Month: October 2020

Turkey is a fascinating wine country, with a history as long as wine itself. I have always believed we should be less Israel-ocentric and take time to learn from our neighbors. Remember, kosher is not a country and Israel is not an island. We belong to a region; the Eastern Mediterranean wine region. Of course, it is a region with borders defined by war, discord and religion. The relations between Israel & Lebanon, Greece & Turkey, and Cyprus with Northern Cyprus, are scarcely made in heaven. There are things in common though. The sun, sea, mountains, stony soils, mud coffee, the anise flavored spirit (Ouzo, Raki or Arak), the east med cuisine…and the wine of course. One should not over simplify things, but in general, Christians make wine in Cyprus, Greece and Lebanon; Jews are the winemakers in Israel, and Muslims make the wine in Turkey (and in Northern Cyprus for that matter.)  However, this fertile crescent was the hub of the wine trade over 2,000 years ago, the France and Italy of ancient times in terms of production and the cradle of wine culture.