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White Wine

HomeWhite Wine (Page 23)

  To celebrate Earth Month, Gwendolyn the Wine Predator challenged the #Winophiles group to find a wine that celebrates "Loire's organic gardens." You can view her invitation here. Something like a quarter of Loire Valley vineyards are farmed organically. Considering the size of the valley, the number of wineries, and the vast array of grapes and wine styles there, that's pretty darn impressive! I have generally have trouble sourcing decent European wines in Turkey. I figured I could find a Sancerre though as Sauvignon Blanc enjoys huge popularity in Turkey. However, could I find an organic or sustainable wine? I really didn't think so. Imagine my delight when I learned

  This month I'm hosting the Wine Paired Weekend group's exploration of underrated European wine regions. You can read my invitation here. There are so many unexplored wine regions in Europe-even within the big three countries of France, Italy, and Spain so I asked the group to go out and find a region new to them or that they think should be given a little more love.  Whether you've written a post for the theme or not, join the #WinePW conversation on Saturday, April 10 at 11 am EST / 8 am CST by following the hashtag on Twitter. And don't forget to check out what the rest of the

  My second article for Turquazz is now live! What began as a celebration of Turkey's devotion to jazz and its own Anatolian music has developed into a full-blown exaltation of Anatolian music and culinary arts. "From the Black Sea to the Mediterranean, from Greece to the Iranian border – what is known as Anatolia has a lot to offer, not only a varied landscape but also a long history and multi-faceted culture. For certain, Anatolia is a place of endless stories once you explore its abundant riches. What we focus on today here are the contemporary approaches to this cultural mosaic that is Anatolian culture. There are two words

  I begin this post with a little bit of a rant. One of my recent wine pet peeves concerns the hype around small production wineries. I'm all for small production and understand the allure of it over large format wineries. If the wine is good. However, sometimes these wineries have more cachet than quality. Wineries shouldn't be lauded simply because they make under a certain number of bottles annually. If the wine isn't good, it doesn't matter if it comes from a small "boutique" winery or a large factory winery. But if the wine is good, should it matter who produces it? Turkey has its fair share of factory

  Uçmakdere Winery, based in the village of the same name along the Sea of Marmara, is one of the most exciting wineries for me right now. Entirely because of the winemaker, Işıl Bulutsuz. Işıl Bulutsuz is not only the daughter of one of Firuze’s founding families, she is also the winemaker. Prior to becoming Firuze’s winemaker Işıl studied at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris where she received a diploma in Wine and Management and graduated from the Professional Culinary Arts Program from Turkey's Mutfak Sanatları Akademisi (MSA) Culinary Arts Academy. She sat down with me (virtually of course!) this week to talk about her work in wine. Don't forget to

  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

  Foça Karası has slowly and quietly snuck its way into the Turkish wine scene. This Aegean grape, like many in Turkey, takes its name from its local place of origin. In this case, the Foça district of İzmir. However, it goes by another name too. This is one of the few grapes Turkey shares with Greece where it is known as Fokiano and planted mostly on Ilkaria, an island near Turkey.  We don't see a lot of this grape in Turkey. While championed by Can Ortabaş of Urla Şarapçılık, he himself doesn't use it. The winery really putting Foça Karası through its paces is Öküzgözü Şarapçılık. Urla-based winery Urlice

  For our February #WorldWineTravel event, Susannah Gold of Avvinare has invited us to explore Catalunya - Emporda, Alella, Pla de Bages, Penedès, Conca de Barbera, Priorat, Montsant and More. You can view her invitation here. As you can tell from the event title, there is a lot going on with wine in Catalunya! [caption id="attachment_15621" align="alignright" width="498"] Image from https://cava.wine.com[/caption] D.O. Penedès and Cava Penedès is in northeastern Spain in Catalunya. Within the D.O. Penedès lies the D.O. Cava. Cava is one of those interesting regions that is actually larger than the demarcated D.O. It's like the Tardis. While it originated in San Sadurní de Noya in Catalunya, Cava can be made

  I am so excited to share a guest piece that Moshé Cohen of In The Vineyard With kindly invited me to write! Reviving the Lost Grapes of Turkey Turkey. The mention of this country evokes thoughts of sultans and harems, sticky sweet Turkish delights, thick coffee, and hot air balloon rides over the fantastical ‘fairy chimney’ cave homes of Cappadocia. Wine is not the first thing to come to mind. Nor is it usually the fourth or the tenth. And yet, Turkey is, and for thousands of years has been, a wine producing country. Six grapes make up the backbone of wine production (with native vs international grapes): Boğazkere, Bornova Misketi,

  Yanık‌ ‌Ülke‌ Bağları translates as “vineyards of the burnt land.” Located at 924 meters above sea level on the rocky‌ ‌volcanic‌ ‌slopes‌ ‌of‌ ‌the‌ dormant ‌Divlit‌ ‌Volcano, the winery prides itself on its black volcanic soil. It likes to compare itself to the vineyards and wines of Mount Etna, Sicily. To further this association, the winery cultivates several Sicilian grape varieties including Cataratto, Nerello‌ ‌Cappuccio,‌ ‌‌and Nerello‌ ‌Mascalese.  I've never had the Nerello Cappuccio. It's not something I see often on the shelf. The other two though are generally much easier to find. Yanık Ülke Nerello Mascalese, 2018 Bright ruby in the glass with aromas of mulberry, black raspberry, cherry, vanilla, and