Andrea Lemieux is a Michigan native who found herself on a "temporary" assignment in Istanbul… and 12 years later she is still there championing Turkish wines and the people and the history behind them. 

Episode Highlights:

• How the country is embracing and reviving its native grapes
• I taste my first ever Turkish wine-hear my reaction!
• The rise of women in wine in a Muslim dominant country
• What American foods she misses the most and can't getting Turkey
• Tips for transporting 12 bottles of wine in a suitcase

Links and Resources:

Get Andrea's book the Essential Guide to Turkish Wine

Check out Andrea's Website The Quirky Cork and follow her on Instagram

Get the Wine Diapers here.

Order and Ship Pasaeli wines from Bottle Barn in CA (We tasted the 2021 Karasakis)

Follow Pasaeli on Instagram

If you are in Houston you can find a great selection of Turkish Wines Here.

Andrea's recommended Turkish Wineries to visit:

Yedi Bilgeler

Akberg

Did you know I make my own wine here in Sonoma County? My 2021 Sollevato Sangiovese is available to be shipped to most US States. Use the code PODLISTENER for 10% off. It's a delicious, medium bodied, aromatic red wine that is perfect with pizza, pasta and your charcuterie spread!

You NEED some delicious California Olive Oil from our awesome sponsor American Olive Farmer. Use code SipWithNikki for $10 off your order!

If you'd like to Support the Podcast, you can buy me a glass of wine and get a shoutout on a future episode.

Please leave a RATING or a REVIEW (on your podcast listening platform), or thumbs up and subscribe (on YouTube!)

Questions? Comments? Guest requests? nikki@sipwithnikki.com

There's such an undying spirit and bravery here in the wineries doing things when they know that it's not economically smart to do, but they're doing it for the love and to uphold the long history and culture here.

Hi

there.

Welcome to I'm your host, Nikki Lamberti, coming at you again from Sonoma County, California.

If you're new listener, welcome.

So happy that you're here.

Can't wait for you to dive into all the good stuff.

And if you are a faithful and regular listener, like David in Orlando, I see you and thank you for listening and for all your great feedback.

Did you know that super duper wine nerds like myself tend to read a lot of different wine magazines and publications, whether it is Wine Spectator, Wine Enthusiast.

I just traveled on vacation and I had three different wine magazines.

In my carry on bag.

One of them is Decanter Magazine and a recent article in Decanter was called Wine Lands on the Rise and talked about different lesser known wine regions around the world that are up and coming.

And there was a whole focus on Turkey.

Did you even know that The country of Turkey makes wine.

In fact, their history goes all the way back pretty much to the origins of wine.

But the modern wine industry there is fairly new.

And for most of the country's history, even in current day, alcohol has been illegal.

It's pretty exciting what they're doing there because they're getting back to their quote roots.

They're getting back to reviving all of the indigenous wine grape varieties, of which there are over 1400.

Instead of just making wine from the Bordeaux varieties that we're all very familiar with, like Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, they are really looking to highlight what is native to the land there.

And I was lucky enough recently to get connected with the leading expert in Turkish wine.

And her name is Andrea Lemieux.

Now, Andrea is from Michigan, and then she spent some time in DC.

She found herself in Turkey, specifically Istanbul, and fell in love with wine and was excited to accidentally become a champion of their wine region.

She is the founder of the Quirky Quirk website.

She is a WCET level two.

What the heck is that?

We're going to talk about it.

So listen in.

She's the author of an award winning beautiful hardcover book called The Essential Guide to Turkish Wine.

And she hosts tastings and tours and she consults with international wine importers.

I was supposed to be in Turkey for my first visit this summer.

Summer on the Disney cruise that was supposed to be one of our ports.

But unfortunately the itinerary got changed and we didn't get to go.

So I was very close, but haven't set foot there.

So through the magic of video conferencing, Andrea and I met at very early my time, very late.

Her time with the time difference and I was fascinated to learn about how she got into wine in Turkey.

I found a wine from Turkey at a local wine store here and we tasted together.

Be sure to listen to the end where she gives us all types of tips and recommendations.

If you're planning a trip there, whether a land based trip or a cruise.

And she shares a hack on how to transport 12 bottles of wine in a regular suitcase.

So here we go with Andrea Lemieux, a.

k.

a.

the Quirky Cork.

Here we are at 8 a.

m.

in California and 7 p.

m.

in Turkey, and I literally just set my coffee aside and grabbed my wine glass.

Hello, good morning, good evening, Andrea.

Thanks for being here.

Andrea (2): Thanks for having me, Nikki.

You really are a trooper doing this early your time, putting aside the coffee for the wine.

It's hard work.

Thank you for recognizing my sacrifice.

But this is what I do for our listeners and all wine drinkers around the world.

I'm here for them.

