Step Out of Your Comfort Zone: Drink Turkish Wine

EuropeUpClose.com just published 5 Reasons to Drink Turkish Wine while in Turkey, an article that I wrote that introduces wine making in Turkey, and I wanted to take a moment to focus a little more on one of the wines featured in the article: Turasan Winery's 2013 Emir. 

This white wine is a pure, clean glass of Mediterranean culture. Its transportive character begins with the nose, as fragrant as a midsummer twilight, with notes of elderflower, almond, and peach. At first, the palate is a full-mouth experience—the alcohol is 13.5%—put the body pulls away like a camera panning out of a closeup. The Emir is slightly tart and bright, and it is exceptionally clean with a hint of jasmine. It's a great summer white, and it has absolutely none of the funk that I sometimes associate with Eastern European whites.

A good selection of wines from Turkey is now available to U.S. consumers. I received sample bottles of Turkish wine from VinoRai, a wine importer championing the cause to bring the wines of Turkey to the United States. I am not familiar with other companies selling Turkish wines online in the United States—except Amazon, which only ships to California—and VinoRai recently partnered with World Wines at Home to ship Turkish wine to most U.S. locations. You can check out their selection of Turkish wines here. I highly recommend it.