Kuzubağ Öküzgözü Shiraz 2021
£15.95
The wine
A blend of a local and an international grape that suit each other well. Black fruits, black plums and elegant spice on the nose, full bodied and balanced with a touch of oak on the palate and rich fruit on the finish.
öküzgözü means ox eye, for the size and darkness of its berries, and it comes originally from Elazig in eastern Anatolia. Its high acidity and moderate tannin make it a natural partner for Shiraz, which supplies the weight and the peppery depth the Turkish grape lacks. Anatolia is one of the places where the grapevine was first domesticated, some 6,000 years ago.
The producer
Kuzubağ
View all Kuzubağ winesKuzubağ was founded in 2007 by Salih Kuzu and his daughter Aslı Kuzu, who planted vineyards in their hometown of çal in Denizli province, inland from the Aegean coast of Turkey.
They then waited. The vineyards were given thirteen years to mature before a winery was built, a 3,000 square metre building discreetly embedded into the landscape at the heart of the estate, and the first vintage was released only in 2021. That patience is unusual anywhere and almost unheard of in a young wine industry.
Turkey has the fourth largest area of vineyard in the world and produces very little wine from it: the overwhelming majority of its grapes are eaten fresh or dried into sultanas. It also holds an extraordinary genetic inheritance, with something between 800 and 1,200 indigenous varieties, since Anatolia is one of the places where the grapevine was first domesticated some 6,000 years ago. Kuzubağ work çal Karası, Kalecik Karası, öküzgözü and Narince alongside French varieties.