It's all for

Andrea (2): them.

It's the sacrifices you make for them.

You care so much.

You are my hero right now.

I am just so excited that you and I got connected.

And of course, the first thing that I think everyone is going to be dying to hear is how does a girl from Western Michigan wind up in Turkey?

Go.

I moved from Michigan to DC in 2003, I think, uh, worked there for, uh, an uncomfortable number of years.

Yeah, I kept trying to get out and it was real hard to get out.

I eventually did though, got transferred to Istanbul, luckily, actually for work.

I was on the verge of quitting my job and moving here because I'd been here as a tourist, fell in love with the romance of the city, thought it would be amazing to live here.

I was going to quit my job and move.

And then they suddenly needed somebody in Istanbul.

So they sent me and little did they know I'm supposed to be like a short term six months project.

They did not know I wasn't coming back.

Am I allowed to ask what type of work?

Because I feel like when people say DC, I'm like, now we're getting into government.

So maybe I shouldn't ask, but shared high level, what brought you from DC to Istanbul?

I worked in DC for a few organizations that did international development.

My focus was on media development and supporting independent media.

At that time is when there was a lot of money being put into working with Syrian journalists who were trying to Both report against what was happening with the regime, but also document war crimes and get communication about what was happening in there out and to people inside as well.

Anyone who had money for Syria was in Turkey at the time.

So our biggest funder wanted representation from my then organization here and did not hurt that I am friends with the guy who was.

Managing the donation portfolio.

So he was very specifically, I want Andrea to go, like, you should send her.

So do you have a journalism background?

No, Florida, but

no.

Says the woman who wrote a book.

No,

no.

When I first interviewed for a different media development organization, I very deadpanned.

told them in my interview that I had 20 years of media experience and one of the women interviewing me looked at me, she's, I'm, I'm so sorry to ask, but you only look like you're about 23, 24.

How is this possible?

Very seriously.

I watch TV.

I

Andrea (2): listened to their radio, like, and they hired me, so I'm like, alright, that's the way to go with this.

When did you get into wine?

Was it before that?

Were you already into wine in D.

C.?

I drank

wine while I was in the U.

S., absolutely, and especially being in D.

C.

because we were so close to Virginia wine country, so there were a number of Virginia wineries.

We enjoyed going to.

Virginia Wine

Country.

That's where my boyfriend Dave Matthews has his winery.

Maybe you know him?

Do you know David?

Andrea (2): I know about the David, but I didn't know he had a winery.

Yes, or Charlottesville, uh, which is the main wine region in Virginia.

Yes, it is.

Um, Blenheim Vineyards is owned by Dave Matthews.

Oh, wow.

If I get back to that region, that is absolutely where I'm going.

But yes, my friends and I would go to the wine region.

We enjoyed the experience, but back then, honestly, if it wasn't Merlot or Chardonnay, I didn't so much care what I was drinking.

And then it wasn't until I moved to Turkey that I really got into wine, which yes, tell that to a Turkish winemaker and you are, you're in like, I discovered my love for wine in Turkey.

And

they're like, you are family.

I don't know what that accent is, but okay.

Okay.

So you.

You start drinking Turkish wines, and then what happens from there?

You immediately fall in love with them?

No,

Andrea (2): no, no.

It was a little bit of a slower climb.

The first year that I lived here, I lived not centrally in a very conservative area.

I was.

The only Western foreigner that I ever saw around did not speak Turkish.

There was no alcohol.

Like it was an interesting year.

It's Muslim country mostly.

Yes, it is.

Yeah.

And then I moved to my current neighborhood where I've been for the last 11 years.

And where I live, it was historically held by mostly the Genoese and the Greek populations here.

So it's always been a little bit more liberal and a little bit more forward and international generally.

So I turned up at the local Carrefour grocery chain and there was this whole wall of wine.

Even then I was just like, okay, cool wine.

I can have a glass of wine now.

But back then

Were you looking for Merlot and Chardonnay on that wall?

I was not.

No.

Okay.

Definitely not.

We have them, but I was not.

Oh yes.

Do they grow Merlot

and Chardonnay there?

Okay.

Very much.

But that did not interest you?

No, it did not.

And back then I had a blog.

I think everyone had a blog.

Back in those early, mid, aughts, everybody had a blog.

I wrote mostly about travel and food because I traveled so much for my job that It seems natural.

A friend of mine suggested that I start writing about the Turkish wine that I was drinking as part of my blog.

And that's truly what started the whole thing was whether or not I was conscious of it.

I was drinking more thoughtfully so that I could write about it.

And from there, I went to any wine book that I could get on my Kindle.

I was downloading, there are a number of WSET.

providers in Turkey.

So I took level one here years ago.

I had to take it in Turkish because they don't offer it in English.

And from there, just

speaking the language at that point,

by then I had managed to get myself into some classes.

