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Mediterranean Tag

HomePosts tagged "Mediterranean" (Page 3)

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

  This month, Linda from My Full Wine Glass has challenged the #WinePW group to find those 'difficult' to pair foods. You can read her invitation post here. We'll be chatting about this on Twitter on June 12 at 11 am EST / 8 am CST / 6 pm Istanbul. Whether or not you wrote a post for the event join us! See what creative pairings the group came up with and chime in with your discoveries! For some people (myself included) any pairing brings on insecurity and nervous sweats. I do not like food pairing. And yes, I see the irony in being part of not one, not two,

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 0Red Wine, Turkish Wine, Wine Reviews

  In December I looked at several Turkish Cabernet Franc wines as part of #CabFrancDay (December 4), that month's #WinePW food and wine pairing event, and my Advent wine calendar.  However, those are not the only Cabernet Franc wines Turkey has to offer! The below wines in now way cover all the Cabernet Franc here. They just happen to be the ones I've enjoyed in the last year (give or take). Gürbüz Cabernet Franc, 2018 Late 2019 marked Akın Gürbüz's first Cabernet Franc. Grapes sourced from Solera's Gazıköy vineyards, fermented in open vats then aged for 13 months in new oak. The result: one of the most stunning Cabernet Francs in

By 0Red Wine, Turkish Wine, Wine Reviews

  Every year I'm envious of friends in the States who get wine Advent calendars. When I was a kid I found those little chocolate Advent calendars absolutely delightful. Occasionally I still send them to my siblings for the nostalgia. As an adult - and a wine lover! - a wine Advent calendar speaks to every part of me! But clearly we don't have those in Turkey. So I made my own! Well to be totally honest, two months ago I selected 26 bottles and moved them to a different part of my wine room. Some I covered in hopes that I might be able to make a blind tasting

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 0Red Wine, Turkish Wine, Wine Reviews

  Just because the weather has turned hot and summery does not mean red wine lovers should despair of not comfortably drinking red wines! Many light-bodied red wines do well with a little chilling. Often, these are brilliant wines to pair with grilled foods, barbecue sauces, and general outdoor summer revelry! Turkey offers several light-bodied red wines appropriate for both chilling and grilling. A perfect opportunity to try out a few of these came up recently when Istanbites suggested a cook out at her place on the largest of Istanbul's Princes Islands: Büyükada. A weekend with the girls poolside with wine and burgers? Yes please! Empathia Creative and I packed

By 2American Wines, Red Wine, Turkish Wine, Wine Reviews

  For this month's Wine Pairing Weekend, Nicole at Somm's Table invited us to write about wines from the ancient world. People often forget to include Turkey, which in fact is the home of the vitis vinifera grape, when talking about ancient and old world wine cultures. In fact though, it has one of the most ancient of wine cultures. When Christians hear the name, Antioch, it evokes images if Saints Peter and Paul preaching the Good News to early Christians. Historians may muse on the lives of early civilizations like the Hittites and those that came before. Modern Turks (and the rest of us who live here!) think of

By 0Red Wine, Turkish Wine, Wine Reviews

  Based in Elmalı, Antalya, Likya is one of Turkey's few Mediterranean wineries. Run by brothers Burak and Doruk Özkan, Likya's vineyards sit at an average of 1,100 meters giving the grapes cooling relief from the otherwise hot climate of Antalya. The Özkan family cultivates a wide variety of grapes including both domestic and international varieties. Likya is currently one of the country's leaders in resurrecting lost grape varieties like Acıkara, Fersun, and Merzifon Karası. These aren't the only native varieties the winery cultivates though. Likya's Narince has been one of my favorite wines from this grape. Boğazkere, Kalecik Karası, and Öküzgözü can also be found in their vineyards. Today,

By 0Red Wine, Turkish Wine, Wine Reviews

  Early in the twentieth century Turkish winemakers looked to Europe for pretty much everything. Not only were machines, corks, barrels, and even bottles coming from Europe, but so were the vines. Especially for those who had no previous experience with winemaking, Europe was where they could visit established vineyards to learn and taste. So as the Turkish wine industry began to dust itself off from Ottoman imposed dormancy, many (if not most) winemakers emulated European wines. French grapes and wines remain the most popular. One winery owner here told me that, while he himself had no interest in making Bordeaux-style wine, he knew making one was the best way

By 0Red Wine, Turkish Wine, Wine Reviews

  Merlot. That grape that, for good or bad, everyone knows. I have largely avoided Merlot for years. Not because Sideways turned me off of it. More because I'd never been "on" it. The New World style made from late(r) harvested grapes resulting in high alcohol, plummy fruit, and fruitcake flavors has never been my jam.  But not even in Turkey can one avoid this grape. It might not achieve the same amount of plantings as the more popular international varieties of Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon; but that is not to say it's hard to find. Quite the opposite. It is, oddly enough perhaps, Turkish Merlots that have started to