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White Wine

HomeWhite Wine (Page 6)

  Not all wine names are obvious immediately (or at all!) until you ask about the story behind them. One of my favorite Turkish wine name stories is that of the Arcadia 333. But Arda Dokuz Sekiz has a pretty great one too. Dokuz Sekiz - 9/8 The name here is actually pretty simple - dokuz sekiz means nine eight and refers to the 9/8 music time signature. Music written in 9/8 time has nine beats per measure with each beat being an eighth note. Meaning that, even if not all the notes are an eighth note, the notes in each measure will add up to nine eighth notes. Okay, that's cool.

  Some time ago, I posted about a couple different Moschofilero wines I'd had, which you can find here. Then, at the urging of my friend Anna Maria of Unravelling Wine, I hunted down a Bosniakis Moschofilero.  Given how wide-spread Moschofilero is in the Peloponnese, especially in Mantineia where the Mantineia PDO wines must contain minimum 85% Moschofilero; none of us should feel shocked about the wide range of wine quality. While almost always at least enjoyable, Moschofilero can give rather insipid wines.  While it resembles the Traminer and Muscat grapes in aroma profile, it does not belong to either grape family. In fact, two opposing theories debate Moschofilero's background. One

  Really, what is the obsession some of the upper Thracian wineries seem to have with making blanc de noir wines with Papazkarası? Sure, some of them are pretty nice. My personal favorites being those from Chamlija and Arcadia. And yes, it's great to see experimentation with the native grapes. Especially as this seems to be the only Thracian native grape going. Why do I have such a viscerally negative reaction, then, when I see a new blanc de noir Papazkarası? Even I can't answer that. I like to see a new blanc de noir Çal Karası. Maybe it's because I feel sure that there must be a native white

  My first introduction to Oenops was a few years ago at Athens' Oenorama. My friend, Anna Maria of Unravelling Wine and Chania Wine Tours (who knows everyone in Greek wine) told me that, while not Cretan, Oenops makes the best Vidiano. Nikos Karatzas founded Oenops Wines in 2015. While his winery sits in Drama in the eastern part of Macedonia, his grapes come from everywhere. Karatzas tours Greece looking for high-quality, native grapes like Xinomavro, Limniona, Malagousia, Assyrtiko, Roditis, and of course, Vidiano. Once he's found a grower, he works almost like a micro-négociant creating partnerships with growers who share his ideals. In the winery, Karatzas strives to make low

  Holy cats July was miserable! Horrible, hot weather including the hottest day Istanbul has had in years. During which, no less, my precious wines and I were without power for almost 48 hours! That was not in my horoscope. Here's to hoping that August will be a little milder.  I don't know about you, but all I want to do these days is crush some nice, light white wine. Let's see if the future has any of that in store for us! Aquarius (January 20 - February 18) Strap on your seatbelt and be prepared this month to steer your life into a new direction - emotionally speaking. You'll come to

  Last year I fell in love with Kuzubağ wines. They came out of the gate with seven very successful and reasonably priced (a miracle here these days) wines. Kuzubağ has returned with its sophomore vintage now and it's already looking very promising.  They've added new wines to the stable this year, both white and reds. I still love all the white wines from their freshman vintage so I immediately snapped up two of the new ones: a Bornova Misketi and a Çal Karası blanc de noir. Kuzubağ, part of the Çal Bağ Yolu, is located in the Çal district of Denizli in Turkey's inner Aegean. The winery’s vineyards sit at

  On my last trip to Georgia, one of my favorite discoveries was Baia's Wine.  Baia Abuladze and her family are among those Georgian winemakers working to identify and classify local grape varieties. Baia and her siblings Gvantsa and Giorgi grew up watching their parents and grandparents make wine in their home village of Obcha in the western Georgian region of Imereti. The wine they made followed the local tradition of short maceration in qvevri with only a small proportion of skin contact. After Baia finished university she moved to Tbilisi but soon realized that wasn't where her heart was.  Baia's Wine In 2015 she established Baia's Wine with her family. Together

  I like Sevilen. Yes, it's one of Turkey's larger wineries and makes a slightly eye-popping amount of wine every year. But most of their wine is pretty solid. And I think that the winemaker, Sibel, is a rock star. The biggest argument I've always had with Sevilen is the less than top billing native grapes receive. Sure, Sevilen puts out some native grape wine, but not generally as part of the higher quality category. An exception has been the Plato series which included three wines: Kalecik Karası, Öküzgözü, and a Syrah-Öküzgözü. But no white wines. Until finally