And

real quickly for my listeners who don't know WSET, can you just give a quick description of what it is?

Yes.

So the WSET, the Wine Spear Education Trust is an internationally recognized alcohol education system, if you will, wine is their bread and butter, but they also do education in spirits.

Like I think there's a sake program as well.

It's run out of the UK, but there are service providers globally.

So including Turkey.

Wow.

And yeah, so listeners, the top level of achievement with that is essentially a diploma is what they call it.

And then prior to that level one, two, three.

So you're a level,

I'm a level two.

Yeah, I'm a level two.

Thank you.

It's not easy.

And I haven't done level three because for one thing, getting your hands on the specific wines that you have to blind taste is fairly difficult here.

Yeah.

And it's harder to build a tasting wine community here.

So like, I, I always say that I am terrible at blind tasting and I blame my cats because they are rubbish at wine service.

They don't even know the proper way to open a bottle.

You start studying, you get certified, and

then.

This all happening at the same time, like the education and learning about Turkish wine specifically.

It was just this whole world of grapes that I had never heard of.

Yes, there is a huge amount of international grapes here.

Some of which have been here historically.

Some of which, because there are no Appalachians or viticultural areas here, so you can do whatever you want.

It is absolutely a free for all.

It's like the Wild West of wine.

I love it.

So we have strange things from Echigaina to, we've all heard of them, Cabernets and Chardonnays, but there is a wealth, a tremendous wealth of native grapes here.

And that's what really caught my attention was all of these grapes that, especially at the beginning, I had no idea how to say because this is an umlaut heavy language.

It's very Umlao y.

It is

very Umlao y.

Is it something like 1400?

Yes.

Yes.

That's crazy.

I know.

Absolutely crazy.

Unfortunately of that 1400, maybe 70 or 80 are being used in wine production at the moment.

But that has been one of the things that I've been here to see has been the resurgence of native grapes.

Producers have really gone from Just making the Cabernets and, and the Bordeaux blends, because that is incredibly popular with the local population, that the Bordeaux blend style of wine.

But wineries are putting themselves behind, not just putting more effort into the native grapes that we already know about, but deliberately going around the country looking for vineyards and testing the grapes.

And what is this grape?

And then what does it do?

So it's really a fascinating time to be in Turkish wine.

So almost a rebirth of getting back to highlighting some of the grapes that are originally from there, particularly not feeling like it has to just be Cab and Merlot and Pinot and things that people know, right?

Those are great.

Exactly.

Is the climate really that different from let's say, Greece?

I'm going to say yes, because, so I also research Greek wine fairly extensively, and what I know about their wine growing areas is that where Turkey has an advantage is, yes, there are some real hot places here, but we have Insane elevations.

And I'm sorry, I've been here so long that I no longer know feet.

So I'm going to have to give you everything in meters.

You're so European.

All right.

Talk to me in hectares and meters.

So like our main wine growing region, which is in the inner Aegean area is minimum 800 meters and it goes up from there.

in my opinion, best growing regions are at significantly higher elevations.

I think some of the highest vineyards are at 1, 800 meters.

Uh, so we have really insane elevation that counteracts the heat that we have.

It's also an incredibly windy country being along all of those seas.

So a lot of the vineyards here are able to function more or less biodynamically because they don't.

need sprays to keep away bugs because they have all of these great breezes that come through and clean out the vineyards and keep the grapes healthy.

Stuff's not settling.

Exactly.

The air is constantly moving.

I am partial to wines from Elevation, uh, because of my 12 years of working at Pride Mountain Vineyards, which is at 2, 000 feet.

Feet in elevation.

So I know but I would love for you to share in your opinion besides wind and the ability to do a little bit more natural pest management.

What do you think are some of the characteristics and benefits of grapes grown at elevation?

I Think that it gives wines a lot more elegance by which I mean for red wines, especially your tannins are going to be less rough, less.

And I say this with the caveat that I like a chewy tannin on the occasion.

I always say I want to chew my wine and people laugh at me.

I don't know why, I love it.

I'm not scared of tannin, I'm not scared.

But when you have that elevation, they're a little bit rounder, a little bit smoother and more integrated into the wine.

You also often get the blessing of higher acidity, which both balances the wine a little bit more, but also makes it far more food friendly.

And I find that it also gives wine more primary fruit aroma.

So you're getting more of the fruit in the wine.

So the daytime, nighttime temperature difference is really significant in a lot of growing areas in Turkey.

So they have the daytime where all the great sun and the, and the warmth to start ripening, but then they go dormant in the evening and hold on to that acidity.

Let's some rest.

Let's some chill out.

And that's absolutely shift.

We like a good old diurnal shift We have that here in Sonoma County and Napa where I live, right?

I think some of the best wine growing regions in the world.

