Sunday, August 30, 2009

Turkish wines

I remember a day -oh no many days- actually a sunset at a beautiful coastal town when we're sipping Buzbağ, a Turkish wine made of Boğazkere and Öküzgözü grapes of Eastern Anatolia. It was so cheap and what a balanced wine it was, for our palate. This was about ten years ago. Since then I tried many wines, Turkish and foreign. Either in Turkey or abroad. I sipped wines made by my friends. I met winemakers, in İstanbul, İzmir, Bozcaada... I even write for a wine magazine, Karaf, owned by Kavaklıdere. When I'm traveling I try local wines. Let's say I'm in Croatia, I buy Croatian wines. Or in Brazil, Brazilian or South American wines. In Italy, it's so easy, at each little restaurant, they serve you good local wine. In New York, my favorite wineshop is Wine Warehouse on Broadway near Union Square. The prices are great, they're so much cheaper than other wine shops. And they carry zillions of wines. Each time I go there, I buy something new. I buy Pinotage, Sangiovese, Rioja, Riesling, of course lots and lots of Shiraz, sometimes Pinot Noir, Cabernet... I buy wines from South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Italy, Spain, France... Each new wine adds something and with each wine, my wine knowledge is improved a bit. Not much, just a little bit. Anyways, I wanted to create this little blog to write about Turkish wines I try, I enjoy drinking. Where you can find them, how much you have to pay, is it worth buying it or not. Hope it helps anyone who wants to try Turkish wines.