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Wine Reviews

HomeWine Reviews (Page 42)

By 1Red Wine, Turkish Wine, Wine Reviews

  Hailing from some of Turkey's most easterly vineyards in Elazığ, Öküzgözü is the number one planted wine grape in Turkey. As demonstrated in my online Öküzgözü taste along, there is no shortage to wines made with this grape. Commonly found as a varietal wine but blends are also popular. Öküzgözü traditional blending partner has been the ultra tannic Boğazkere. However, we're seeing more and more blends that include more than Boğazkere or that don't include it at all. Öküzgözü's naturally high acidity makes it a great foil for any number of grapes, both domestic and international.  Diren Öküzgözü Boğazkere, 2017 Diren, the only Black Sea region winery in Turkey, sources its Öküzgözü

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

  This month the #winophiles are exploring the Côtes du Rhône. You can view the preview here. Originally I was going to pass on this one. The imported cost of quality Côtes du Rhône wines generally being out of my price range. However, by invitation of this month's host Camilla etc etc, I'm taking a slightly different approach to the topic. While the others look at the Côtes du Rhône in France; I'm looking at its influence on Turkish wine. When the modern Turkish wine industry kicked off in the 1930's and 40's it looked to Europe for inspiration, know-how, and grapes. As a result we have a lot of

By 0Turkish Wine, White Wine, Wine Reviews

  I stumbled across Kayra's Versus Viognier some years ago in a charming Greek fish restaurant here in Istanbul. Despite the recent surge of Viognier's popularity in Turkey, Kayra's remains my favorite. Kayra uses Viognier not only in a varietal wine but also in several blends. The Rhone-like Versus Syrah Viognier is one of my very favorite red wines in Turkey. The Versus line has a third Viognier wine; this one a Chardonnay-driven blend. I've seen this one around quite a lot but have avoided it for years now. Literally for years. To my own detriment it seems! Kayra Versus Chardonnay Viognier 2013 Tasting Notes The wine was an intense lemon color

By 0Red Wine, Turkish Wine, Wine Reviews

  I generally try to bring attention to wineries in Turkey that champion native grapes. However, some of the wineries here that focus on international varieties are too good to ignore. One of my favorites is Chateau Nuzun. Not only does the winery turn out well-crafted and delicious wines; it does so with sustainable practices and utter charm. [caption id="attachment_11576" align="alignright" width="501"] Chateau Nuzun vineyards-protecting Öküzgözü grapes from bees[/caption] Owner Nazan Uzun lends not only her name to the winery (N. + Uzun = Nuzun) but also her humor and strength of character. I love meeting with Nazan. She always has a huge smile and her energy and presence make her

By 0Turkish Wine, White Wine, Wine Reviews

  For this month's #WinePW, host Gwendolyn from Wine Predator has invited us all to Re/Consider Harvest: How will global warming change what we eat, drink, grow? You can view the original invitation here. Whether or not you wrote about it, if you're interested, join the conversation on Twitter on Saturday, September 12 at 8am Pacific/11am Eastern/10am Central/6pm Istanbul by following the #WinePW hashtag. While climate change is as much an issue in Turkey as anywhere else, my three jobs got a little out of control this last month and I wasn't able to badger harvest/climate change information out of any of my wineries. However, as an old hand at

By 0Turkish Wine, White Wine, Wine Reviews

  I've been holding onto my notes of these two Saranta Chateau Murou Chardonnay wines for a while now. My hope was that I could compare more than two vintages but I haven't seen any Chardonnay from Saranta past 2016! Which really just bums me out because these are beautiful wines. So the 2015 and 2016 it is. We know I don't like oak in my white wine and Chardonnay always worries me. Turkey got caught in the same too much new oak trap that many New World winemakers got caught in. Many of them have clawed their out in the last few years though. Saranta has a very talented

By 1Turkish Wine, White Wine, Wine Reviews

  Mersin, along Turkey's southern Mediterranean coast, brings to mind beaches and resorts. Not so much wine. And to be fair, only a very few commercial wineries operate in this area. One, Selefkia Wines, has long been more of a nebulous idea in my mind rather than a reality. However, just this summer, the winery began selling its wines in Istanbul and they are the hot new thing for a lot of wine lovers here. My interest in Selefkia stems from its work with two underappreciated Turkish grapes: Patkara and Ak Üzüm. Ak Üzüm doesn't pop up in a lot of wines here. The first time I heard about it was

By 0European Wines, Rest of the World, Sparkling Wine, White Wine, Wine Reviews

  Continuing my COVID quarantine virtual traveling down memory lane with Austria. I've already (re)visited Austria with my post about Steiermark. This time around I'm focusing not on a region but on a grape: Grüner Veltliner. The closest I've come to Grüner Veltliner territory, or Gru-Ve (as it briefly became known) have been a few flying trips to Vienna. I first visited Vienna while I was in university. I'd just completed a German language summer program in Tübingen, Germany and was doing a two week, whirlwind tour of the "rest" of Europe. My second trip was eight years later. At that time I was a far more seasoned traveler although my

By 0Turkish Wine, White Wine, Wine Reviews

  Located in the northern reaches of Turkey's Aegean region, Selendi Şarapları prides itself on its many red wines. I, however, vastly prefer their whites. The vast expanses of dry land in Akhısar where the winery is located don't look look like they should produce lushly flavored wines. And yet both Selendi and neighboring winery Kastro Tireli do just that. Selendi's Moralı Narince remains one of my favorite Narince wines. You have to really want this wine though to find it. Luckily, Selendi makes more than just the one white wine. I've had two others from this winery, both blends, that are more easily available. Selendi Sarnıç Chardonnay Viognier, 2017 Pale straw

By 1Red Wine, Turkish Wine, Wine Reviews

  Kösetevek is a "new" grape; or more accurately, newly reinvigorated.  The grape comes from Elazığ in the east of Turkey where it has been largely overshadowed by the popular Öküzgözü.  Kuzeybağ Şarapçılık, which went from grower to producer just a short few years ago, discovered Kösetevek mixed in with its Öküzgözü vines. The grapes and leaves look very similar. As a result, for a number of years the winery unknowingly blended the two grapes. After they realized what in fact they had, the winery brought in Vine Projects to consult and help create the first 100% Kösetevek wine.  Kösetevek grows in Kuzeybağ Şarapçılık's organic vineyards in Koruk Köyü, located on