That's one thing that they have in common.

Absolutely Okay, what do you discover as you start drinking these native grapes?

That's a big question Really?

All of these grapes much like any other grape in the world has its home area in Turkey Some of them have stayed in their home, but some of them have traveled across the country.

And so you are able to, with, with the ones that have traveled, it's really interesting for me anyway.

Not everyone's got the geek level that I have going on here, but it's really interesting for me to taste the wine from the different places.

and see how different it is and how terroir specific these grapes can be.

And we're also learning, thanks to some of these experimental winemakers, what some of these grapes can do.

You've got a red grape and a lot of people are just going to make the red wine.

But then you've got more adventurous, more curious winemakers who want to see how it does as a rosé, who want to see how it does as a blanc de noir or as a sparkling wine.

We're really seeing how some of these native grapes can, can stretch.

You mentioned winemakers, and I know that Turkey obviously has a very long history as far as how long they've been making wine.

California is just like a blink of an eye over here, right, when we think about the history.

But when you think about, and this is going to be a generalization, of course, but when you think about the different wineries where you have visited and spent time there, are the winemakers Older and been doing it for a long time.

Are you seeing new generations coming in and a lot of young winemakers?

And I always love to ask about female winemakers.

Are you seeing that?

Yeah, absolutely.

So we definitely have some older winemakers, people who have been in the industry for a little while, but also there are still a number of international consultants coming in and they tend to be on the older, more experienced side of things.

With every new winery here that opens, they are the younger people, or maybe a family starts a new winery and the patriarch has set up the winery, but it's his kids who are really getting their hands dirty with things.

Awesome.

And I love that you asked about women winemakers here because this is one of my big brags for Turkish wine, that in Turkey, in a complete disproportionate number wise to really almost anywhere else in the world, we have a huge number of women in wine in the industry here.

They are the winemakers.

They are the viticulturalists.

They are the winery owners.

They are the marketers.

They fill every position in wineries.

That's awesome.

I just did an episode, and if people haven't listened, they should go back two weeks ago with Marilee Bromhall, who is an importer of Italian and French wines, specifically from women winemakers.

And one of the things we talked about is, globally, it's only like 15 to 18 percent of the winemakers on this planet are women.

So you're saying it's a much higher percentage in Turkey?

It is absolutely a much higher percentage.

That's

interesting.

And I love it.

Dudes again, we love you.

Keep doing your thing, but it's just nice to see the numbers creeping up a little bit because we know just biologically and genetically it's proven that women have a better sense of smell and taste.

Yeah.

Which is why our dad joke is, women smell better because we smell better.

Andrea (2): It's a great dad joke.

Think about it.

So through this then, you said you become an accidental champion for Turkish wine.

Yeah.

So why then move forward and feel like you want to be this champion for the world and write an award winning book about it?

Why Turkish wine?

Andrea (2): Honestly, why Turkish wine?

The answer is, it's just geographically.

That's where I am.

And that's what I have access to.

I'm here.

Yeah.

We certainly have imports, but the import game here isn't strong.

Do you still have that job that brought you there?

So you need to stay there or now you are just there by choice working in wine?

No, I'm just here by choice now.

Yep.

So trying to make it an actual wine career in this country is, Not easy, but

not any easier in California either.

No, I'm not.

Here we are in a podcast.

I'm trying to get the word out.

Right.

I'm sure it is a little bit easier here, but yeah.

It's just, I think somewhere along the way between that blog and now I just fell in love with.

Not only all of these weird and wonderful grapes that I'd never heard of before, but the people in the stories behind them, because as I imagine people who are listening might wonder the government here is less than friendly towards the alcohol production industry, but people are persevering.

And so many of the people here, they're either making wine because this is their retirement project.

And so this is their second career, or I know a few people who have concurrent careers.

So certainly some of them are here for the money.

But we all know the joke, right?

About like, how do you become a billionaire?

You start with three billion and then you open a winery and then you have one impression.

How do you make a small fortune in wine?

Start with a large fortune.

Exactly.

Exactly.

Same variation of your joke, right?

All the dad jokes.

We love them.

Yeah.

So many people are in the industry here.

less to make money and more because they don't want to lose that aspect of the history and the culture here.

We have so many old vines and the wineries have been really good in the last few years about making sure that they're in those old vine registries.

So they're trying to preserve a lot of these vineyards from being ripped out for either just generally more lucrative crops or for what a winery or an independent grower might envision as a more lucrative grape even.

What

would be a more lucrative crop there besides a wine grape?

There's one particular winery called Meadon Winery.

They, the winery started to preserve.

essentially these old vineyards.

And they work with the villagers who own the vineyards, who were on the verge of ripping them out to plant watermelons, because that's where watermelons come from in Turkey.

And it is a much more lucrative crop, much easier to deal with.

