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Turkish Wine

HomeTurkish Wine (Page 7)

  Even if the weather doesn't know it, we are barreling toward spring's warmer weather. That means it's time to ease into cheerful and easy sipping white wines! But what if you can't decide between Turkey's two most popular (native) grapes, Emir and Narince? Drink a wine with both like Kocabağ Emir Narince! I'm a huge fan of the Kocabağ K Emir so, a while back when I was ordering wine from them, I thought, hey, let's throw in a bottle of this Emir Narince blend!  Kocabağ Emir Narince, 2021 Kocabağ's Emir comes from its vineyards around Cappadocia but my guess is they bring the Narince in from Tokat. Nothing fancy here

  Well March was all miserable and depressing weather. Here's to hoping April remembers that it is an entirely spring month. A few showers here and there perhaps we can tolerate, but we could all use a little more warmth and sun to tackle what we have ahead of us.  What will I - and more importantly you! - be drinking this month? Read on to find out! Aquarius (January 20 - February 18) The freshness of spring (not that we've seen any of that weather) will give you a new perspective this month and help you take risks. One big risk to tackle - speak up for yourself and others, even if

  Papazkarası has been staging a quiet take over. When I first discovered the grape, maybe you could find two or three wines. Now, this ancient blue-black grape variety native to Turkey's upper Thrace abounds and wineries are releasing not just red wines, but also rosés and blanc de noir wines. The name Papazkarası roughly translates to "black of the priest (or) pope". In Greece, the variety is registered as "Kara Papas", although little, if any, Papazkarası wine is produced there. In Turkey, the spelling varies between Papazkarası (with a 'z') and Papaskarası (with an 's'). You can read more about the here! Now that there are so many of these wines

  Amber wine has quietly existed in Turkey for a number of years with previously off the radar, small producers like Gelveri. Then, a few well-placed and larger name wineries like Chamlija, Paşaeli, and Kastro Tireli released skin contact wines. In many ways, the amber boom here resembles the rosé explosion. Sure, there's always been rosé. But then a handful of years ago everyone started making it (whether or not they personally like it) because that was the selling trend. And so it seems, amber follows in the wake of pink.  Despite the work from Mediterranean wineries like Tasheli and Selefkia, Göküzüm still flies largely un-talked about. A pity, in

  Arcadia, based in upper Thrace in Kırklareli, has long prided itself on its winemaking techniques. Including a crazy looking machine that very gently filters the wines and then bottling them unfined. They're now following the popular trend of spontaneous fermentation, or doğal fermentasyon in the Turkish. This has become a growing trend over the last few years. Some wineries, like Kastro Tireli and Tomurcukbağ, have always allowed their wine to ferment spontaneously with ambient yeasts. Büyülübağ has made one or two "wild ferment" wines for years. When Claros opened, they did the same and Gürbüz, Paşaeli, and probably a handful of others all have at least a couple wines.

  I briefly mentioned the Yaban Kolektif during a previous post about Patkara. Since that collaboration with the Asmadan winery, Yaban Kolektif has partnered with Vinolus to create two new wines from the rare grape, Sungurlu. Similar to the Patkara origin stories, Sungurlu has previously only been vinified by Urla Şarapçılık as part of its limited Discovery series. Since then, we haven't seen anything from this grape.  From Yaban's Instagram: Yaban is a step taken to reunite viticulture and winemaking in Turkey with its past and forgotten values. We lost our rich viticulture culture, winemaking techniques, traditions, festivities and rituals in a short time after the natural disasters and forced population

  It sure felt like spring had sprung during the second half of February. Even my crocuses are blooming! But my experience both here and being from a northern state says that we shouldn't get too comfortable yet and that winter may once again rear its cold, snowy head. It likely won't be pretty when it does! Especially not for me as I've already been enjoying wine on my balcony.  What have I been drinking? Well, you'll have to check previous blog posts for that! What will I - and more importantly you! - be drinking this month? Just read on to find out! Aquarius (January 20 - February 18) Aquarius, do

  Granted we're going through a weird warm streak at the moment in Istanbul, but that's doesn't mean winter is over. It often makes itself know again at an inopportune time. When that happens, reach for one of these top cozy Turkish red wines that feel like a hug to keep you warm! Gordias Boğazkere, 2012 Hands down, Gordias's is one of my favorite Boğazkere wines. Canan brings her grapes for this in from Diyarbakır and ages the wine little, if at all, oak. One would think that might be walking on the edge with a tannic grape like Boğazkere, but it works! Medium opaque ruby, not as deeply colored as one would usually

  Pamukkale really want to you to know that the Pamukkale YT Boğazkere is a special wine. Not only was it bottled in an overly heavy format bottle, it also came wrapped in paper, resting in its own padded box. That's a lot of fanfare. Did the wine live up to it? Boğazkere isn't a grape we see a lot from Pamukkale in its premium wines. Mostly the winery focuses on international grapes for its top tier wines. However, it went native for this one which came out as a special, limited edition bottling celebrating winemaker Yasin Tokat's 50th harvest. I don't generally go in for Pamukkale's wines. But, seeing