Turkish Wine of the Week - Suvla 2014 Sauvignon Blanc

I have a hard time with Sauvignon Blancs. I feel like no two are alike which, on the one hand is fantastic because hurrah for new wines, new tastes, and new experiences!On the other, you run into more chances of wines you don't like. I've learned over the years that I just really don't like white wine all that much. Dry white wines that is. Or anything oaked. Don't even try to give me Chardonnay (unless it's steel aged!). So that makes choosing a Sav Blanc which varies from the "less ripe" pale color herby/green bell pepper flavors to "more ripe" darker yellows with summer fruit flavors. I'm all about the latter but the former I'd sooner pour down the drain. And since a great many wines are bottled in dark green glass you can't even try to gauge which end of ripeness you're going to get.

That's a long intro into why Suvla's 2014 Sauvignon Blanc is such a winner for me. I was a little hesitant, especially since Suvla's Sav Blanc is in clear glass and I could see how pale and (from my understanding of the way the scale works) likely it was to be on the "less ripe" end of the scale. So imagine my surprise and delight when I tasted it.

In the nose it was all sorts of yummy things: white peaches, nectarines, and passion fruit. On the palate it was bright and elegant and all those lovely fruits in the nose came out on the tongue as well. The flavor did not ignore the other end of the Sav Blanc flavor profile though as there was something green lurking around in there; but in a nice way...like leaves as a background to beautiful flowers.

I begin to wax poetic again but I have to say this deserves it. I hope Suvla has a good stock of this one (or lets me know when they're running out so I can stock up) as I plan to make this my go-to white. I allowed E&M a small taste, since I had already drunk most of the bottle by the time they came over, and it got enthusiastic thumbs up fro both of them as well.
 

This is a Winesday to celebrate-finding what for me is a rarity-an excellent white wine of I will enthusiastically be drinking a great deal. To top it off it's a really good bargain at 47TL/bottle at the Suvla Shop in Cihangir.

Going forward I think part of my wine research is going to be how to become part of the Suvla family because if that means family discount or, gasp, free wine...how do I sign up?!

Georgian Wines - I Love You

Our hosts in Georgia signed us up for a company field trip with a bunch of great folks to visit a winery in Signagi. Part of our trip was a stop to the vineyard to help harvest grapes. Equipped with Swiss army knives and scissors KMac and I dived in.

Way more fun that harvesting blueberries. That was the thing we all did in the summer where I grew up. I did it once, for like half a day. Not fun. All the grapes we collected would accompany us to the winery we were visiting for stomping and processing.

Lunch was served in the vineyard. There was so much good food. Maybe it's good I don't like in Georgia. I can't even imagine how much I'd weigh if I were eating pork shashlik (pooork!!!!!), some sort of eggplant in yogurt awesomeness, cheeses, potatos, bread, and whatever else was on the table every day.

We drank wine from our host winery out of traditional clay bowls. They did not so much help with making the wine taste good...

Cheers!

After leaving the vineyard we drove the rest of the way to Signagi to the Pheasant's Tears winery. Georgia has a long, long history of producing wine and you can really make an amazing vacation exploring its wine country. Our only stop of this brief trip was Pheasant's Tears in Signagi but if you want you could spend a couple weeks visiting more. And it would be worth it because Georgian wine is a-freaking-mazing.

At Pheasant's Tears the grapes were thrown in a big trough and everyone of the trip took turns stomping the crap out of the grapes. The juice and pulp were collected and taken down to their cellar. Traditional Georgian wine is aged, not in oak or steel, but in large clay vats that are buried in the ground. So that's where we poured the grape juice.

The vat

We would head back to the winery later for a traditional supra but in the meantime KMac and I did a little exploring of the small town. Charming.

After a bit of exploring and a small rest we returned to Pheasant's Tears for a wine tasting and supra.

The garden at Pheasant's Tears

I cannot now recall how many of their wines we tried, six? Seven? The overwhelming favorite at our table was the very first, the Tsolikauri. I ended up buying three of those (one as a gift for our hosts and one went to my neighbor who was looking after my Sherlock).

Table favorite.

And now I wax poetic on Georgian wines...while more and more distributors in the States are carrying them (notably the liquor store next to Cork on 14th and a place in Georgetown where you can even get Pheasant's Tears) they are still pretty rare finds. Georgia is one of the oldest wine producing regions in the world and is likely even the birthplace of what we know to be wine today. Jennifer Walker wrote a good article about Georgian wines for The Culturist. While I'm more of a red than white person, my experiences with Georgian wines to date has me preferring their whites...but even more than that...the green.