Watermelon.

Yeah.

But okay.

Tobacco.

You would think, but no, I honestly wouldn't even know where the tobacco grows here, but.

Right it.

It could be wheat, it could be tea.

We have a lot of tea production here.

Agriculture is still a very huge industry here, like agriculture outside of grapes.

But even with grapes, Turkey is the fifth or sixth largest grape producer globally, and the majority of those grapes are either table grapes or they go for raisin production.

I think raisins are one of the larger exports.

Oh, wow.

Okay.

I think that's a perfect segue for us to try some Turkish wine.

This is going to be my first sip of Turkish wine to my knowledge.

The closest I've had is Greece, and I've actually had some wines from Lebanon.

Oh, lovely.

But I've never had a Turkish wine, so let's do what we call our Sip Spotlight.

We both have the same wine in front of us.

Yes, we do.

When we started planning this, I was like, alright, let me find some Turkish wines, and not easy to get, even here in California.

Believe it or not though, my local bottle shop, shout out to Bottle Barn, right around the corner from my house here in Sonoma County, they had this.

And I messaged you and I said, Hey, is, I don't even know how I'm gonna say it.

PP Pli so bad.

So , right?

pli?

Yes.

I'm making it a Italian and I'm like, Pelli . And you were like, yeah, that's one of the best producers.

Holy cow.

Okay.

I poured this wine in my glass.

I have not tasted it yet.

Okay.

I just cleansed my palate with water.

From coffee.

We did a water buffer and now we are ready for this and I will tell you first and foremost, I was very surprised at the color of this in the glass.

It is light red.

It's

very light.

Yeah, it's very pale.

So take me through this wine.

First time Turkish wine is hitting my lips.

Okay.

What you should know, one of the first things that you should know, is that these are relatively old finds, generally.

They do make two versions of this.

One is an older vine version with a higher concentration, but where these grapes come from is a region with older grapes.

They're grown at a fairly decent elevation, and this was aged in French and American oak, and they use, like, multi use oak because they're not, not trying to cover up.

The grape.

This is one of my favorite.

I was so excited when you got this, both because I absolutely love this producer, but this is my favorite red Turkish grape.

Wait.

Okay.

Ready?

I'm going to try to say it.

So it looks like phonetically Karasakiz, K A R A S A K I Z.

I'm sure it's not that phonetic Karasakiz.

So now say it correctly, please.

Almost exactly right.

Karasakiz.

Karasakas.

Yes.

Karasakas.

Karasakas.

That is the name of a native red grape.

These are from old vines.

What are you getting on the nose?

For me, the, the hallmark aroma of this grape is black pepper.

It needs a little bit of time to come out, but black pepper, along with maybe somewhat ironically, thyme.

And then it's a little red fruits and candied, some maybe sweet spices, a little bit of influence from that oak there.

But,

and I poured this in my glass before we started recording.

So it has been opening up for at least a half hour or so.

And it was been so hard for me to not taste it while it was sitting here breathing, but I am ready for my first taste.

Ooh, it's Candied fruit, like you said, bright but not sweet.

It's very dry.

There's more tannin than I was expecting by the color.

The color, because it's lighter than a light Pinot Noir, led me to make some assumptions.

It is fresh.

That acidity that you talked about is definitely there.

And it is a long finish.

Yeah.

It's percolating a little like a pepper shaker still happening on my palate.

Some nice tannin.

Oh, this is fun.

What is this grape known for other than the quintessential pepper notes?

It's a grape that's I feel like I remember seeing it at least as long as I've been here.

But the last few years, we've really seen a lot more winemakers start paying attention to this grape.

So there are a lot more people working with it now and or planting new vineyards.

A lot of them have access to older vineyards, but they're planting new ones as well.

And people have started to experiment with different ways to make it, which is very exciting.

I do want to tell you about the winery and the winemaker though.

So the winemaker, I was

going to ask.

Yeah.

So

let me start with the winery.

I absolutely, I love this winery so much.

Not only is there wine fantastic, but this is one of the pioneering wineries for finding a winemaker.

and reinvigorating these lost grapes.

That is the owner's Seyit Karizgaoglu mission is to find these grapes and try to see what they can do, essentially, and remind everyone that they exist.

His labels Are so well thought out this one

questions about 6m in big font and then a red slash through it.

What is happening?

Yes, let me start with some Turkish vocabulary the word for the number six in Turkish is ultra the word for gold Is alton with an N at the end, almost the same, but with an N.

Where this grape makes its home, gold deposits were found in this mountain.

And the government was going to come in and do some heavy strip mining to, to get into it.

Exactly.

So this label is a political statement against the mining.

Because when you put the word six, Next to the N, you suddenly have the word for gold phonetically in Turkish, and then you've got the red flash through it.

Absolutely.

