Phokaia Foça Karası Merlot 2016
Öküzgözü Şarapçılık’s name creates a bit of confusion. It is the only winery in Turkey named not after a family name or a vineyard but after a grape. Quite often when I see a wine with Öküzgözü written in big, bold letters across the label I can’t tell for a minute if it’s a new wine by Öküzgözü Winery or if another producer is just really excited about the grape variety. Öküzgözü Winery does produce Öküzgözü. In fact its flagship wine is a 100% Öküzgözü. However, the winery is also pioneering the return of another indigenous variety: Foça Karası.
Rıfat Şekerdil, owner and winemaker of Öküzgözü Winery, has been a fixture in central Izmir since his father opened a small winery in the Bornova area of Izmir when Şekerdil was a child. It was while making wine in Bornova that he became curious about the little-known Foça Karası grape. Foça Karası, which literally means “black from Foça” is from the nearby town of the same name.
He started with just a few rows of the grape planted alongside Cabernet Sauvignon. When Şekerdil began experimenting with it, no one else was using it to make wine* so he had no idea what to expect. He soon realized that this medium small, thick-skinned, spicy berry made pretty fantastic wine full of tart fruit and spice flavors. In the ensuing years he’s grafted more Foça Karası onto what were Cabernet vines. We all eagerly await the day he releases a 100% Foça Karası. In the meantime he has released it in several blends under the Öküzgözü Winery’s ‘Phokaia’ label.
Phokaia Foça Karası Merlot 2016 Tasting Notes
The blend is a brilliant, clean, and bright cherry red in the glass that gives the impression of a light-bodied wine. Although with an alcohol level of 14.5% abv there is nothing light about this. Lots of fruit, red cherries, red plums, and flowers swirl around in the glass. It’s definitely a young wine. The structured tannins and high acid could use a couple more years in the bottle to mellow and find their balance. Despite that, fruity, fresh flavors with a spicy, peppery finish make for a nice easy drinking and food friendly wine.
*Öküzgözü Winery may be pioneering the return of this grape but is no longer the only winery using. Urla-based USCA also uses this in one of its red blends.