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Aegean Tag

HomePosts tagged "Aegean" (Page 2)

  Paşaeli, that great pioneer and champion of rare native Turkish grapes has done it again. The winery, never content to rescue a grape and make just one wine before moving onto the next, often does small batch experiments to see what some of these grapes can, and cannot, do.  Years ago, the winery debuted its first wine with Çakal. The grape's character is such that, black grape though it technically is, even extended maceration gives only a dark-ish rosé. Paşaeli made two wines with the grape, one pale, and one dark rosé. Now, the winery that brought pét-nats to the Turkish market, has added one more: the Paşaeli Çakal

  Disclaimer: I received these wines as samples but all opinions are my own. Explore Sagavin’s two distinct Syrah wines. Discover how vineyard origin and winemaking style shape their bold flavors, and learn the story behind this passionate, small Turkish winery. Recently, Sagavin Bağcılık ve Şarapçılık kindly sent me several of its wines. I enjoyed pairing Sagavin's white, rosé, and one of its reds with an Indian eggplant dish. I was really surprised that the red came out the winner in that experiment! Now, it's time to delve into the last two wines: Sagavin Syrahs. The winery makes two different Syrah wines, sourcing grapes for both from different places within İzmir.

  These wines were provided as samples - all opinions are my own. The lovely folks at Akberg recently reached out to me and sent me some samples. I love samples! Thank you Akberg! This presented me with a fantastic chance to try some of their new vintages and new wines. Not all of which are included here, a couple need their own posts! But the four I'm featuring here uncover flavors - and a new grape! - from the winery.  But first! A little about the winery.  Akberg Akberg winery already had a long history in Turkey before the 2020 vintage that put it on the map. For years, Akberg has produced

  Since I wrote an extensive post about 7Bilgeler quite recently (including travel information for anyone wanting to visit!) I won't rehash all that info here. We're just going to dive right into this (previously) obscure grape and 7Bilgeler's wine.  Gök, the Sky Grape From the Mersin district in Turkey’s Mediterranean growing region comes the grape, Gök or Göküzüm. Mersin is far more well-known for its beaches and Mediterranean coastline than it is for grapes and wine, but this resort area’s hot climate isn’t where Gök makes its home. Grown in the Taurus mountains, high elevation helps mitigate the heat of the Mediterranean region. In mountain villages like Çömelek, Gök vines

  This year the Jancis Robinson summer writing competition theme was "my favorite grape". Both an easy and yet incredibly difficult topic! My entry was not short-listed but I wanted to share it anyway.  My favorite grape: Çal Karası. Falling for Çal Karası What is a ‘favorite’ grape, anyway? Is it the one you prefer to drink? The one that challenges you? Or the one that you connect with emotionally? For many, each of those questions could be answered by a different grape. I believe that wine lovers drink wine for reasons beyond its pleasant taste. We’re the people who, while our friends roll their eyes, wax poetic about agriculture, argue about the

  Two Suvla pét-nats (so far - dare we hope for more?) made with Yapıncak and Emir have joined the ranks of Turkish pét-nats. They aren't new, I'm just overdue in writing about them. Now that I'm finally getting around to it, I can honestly say that I'm a little in love!  I'd heard rumors about the Suvla Kınalı Yapıncak pét-nat and then got to try it at a tasting a while ago, but hadn't gone in search of it, largely because I was afraid of what the price would be. A legit fear these days. BUT!! As of June (so it may have gone up with the July ÖTV increase)

  *this post contains affiliate links A couple weeks ago, I flew to Izmir to give a wine tasting for a group from Roots Adventure Travel. It's been years since I last visited the 7Bilgeler winery, so I felt pretty psyched about going for the tasting. Over the years, 7Bilgeler has slowly added native grape wines to its portfolio, which reminded me that I'd recently opened a bottle of one of its newer wines: the 7Bilgeler Vindemia Rüzgar Karasakız Rosé. Karasakız While there are many grapes in Turkey I like, some of which I like quite a lot, my favorite Turkish black grape is undoubtedly Karasakız.  More well-known as Karasakız ("black gum"), the

  How do you pair fine Turkish wine with one of the country's iconic staples, börek? That's a question I found myself asking recently.  For ages, my friend, Başak, has been telling me that she wants me to try this 'amazing' börekci in her mother's neighborhood.  Not that I dislike börek, far from it, but my börek experiences in Istanbul have always left me a little cold. She finally wore me down, but I thought, let's turn this into a wine pairing exercise. We were for sure going to be drinking wine anyway so, wine not? Börek Börek is a traditional food found throughout Turkey, the Balkans, arguably Greece with its

  Riesling is one of my absolute favorite grapes in the whole wide world. I have a three-way tie going for 'favorite grape' title and Riesling is one of the trifecta. Bone dry, lusciously sweet and every variable between, I love it. But, Riesling in Turkey? Riesling in Turkey Quite interesting, Riesling was one of the first foreign grapes to come to Turkey during the start of the modern wine industry. Back in the 1930s, Nihat A. Kutman, founder of Doluca Şarapları, made exploratory visits to France and Germany looking for grapes that might do well in his Mürefte vineyards. One of those grapes was Riesling. Very few are planting Riesling anymore.

  Disclaimer: This post includes wines received as a sample. All opinions are my own. Just when you thought Heraki winery couldn’t get any better… they've dropped new wines that’ll make your taste buds dance. Alternately bold, unexpected, and impossibly smooth — these bottles are the next chapter in your wine love story. Are you ready to uncork something unforgettable? And yes, these aren't exactly "new" anymore. But we all know that my writing usually lags a bit behind my drinking! Heraki Heraki’s story could easily be told as a love letter to Turkey. Founded in 2019 by Fulya Akinci and José Hernandez-Gonzalez —whose names combine to form “Heraki”—the winery is a tribute to their