Kuzubağ Öküzgözü 2023
£16.25
The wine
öküzgözü means ox eye, a reference to the size and darkness of its berries, and it is one of the two most important red grapes in Turkey. Grown originally around Elazig in eastern Anatolia, it gives bright red and black fruit with high natural acidity and moderate tannin.
Bottled on its own rather than as a blending partner, the variety shows its freshness plainly: this is a medium-bodied red built on acidity and aromatic lift rather than weight, and it takes a slight chill well. Turkey has the fourth largest area of vineyard in the world, though the overwhelming majority of its grapes are eaten fresh or dried rather than made into wine.
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.
