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Wine Reviews

HomeWine Reviews (Page 33)

By 0Turkish Wine, White Wine, Wine Reviews

  I haven't written before about Çakır Bağcılık ve Şarapçılık. It's a newish winery, releasing its first vintage only last year. Until recently this was the only of their wines I've had it being the only native grape they work with. And while I had it last summer (I am so behind on my writing up my notes!) with warmer weather coming back around I've been thinking about how darn good this was and how much I want it again. So let's talk about some Çakır Bornova Misketi. But first, the winery.  Çakır Bağcılık ve Şarapçılık, is one of the newest members of the Urla Bağ Yolu (along with Perdix). The winery

By 0Turkish Wine, White Wine, Wine Reviews

  Sauvignon Blanc wines enjoy a huge amount of popularity in Turkey. It's right up there with Chardonnay. Generally if a winery makes one, it makes the other too. Because Turkey loves its oak there's plenty of "fumé blanc" floating around here as well. Happily (for me who doesn't love oak on white wine), winemakers have developed a more deft hand with their oak aging. Over the last few years we've seen a shift from wine that's been metaphorically beat over the head with stave and barrel to wine that's been gently caressed by it. Meaning I no longer have to approach every oaked white wine fear in my heart!

By 1European Wines, White Wine, Wine Reviews

  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

By 0Red Wine, Turkish Wine, Wine Reviews

  In January, Esat bey, owner of La Cave in Cihangir, asked if I'd recently had the Kayra Vintage Boğazkere. It was his highest selling wine that month. Far (apparently) outstripping any other wine sales.  He gave me a bottle with the instructions to go home that evening, open it, and let him know what I thought. He would do the same.  I do not know who started the run on this wine but I hope that person creates more buying trends! It's been a while since I've had any Kayra and I forget sometimes how good their wine is. Particularly those in the Vintage and Versus lines. If you're

By 0Red Wine, Turkish Wine, Wine Reviews

  Selefkia Wines is one of the few (well one of the two!) wineries based in southern Turkey's Mediterranean region of Mersin. The winery makes a number of wines from Turkish grapes but really focuses on the two regional grapes: Ak Üzüm and Patkara. White and black respectively, these underdog grapes appear in very few wines. really only Selefkia and its Mersin neighbor Tasheli use them at all. Patkara is at home on the slopes on the Taurus Mountains in the Çömelek and Karacaoğlan villages in Göksu Valley. It might be a valley but it's a heck of a high one. Turkey has a plethora of high elevation vineyards and

By 1European Wines, Red Wine, Sparkling Wine, White Wine, Wine Reviews

  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

By 0Red Wine, Turkish Wine, White Wine, Wine Reviews

  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

By 1Red Wine, Turkish Wine, Wine Reviews

  Often in Turkey I buy wines from winemakers or wineries I like whether or not I want the actual wine. Such was the case with the Sevilen Vendage 76. I was initially excited to see what I felt pretty sure was a new release from the winery. And then I looked at the label. Another Bordeaux blend. Cabernet Franc dominant which is unusual here. But how much more wannabe Bordeaux can I handle? And yet, I do really like Sevilen's winemaker. Sibel Çoban Ürentay is one of Turkey's rock star female winemakers. While I'm not much of a feminist, I do hate articles about women that have to describe

By 0Red Wine, Turkish Wine, White Wine, Wine Reviews

  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

By 1Red Wine, Sweet Wine, Turkish Wine, White Wine, Wine Reviews

  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