Wine from Jordan and Turkey

Winemaker Rob Davis (left) with John and Sally Jordan

Year after year, Jordan Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay are two of the most popular wines in US restaurants. The Jordans are interesting people, and their winemaker, one of the longest-tenured in the world, strives for balance at a time when his neighbors are seduced by power.

And yet, few people write about Jordan. As I explain in my Wine Review Online column this month,

"Jordan sits near the top of consumer polls while the wine media, depending on its focus, extols something cheaper, weirder, more powerful, harder to get, newer, more traditional…you name it."

It's a good story, thanks in part to the unusual frankness of John Jordan. 


I also find interesting a meta-story I've written about on this blog before: That it's difficult for a freelancer to place a story in the mainstream media without overstating the greatness of the product. If you read a story about Jordan in a food magazine, it would likely say the wines are mind-blowing, life-altering, or some other synonym for "worth writing about." In fact, it's their lack of mind-blowingness that makes them popular. Jordan's willingness to play a supporting role at dinner is one of the things I love about the winery; in the column I list a half-dozen or so other points. Check it out.

You can't get to this vineyard in Diyarbakir, Turkey, unless you know somebody who packs heat

From the popular and barely written about to the obscure and barely written about -- my column for Palate Press this month is about the fascinating wine scene in Turkey.

How hot is this column? One commenter accused me of being "an accomplice to a crime against humanity." That goes well beyond most of the normal flak I get, and may even set a new standard in Internet hyperbole.

But seriously, this is interesting stuff: guns, sexism, mendacity, the Koran, and a grape with four umlauts that reminds me of Zinfandel. Check it out

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