Last autumn, in November 2025, I had Andrea Lemieux – The Quirky Cork – as a guest at The WinesOfItaly Show. This was the second time as a guest on my livestream, and it’s always a pleasure to talk wine with Andrea. Last time, in 2022, she presented her debut book, The Essential Guide to Turkish Wine, a comprehensive guide to the fascinating world of native grapes and winemaking in Turkey. This time, Andrea and I had a chat about her new book, The Quick and Dirty Guide to Greek Wine.
At a certain point early in the livestream, minute 3-11, I got a call from the hospital about an upcoming procedure that I had to take, so Andrea managed beautifully on her own, talking about Greek and Turkish wine. I apologise for that when you watch the replay. I was a bit rattled about the whole thing, so I see I forgot to turn off my mic in the process. Anyway, just don’t be annoyed by my talking in the background sometimes. Andrea is telling you a lot of interesting things about how her books came to be. When I upload it to my future podcast (only audio), I will edit out this part.
This is livestreaming! Anything can happen.
Read this previous article by Andrea Lemieux on my blog:
Who Is Andrea Lemieux? The Quirky Cork Explained
Andrea is a great wine communicator and advocate for lesser-known grapes and wine areas in Turkey, Greece, and beyond, and a good friend. She was there to cheer me up at the beginning of my chemo treatment 1.5 years ago and sent me lovely turbans. I had her invited as a wine writer to the Radici del Sud event a couple of years ago; we are long overdue for another meet-up.
Let’s talk a bit more about Andrea’s story. She is an American wine writer and the voice behind The Quirky Cork — a platform dedicated to the wine regions the world consistently underestimates. Based in Istanbul for over 10 years, Andrea has built a singular career at the intersection of wine writing, education, and cultural advocacy for what she calls “offbeat” wine countries: Turkey, Greece, Hungary, and beyond.
The conversation opens with Andrea’s own story — how a two-year stint in Istanbul turned into over a decade, and how she eventually left her “jobby job” behind to go all-in on wine. She talks candidly about the challenges and rewards of working in a niche that, as she puts it, means you “just kind of lose money by doing anything” — but that also puts you at the frontier of some of the most exciting viticulture on the planet.
Consumers in Istanbul went from ordering just ‘red or white’ to asking for indigenous Turkish varieties by name. That’s a revolution.
says Andrea Lemieux
Turkey: 1,400 Native Grapes and a Wine Culture in Evolution
A significant part of the discussion focuses on Turkey’s extraordinary viticultural heritage: a country with over 1,400 native grape varieties, no formal appellation system, and a wine culture that is evolving rapidly, with Istanbul consumers now asking for indigenous varieties by name rather than simply ordering “a red” or “a white.” Andrea contextualises this within the broader ancient history of wine in the region, touching on the shared heritage of Turkey, Georgia, Armenia, and Iran, and the question of where wine was truly “born.”
The Quick and Dirty Guide to Greek Wine – A Discussion
The second half of the episode turns to Greece and Andrea’s brand-new pocket guide, The Quick and Dirty Guide to Greek Wine — a book born out of her personal experience as someone who is not keen on driving and likes to discover wine through urban wine bars. She explains the thinking behind including Greek script for every grape name (wine lists in Greece, unlike food menus, rarely get translated) and shares specific producer recommendations that go well beyond the usual Assyrtiko conversation — from a revelatory Savatiano near Athens to the undersung white grape Thrapsathiri from Crete.
Andrea’s Greek producer picks: Vassaltis (Santorini) for Assyrtiko, Ieropoulos Family Winery (Peloponnese) for Agiorgitiko rosé, Mylonas (Attica) for Savatiano and fine Retsina.
Facts about Greek wine
• Greece has moved well beyond traditional Retsina; modern producers make high-quality versions, including sparkling Retsina
• In Greek restaurants — from casual to five-star — food menus are almost always in English, but wine lists are frequently in Greek script only
• Assyrtiko — Santorini’s flagship white grape; the most internationally recognised Greek variety
• Kidonitsa — an emerging white grape from the Peloponnese, gaining traction among producers in recent years
• Agiorgitiko — a red grape from the Peloponnese; also made as rosé
Why This Episode Is Worth Watching
It’s a rich, warm, and wide-ranging conversation between Andrea and me – two wine communicators who clearly share a love for the roads less travelled in the wine world.
Episode Highlights
- [~00:00] Katarina introduces Andrea Lemieux and her platform, The Quirky Cork — focused on “offbeat” wine countries that rarely make the mainstream wine conversation.
- [~03:00] Andrea has been in Istanbul for over 10 years, and the leap into full-time wine work: tours, tastings, consulting for Fine Turkish Wine in Texas, the largest Turkish wine importer in North America.
- [~08:00] Turkey’s staggering biodiversity: over 1,400 native grape varieties, only 80–100 used commercially, and a winemaking landscape that experiments freely thanks to the absence of a formal appellation system.
- [~12:00] The shift in Istanbul wine culture — consumers moving from “red or white?” to ordering indigenous Turkish varieties by name. A quiet revolution is happening glass by glass.
- [~17:00] The ancient history debate: who invented wine? Andrea offers a beautifully unifying take — Turkey, Georgia, Armenia, and Iran all share that history. “8,000 years ago, there were no borders.”
- [~20:00] The second edition of The Essential Guide to Turkish Wine — expanded with new grapes, new wineries, and striking new photography by Emma Aslihan Basher Rose.
- [~23:00] The origin story of The Quick and Dirty Guide to Greek Wine — a pocket guide for urban wine explorers who, like Andrea, don’t drive and discover wine through bar lists in cities like Athens.
- [~30:00] The case for Thrapsathiri — a lively, fresh white from Crete that Andrea flags as a grape worth seeking out, and a reminder that Greek wine runs much deeper than the usual suspects.
- [~33:00] Closing thoughts on finding Greek wine in Italy, the challenge of diverse imports, and Katarina’s plans to finally explore Athens’ wine bars firsthand.
