Sevgi Tüzel-Conghaile, founder of the Dublin-based A Wine Idea, is one of the most impressive females in the Irish wine world. Born in Turkey, she is an Oenologist & Viticulturist.

Sevgi, after her graduation in Food Engineering, followed her dream to become a winemaker in her home country before relocating to France to study her MSc in Oenology & Viticulture in Montpellier SupAgro and Bordeaux Sciences Agro. She continued her studies at the prestigious Hochschule Geisenheim University in Germany while living in the renowned wine region of Mosel. Among many other accomplishments, Sevgi also completed a certified course taught by Masters of Wine (MW) Romana Echensperger MW, Alison Flemming MW, Caro Maurer MW, Josef Schuller MW, Frank Smulders MW, among others. 

She also married a man from Connemara, so we may need to thank him for her presence in this country! 

How can one make wine accessible? Who has the better wine palate, men or women? Also, Sevgi shares some of her favourite dishes from her native Turkey, like dolma, manti, and kibbeh, her love for cooking Turkish, the “Mediterr-Asian” trend, and her favourite wine bars in Ireland.  

Finally, she addresses the question, is there a future for Turkish wine?

As mentioned in this episode

A Wine Idea

Sakhalin restaurant

Geisenheim Institute

Getting to Know SpiceBags

Our podcast episodes come in three delectable flavours:

Deep dives – comprehensive explorations into a country’s cuisine.

Staple chats – where we dish about a topic amongst ourselves.

Interviews – with individuals who have been impactful on the international Irish scene. 

Pick a flavour, we hope you like more than one! 

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