I am not a sommelier. I have never trained as one, or worked as one. But recently, I flew to Ankara to sommelier (can I use that as a verb?) at a special event hosted by the Singaporean Ambassador at his residence there. Am I that big of a deal in Turkey? As much as I'd like to say yes
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This is the first review I've done for this winery. And while I've now had a couple few of their wines, I still don't know what to call the winery. Is it Kayraklı Şarapçılık (as indicated by the URL)? Asarcık Şarap or Asarcık Bağları (both of which are on the website)? No idea, so I'm throwing them all up here. Whatever its name is, the winery is based in the Muğla district of the Aegean. Founder Orhan Kayraklı planted his organically farmed vines in the Asarcık valley between the Bozdurun and Selimiye villages. The vines, completely surrounded by mountainous terrain, grow at 250 meters. Continuous winds cool the valley making
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I am slowly slowly coming around to rosé. Well, I say "slowly slowly" but I'm discovering more and more wines that I enjoy. In fact, I dare say that I might be a full-on fan of rosé. I've avoided a fair number of wines because of my previously anti-rosé stance and I'm trying to correct that. Now I'm digging up pink wines I'd previously bypassed and have uncovered a couple gems! Prodom, one of Turkey's Aegean wineries based outside İzmir has made a rosé for years. I've never tried it. But when one of my favorite wine shops, Mensis Mahzen, recommended it, I decided to give it a go.
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The story of USCA Winery began some 15 years ago when a group of friends, fascinated by the world of wine, decided to open their own winery. Leaving behind their “city” lives and careers they moved to the Izmir district of Urla and in 2003 established their vineyards. When the winery was ready to start producing its wine the owners were stuck for names for them. One of the owners happened to be reading a book of Shakespeare's sonnets. They hit on the idea of naming the wines after sonnets that somehow reflected the wine in the bottle. Sonnet 99 The forward violet thus did I chide: Sweet thief, whence didst
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Quite some time ago I had the opportunity to attend a vertical tasting of some of Doluca's Karma wines. These were the red blends, mainly Shiraz Boğazkere and Cabernet Sauvignon Öküzgözü blends. You can see my review of all of those here. Since then, I also got my hands on a bottle of the white Karma. Which frankly was not entirely recently. My drinking sadly outpaces my blogging by rather a lot! While the Karma line includes three red blends (the aforementioned Shiraz Boğazkere, Cabernet Sauvignon Öküzgözü, and a Merlot Boğazkere), there is only one white in the series. Like the other three wines, the white blends together an
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I recently took a quick little holiday on the Urla Bağ Yolu with a friend. I've been before; frankly I cannot even remember how many times at this point. This time was less about business and getting information for the book (coming soon!) and more about just enjoying. So, I thought I would share a few observations and tips for anyone planning their own Urla trip (bağ yolu or no bağ yolu). [caption id="attachment_11796" align="alignright" width="300"] Mozaik[/caption] Places worth the visit Let me start with the hotel. There are plenty of hotels in Urla itself and more and more wineries are opening hotels and/or guest rooms. Urla Bağ Evi, while not a
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[caption id="attachment_16139" align="alignleft" width="225"] Pürneşe red label[/caption] Pürneşe is a semi-new series from Vino Dessera. Occupying a place in the winery's mid-range line up, the Pürneşe series includes a red blend and a blush. I have had them both but it was the blush that really stood out for me. Vino Dessera brings in grapes from vineyards across Turkey. For the Pürneşe Blush, they used Çalkarası and Kalecik Karası from Denizli in the western Aegean. Kalecik Karası we frequently see as both varietal and blended rosés. Very few wineries really work with Çalkarası though. The exception to that has been Paşaeli and it's nice to see other wineries, like Vino Dessera,
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7Bilgeler (or Yedi Bilgeler as you prefer) has long produced wines I've liked and admired. My one issue was that all the wines were international grape-based. No longer! The southern Aegean-based winery has released two* new varietal native grape wines under a new 'Vindemia' label: an Emir and Kalecik Karası. *7Bilgeler has used small amounts of Kalecik Karası for a while in blends and has now also released a Chardonnay-Emir blend under different labels. 7Bilgeler Vindemia Defne Emir, 2020 While I don't particularly love it when wineries drag grapes across the country, I must admit that Emir planted outside of Central Anatolia's Cappadocia region just doesn't work. At least not so
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If Turkey has a workhorse grape, this is it. Grown in the abundant vineyards of Denizli in Turkey's Aegean region, Çalkarası (chal-car-as-ser) has often been used to support red blends. In blends, it lends some acidity to flabby grapes and fills out a wine if the preferred grapes didn't do so well that year. Meaning the "black from Çal" this grape prefers the clay loam and chalky soils of, you guessed it, Çal (a district in the Denizli province). The dark purple have a slightly elongated shape, are small to medium in size, and don't have especially thin skins. They retain acidity well and when vinified as a red wine,
Read MoreFor years Bozcaada wineries have more or less quietly made wine with Karalahna. Maybe it's me noticing it more or maybe it's that the grape made it off the island and into the hands of one of the country's most popular winemakers
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