The first thing we just have to tell you is that our new book won the prize as Best Wine Book for Professionals in Sweden by the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards! We just received the information a few days ago. We are so happy!
In addition the book has also been nominated for to the same category for the international award! Who will win the prize and become the world’s best wine book for professionals will be revealed in Paris on February 23!
We are excited.
And then: If you have not yet “liked” us on Facebook, please do so now. Here’s where you find BKWine Magazine on Facebook. Tell your friends to like the page too! It is the best Christmas present we can hope for. (And it is very affordable.) And while you are at it, why not like our wine travel page too?
Now to even more vinous matters.
It is not easy for lesser-known wine regions to make their voice heard above the choir of the big and famous districts. We were reminded of that recently in Turkey where we were on what is now called the Digital Wine Communications Conference. We had the opportunity to taste a large number of Turkish wines. Some were very good, some were more “interesting”. But all of it was quite far away from one of the few Turkish wines that I had heard of before I went there: Beyaz. I don’t think it exists any longer.
It was quite popular when I started drinking and tasting wines, quite a few years ago, in Sweden. It was a semi-sweet or semi-dry (memory fails.Did it matter?) white wine. Popular perhaps not primarily for its taste and character. I wondered if I would run into it again, when in Turkey.
And yes, suddenly I saw a wine that said “beyaz” on the label. So I asked the producer, ”is this really ’beyaz’?” He looked back puzzled and said, “yes, can’t you tell?” It turns out that beyaz is simply Turkish for white… (For some obscure reason there is actually also a birth control pill called beyaz!)
There were two main groupings of Turkish wines: those made from “international” grape varieties (cabernet, chardonnay, sauvignon etc), and those made from Turkish indigenous grapes (brace yourself: öküzgözü, boğazkere, kalecik karası etc). What is the best strategy for a country that is quite unknown as a wine producer? Go for wines that are easily recognised on the international market, but that are made, similarly, in many other places around the world? Or go for the stranger product with names that no-one has heard of and can hardly pronounce?
Not an easy choice. But a choice that is very similar to what many other wine regions are facing. Personally I would rather buy a Turkish boğazkere (pronounced ‘boaskere’, not that hard finally) rather than a Turkish cabernet sauvignon. And you? A question that we will come back to in a future article. Do send us an email if you have any opinions or comments.
What about some Christmas gift tips?
– The obvious one: a gift voucher for a wine tour
– A bottle of wine from an unusual grape variety or from an obscure wine district
– A wine magazine subscription. We recommend Decanter, or Revue des Vins de France
– An outstanding wine glass
– A curious wine decanter
Britt & Per
PS: Recommend to your friends to read the Brief!
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