Oh, it's like a code.

I love it.

It's a

code.

And for some of the labels for the rarer grapes that they work with, they put photographs of some of the endangered animals.

that live in Turkey as well.

So it's like a multifold endangered kind of propaganda

in my other language, which is animals and environment.

And, oh my gosh, I think it's meant to be that this is the one Turkish wine I could get my hands on.

They are, Seyit is one of the, he's also one of the biggest crusaders for marketing Turkish wine generally.

So the winery's production constantly surprises me how by how small it is.

It's like under a hundred thousand bottles.

Okay.

It's so funny because in Europe, they always talk bottles and here we always talk cases.

I'm always dividing by 12, so a hundred thousand bottles, about 8, 000 cases.

So we in, in California standards, we would put that a little bigger than boutique, but small.

Exactly.

But he's also one of the largest exported.

wines because he's just like pushing, he just travels all the time and clearly he's trying to advertise his winery, but he just ends up being an advertisement for all of Turkish wine.

And I've seen him visit, especially in the U S small middle of nowhere shops that carry his wine.

Uh, I saw, I think it was last year on his Instagram.

He has some wine, but in a small shop in Kalamazoo, Western Michigan.

So my area, it's

close to

Andrea (2): where I'm from.

And I saw his post that he was in this tiny little Michigan wine shop.

And I was like, Oh,

it's like your world's colliding, right?

Andrea (2): Absolutely.

I want to follow him on Instagram.

Is it just the name of the winery?

It is just the name of the winery.

Yes.

We have to tell him that we're featuring his wine and just advocating for Turkish wine

and his on the ground every day, hands dirty winemaker is one of our premier female winemakers.

They actually told me once that I think he said 75 or 85 percent of his entire workforce is female.

Smart man.

Yes, he is.

The winemaker's name is Ishik.

She makes wine for several wineries in the country and they're all phenomenal.

They're all doing things with organic farming.

Most of Pache, these wines, especially the reds are, they don't advertise it.

It's not something that they're using as a selling point, but most of them are fermented on native yeasts.

Organic grapes as much as they possibly can because they don't own all of the vineyards, but they try to work with the growers to make things as clean as possible in the vineyards.

And then Ishik's got her eagle eye out on all of the grapes when they come into the winery.

And she's just, she's magic.

with wine.

How just serendipitous.

I love it.

Just been a theme lately in the podcast is just featuring what women are doing in wine.

So that's so cool.

I know that you work a lot with creating menus and itineraries for people and food.

Probably just as passionate about food like me as wine and especially bringing them together So what would you be an ideal pairing with this?

Are you eating anything over there?

Or if you would what would it be?

Generally, one of the things that I love about a wine like this is for one thing, especially in the summer You can put a little chill on this and you're still gonna be good to go.

And this is a great wine for anything that you would throw on the grill.

And I don't care if it's meat or vegetable kebab or something like that, especially if you have an old fashioned grill and you get like that charcoal char

because of the peppery smokiness in the wine, almost like It sits in the pocket of pairing like Syrah.

Yes.

We love that with anything off the grill, right?

Yes.

Because it plays to the smoky, peppery notes in the wine.

Oh yeah, I would love that.

Even if you said a kebab, I would love that with a kebab, with some nice like yogurt or tahini sauce or mint.

Yeah.

Yes.

And this is a great one also for vegetable pairing if you're not a meat eater.

It does really well with eggplant based dishes, mushrooms, lentils, all of which are staples in the Turkish diet.

And you can also get really wild and crazy with this one.

I've had luck pairing this with, I know this is going to be weird, but like cocoa nib encrusted seared steak.

And you can really go a lot of ways with this.

I find it to be incredibly flexible in that way.

And this also makes a fabulous, um, which tends to be a little bit more on the herbal mineral side as opposed to summer fruits.

So it's a

watermelon Jolly Rancher.

We also

know exactly not going to find any of that in this.

So I think anyway, people are working with this grape.

It becomes a great.

food pairing tool.

Oh, you've given me some ideas because Michael and I are going to finish this bottle tonight.

It is only 8 40 AM here.

I have a full work day ahead of me, so I will let it hang out until this evening, but we'll probably throw something on the grill and I'll let him get to experience this too.

Yeah.

I've got one other topic.

which is about travel.

So I know that in addition to obviously writing your book, which people can get on Amazon.

And I'm going to put the link in the show notes for the essential guide to Turkish wine, which is a beautiful hardcover, gorgeous award winning book.

Congratulations.

Thank

Andrea (2): you.

I know that you also do periodic reviews of wines and blogging, but you also can help creating itineraries for people who are visiting.

So for instance, when I do get to come, let's say if it was on the cruise and I had one day, where would we go?

What would we do?

That depends on where your cruise came in.