In addition to the bottles that we bought in Signagi, KMac and I also bought some wines chosen at random in a Tbilisi shop. I ended up drinking all three of them this past week with a visiting friend who is my Georgian go-to expert. Our overwhelming favorite was the green. Yes, green. Apparently a green wine doesn't mean young, it means it's made out of Rkatsteli and Mtsvani grapes, which both translate as ‘green'.  I've been running around a lot lately and could really use a break but I'd jump back on a plane to Tbilisi in a heart beat to buy more of it!

Cheers again!

And of course we all had glasses of cha cha, the Georgian version of grappa. Eh. I'm not generally a grappa fan. It's better than ouzo or raki for sure since it's made from grapes (from the leavings of grapes gathered from other wineries actually) and doesn't have the awful anise taste of ouzo and raki...but still. Eh.

After the tasting we moved into the winery's restaurant for a supra. A supra is a traditional Georgian feast. An important part of Georgian culture, supras are held for both festive occasions, and after funerals. The owner, John, served as the Tamada, or toastmaster. According to wikipedia " A successful Tamada must possess great rhetorical skill and be able to consume a large amount of alcohol without showing signs of drunkenness." Which is true as a supra goes on until the last guest departs and toasts are said as long as guests are there.

There was so much amazing food. I love Georgian food. Love, love, love. I could not even keep count of how many open wine bottles made their way to the table during the evening. We were also especially honored to have Zadashe perform for us throughout the evening. Zadashe is a Georgian group that performs traditional dancing and polyphonic music. They were fantastic. KMac and I also bought two of their CDs.

We were some of the last to leave the supra that night. I wish I could have held out longer but we were so tired!

The next day we visited a nearby monastery and church where Saint Nino, possibly the most important saint in Georgian Orthodoxy, is buried. Saint Nino is credited with bringing Christianity to Georgia.

Georgia I miss you already! Have I mentioned that I am currently unemployed? If anyone in Georgia wants to hire me...!

My First Foray into African Cooking

I've been hanging out at home a lot this week, and I find myself cooking up a storm. I should have been leaving for Zambia this weekend, but instead, I'll have to make do with making an West African-inspired dish in my own kitchen. I joined Weight Watchers a couple of months ago, and a couple of days ago, this recipe came through my eTools feed, and I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to try it, with just a couple of small variations. And if you clicked through the link, you're probably thinking, "Peanuts? Spinach? Sweet Potatoes? Really?" Yes!!! Peanuts, or ground nuts as they are known, feature pretty prominently in many African cuisines, and they add a rich depth of flavor to meats, or ground nuts might also bring thickened texture and protein to a vegetable stew like the one I'm about to talk about.

I blasted the Glee soundtrack as loud as I could handle (which given my ears, is not very loud for most people), tied on my Rosie the Riveter Apron, and started chopping away to make this Senegalese Peanut Stew. First things first: As Americans, our store-bought peanut butters are heavily sweetened, and lack a lot of the texture that a fresh nut butter would have. If you're thinking of giving this recipe a go, make sure that you buy natural peanut butter with no added sugar. Secondly, this recipe calls for green peppers, and I didn't have any. I did have red peppers, and in combination with the orange of the carrots and sweet potatoes, and the green of the spinach, I think that visually, the red color of the peppers cuts through nicely.

Senegalese Peanut Stew

1 spray(s) cooking spray

2 medium onion(s), roughly chopped

1 medium red pepper(s), cored and roughly chopped

1/2 pound(s) sweet potato(es), peeled and chopped into 1/2-inch cubes

2 medium carrot(s), peeled and thinly sliced

2 medium garlic clove(s), minced

2 Tbsp ginger root, fresh, minced

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

4 cup(s) vegetable broth, reduced-sodium

6 Tbsp peanut butter, natural, creamy variety

6 cup(s) baby spinach leaves, coarsely chopped

• Coat a large saucepan with cooking spray and set over medium heat. Add onion and bell pepper; cook, stirring often, until softened, about 3 minutes.
• Stir in the sweet potato, carrots and garlic; cook for 1 minute, stirring often. Add the ginger, cloves, salt and cayenne; cook for 30 seconds.

• Pour in the vegetable broth and bring to a simmer, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Stir in the peanut butter until smooth.

• Cover, reduce the heat to low, and simmer slowly, stirring once in a while, until the sweet potatoes are tender, about 30 minutes.
• Add the spinach; cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes. Yields about 1 2/3 cups per serving.

And this is your finished product. All the flavors meld together nicely, and even though it seems like a lot of ginger, it's really not. I like my stew a little spicier, so I increased the cayenne pepper by 1/4t, and also added about a t of crushed red pepper. I used my own vegetable broth that I made from scratch to cut down on the sodium content. I ate some of the leftovers today, and it definitely has a nice kick to it. Also, I started running out of room in my pan, so I cut the spinach down to 6 cups instead of 8 that the recipe calls for. The total yield is 6 servings of 1 2/3c each.

Enjoy!