Bozcaada (Tenedos) Wines

Every year in June, I go to a wine tasting event in Bozcaada. It's an event I try not to miss, though I'd missed few times in the previous years. I did go this year and tasted the new wines of the island. There are four winemakers in the island. Corvus, Çamlıbağ (Yunatçılar), Talay, Ataol. My favorite in the group is Çamlıbağ for many reasons but they all have special wines. Corvus for example, owned by architect Reşit Soley, has been making quality wines and getting national/international awards. Their first year, my favorite was Teneia, an aromatic white made of the island's princess, Çavuş. A very aromatic, crisp white. It's the first wine made of the island's own Çavuş. Talay, is among the oldest wineries of the island. Nowadays
it's managed by two cousins, Mehmet Talay and Ahmet Talay. Each year, at the winetasting event, there are open air concerts where you can listen to classical, jazz, folk or gypsy musics while you're tasting wines by those wineries. This year, when I was at the island, I tasted many wines and enjoyed Çamlıbağ's Vasilaki (white) and Ataol's Vasilaki, Corvus's Merlot and Çamlıbağ's Merlot-Kuntra 2006. Çamlıbağ's wines are around 15 Turkish lira this year.

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.