Are you coming into Istanbul or are you coming into somewhere along the coast?

Because that's very different answers.

Kushidassa.

Okay, so you're coming into Kushidassa.

So first you absolutely have to go to Ephesus.

Ephesus is Some of the most intact Greco Roman rules that you will find anywhere in the Mediterranean.

It's an amazing visit.

But while you're there, there are two nearby wineries, which are excellent wineries.

One of which, if for some reason you haven't overnight also has a hotel on site, but they do tastings and they have a phenomenal restaurant where the winery owners, three passions are wine, jazz, and food.

And he feels that between wine and food, that there's like this.

improvisational, like, jazz, let it go where it wants to go feeling.

So one of the things that this restaurant does is they experiment with very old recipes, like Byzantine and earlier style recipes, and modern them up and give them little twists and pair them with the wineries.

Wine.

So that is absolutely a must go.

It's a fantastic winery.

They make wine for both international varieties, but also a lot of the native rise.

In fact, they have their own cut of suckers now, and there's another winery nearby and their winemaker is yet another one of my favorite female winemakers here.

And their concept is they have the series of wine.

The direct translation for the series is big vineyard because they feel very strongly that a grape grows where it grows for reasons.

And that if they replant it where they are on the Aegean coast, it's going to be a different grape.

So they view the entire country as their vineyard.

And they work with independent growers across the country to source grapes.

And they've given us a few grapes that we didn't know about before.

So they're also one of our grape rescuers.

What are the names of these two fantastic places that you just told us about?

The one with the restaurant is called Yeti Bill Gilert.

I know.

I can spell that.

I'll send you all of this.

Yeah, I want to shout them out, put some links in the notes.

Absolutely.

And the other is called Achberg.

And so as I'm chuckling about the intricacy of the language, which I know you know all too well.

I think one of the things I read about a service that you offer for people is not only helping to plan, but if people are not speakers of the language, like you will call and make the reservations and communicate and get everything set up for them.

I know that.

This is going to be interesting to my listeners because I have a lot of avid travelers like you and I who listened to this podcast.

So I would love for them to reach out to you if they are traveling either a land based trip or a lot of us, we are, I worked for Disney for many years and every summer the Disney cruise line does a Mediterranean itinerary, which is what we did when we were supposed to do it.

to come in for the day.

In the future, I would love for people to, if they have a, even a stop and a day to reach out to you so that you can help put something together for them.

That'd be amazing.

Yeah, absolutely.

I know because the more the wine tourism industry here grows, the more we're seeing English speakers at the wineries, but there are still a lot of places where there isn't active English all the time.

So, yeah, if people need help, I'm happy to make those reservations.

In addition to the planning, which is amazing, do you ever spend the day almost as a guide with guests, like translating and guiding them through their day?

I do.

I work with an outside, essentially wine tourism focused travel agency called Vines and Pearls.

And I've

seen collaborations on Instagram.

Yes.

Yes.

And so she organizes wine tours, mostly at this point out of Istanbul, but she also has a, but perfectly lovely guides for the Aegean region.

And I think she also has somebody in the Cappadocia region, if you're there to do wine tours.

The fairy chimneys and hot air balloons.

There's a lot of wine down there as well.

Ooh.

Did you say fairy chimneys?

Yes.

Oh my gosh.

All right.

That sounds very cool.

So you can help connect them with Vines and Pearls and companies who can really provide that guiding.

So let's say that someone like me has eight hours in a port and they do multiple wine tastings and they buy all of this Turkish wine.

Apparently I've read that you are an expert with putting up to 12 Bottles of wine in a regular suitcase.

Give us the tips.

I think I've even managed more than 12 before.

There are these fabulous The two brands that I like are one is called, I love this wine diaper.

Okay.

I've seen it.

Yep.

Okay.

And the other ones are jet bags and they're essentially the same product, just two different brands.

And the reason I like these so much better than the wine skins with the bubble wrap is because they are lined with truly The diaper material.

That's how the one brand got his name.

And so they both cushion, but if a bottle does happen to break, it will absorb the entire bottle.

And I've never had a bottle break, but I did try to bring a pet net once back from, I think, Georgia.

And because it has the crown cap, it wasn't very secure.

So most of the bottle leaked, which made me very sad.

Dang, if that wine diaper didn't absorb everything.

So there was no mess in my suitcase, which was fantastic.

And they, they truly do cushion enough that you can just put them in your suitcase in those bags.

And once you get all your clothes and other purchases.

Oh, no, that is a great tip.

The wine skins are great, but I love the absorption.

The absorption.

Yes.

And there you can, you just keep using them.

I usually, so I visit the U S once a year and I think every other year I get like a replacement set when they start getting a little tatty or something like that, but they are absolutely reusable.

Oh, good to know.

Okay.

Thank you.

Last question.

