're planting literal seeds in your garden or metaphorical ones in your career, love life, or personal goals, this is your cosmic cue to grow.  So, what will you be drinking this bright and, fingers crossed, warm and cheerful month? Read on to discover your future! Aries (March 21 - April 19) Listen up, Captain Get-It-Done—yes, you! You’ve been flying solo like

  Disclaimer: This post includes wines received as a sample. All opinions are my own. Just when you thought Heraki winery couldn’t get any better… they've dropped new wines that’ll make your taste buds dance. Alternately bold, unexpected, and impossibly smooth — these bottles are the next chapter in your wine love story. Are you ready to uncork something unforgettable? And yes, these aren't exactly "new" anymore. But we all know that my writing usually lags a bit behind my drinking! Heraki Heraki’s story could easily be told as a love letter to Turkey. Founded in 2019 by Fulya Akinci and José Hernandez-Gonzalez —whose names combine to form “Heraki”—the winery is a tribute to their