You talked about visiting the U S.

What is something that when you come home that you have to eat or drink that you cannot get access to and that you miss when you're in Turkey?

Andrea (2): Oh gosh, that's actually a really long list.

You can give me like two if you want, it's fine.

Andrea (2): Okay, so the eating thing is actually, I think maybe

it's very specifically Midwestern.

It was a pan dessert that I grew up with, with my mom making.

They're called scotch a roos.

The base is made out of rice krispie treats, peanut butter, caro syrup.

And so, mix it all and you squish it down flat so that it hardens.

And then you pour over the top an equal amount of each mixed together before.

Melted chocolate and butterscotch chips.

Okay.

Okay.

Can you not get all those ingredients started now?

No Rice Krispies, no butterscotch, no nothing here.

So my mom makes No Karo

syrup.

Cause, sorry Karo, but it's probably illegal in most countries.

But

my mom makes an enormous pan of them for me.

And then we like What's that thing?

Vacuum seal them?

Thank you.

Yes.

We vacuum seal them and I bring them back.

That's like me when I go home to New Jersey, which I'm going next month for Christmas.

Three dozen Everything Bagels comes home with me.

Oh yes.

I have a wine suitcase when I fly.

It's full of wine.

But when I'm coming back to California, it's empty.

So the Everything Bagels go in there warm from the shop.

And then when I get home, I vacuum seal them and freeze them and just ration them throughout the year.

So I totally get that.

That's beautiful.

And then everything else that comes back in my suitcase, if I'm not eating it while I'm in Michigan, it's groceries that I can't get here.

So yeah, Mexican spices so that I can make my Mexican foods.

There's always a trip to Trader Joe's.

I love Trader Joe's.

Is

there anything that you want to reiterate, share, anything that we haven't covered before we sign off that you want to make sure our listeners know about you, about turkey, and about these wines?

Thank you again so much for having me as a guest.

This has been a delight.

And I hope that this makes more people curious about Turkish wine.

So please go ask your shops for Turkish wine, because that will really help me with imports.

Like I'm desperately trying to get more Turkish wine imports into the US.

And in the meantime, if you're already planning a vacation, come to Turkey because A, Turkish wine is 100 percent worth traveling for and B, there are so many other things to do here.

This is a magnificent country for tourism and the wine here, like I said earlier, this is such an exciting time.

To be part of the industry here, to be experiencing the industry here, even as a drinker and to see how people are trying to resurrect these grapes and really experiment with them.

There's such an undying spirit and bravery here.

in the wineries doing things when they know that it's not economically smart to do, but they're doing it for the love and to uphold the long history and culture here.

So come support Turkish wines.

They are lucky to have you, even if it accidentally happened that you became their champion.

What an awesome champion they have in you with all the work that you're doing.

And I hope that people listening come and connect with you and let you help do some planning for their itinerary.

And I know when I come in the next couple of years, you and I will meet and we'll get to toast in person.

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

Thank

you so much for being here.

It's been such a pleasure, Nikki.

Thank you.

I just loved my time with her.

And I hope you enjoyed listening, learned a little something, have something new on your radar when it comes to wine regions.

And like Andrea said, next time you're in your wine shop, look and see if not even a section, maybe a shelf, maybe a spot for Turkish wines.

And if there's not ask, let's create the demand so that we can get some of these amazing.

wines here and support all of the winemakers, especially the women winemakers.

Check out the link in the show notes for, um, Andrea's book, The Essential Guide to Turkish Wine on Amazon.

I will also put the link to get the wine diapers from Amazon if you are traveling and need to transport wine safely.

Make sure to follow her at The Quirky Quirk, which is her website and newsletter, but also her Instagram handle.

I am a little bit of a creeper on her gorgeous Instagram, and you should be as well.

And as always, if you enjoyed your edutainment today, make sure that you leave us a rating, a review, and spread the word.

Peace.

Don't keep this to yourself, share it with friends and family that, you know, that are wine nerds, just like us, and would love to be a part of our SIP community.

And speaking of women, winemakers, if you were not aware, I have my own wine label, Solovato, which in Italian means joyful and uplifted.

And Michael and I craft a very tiny production of Sangiovese from Sonoma County.

It is a medium bodied red wine.

That is fantastic on the table, whether it's a full holiday spread or takeout pizza on a Friday.

And we can ship to most states across the country.

I'll put the link in the show notes for SolovatoWines.

com and be sure to use the code PODLISTENER.

And I will give you 10 percent off your order.

And finally, I can't believe I'm saying this, but next week's episode is episode number 50.

We've almost been doing this for a year and man, I've got a very exciting guest.

I'm still pinching myself as I'm editing it for you.

Master sommelier.

I'm George Melotis of Wine Bar George at the Disney Springs.

Whatever you do between now and then, as always, sip well.

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