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Falling in Love with Kuzubağ White Wines

 

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Last Sunday, I wrote about my experience with the rosé wines from Kuzubağ. Now it’s time to tackle the whites!

Over the winter I met some of the family behind new Çal-based winery, Kuzubağ. Historically, the wineries located on the Denizli-Çal plateau have produced more bulk, lower-quality wines. Kuzubağ is one of the new wineries here that want to change that image. One of the ways they’re doing it is to emphasize the local grape, Çalkarası. 

The winery’s vineyards sit at an elevation of 850 meters in clay-loam and calcareous soil. Given the elevation, there’s a great difference between day and night temperatures allowing grapes to ripen over a longer period while retaining their freshness. Here they grow not only Çalkarası, but also Kalecik Karası, Öküzgözü, Narince, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc.

The winery opened to visitors this last summer and the facility looks beautiful. I haven’t had a chance to make it out there yet but look forward to being able to do so.

Kuzubağ currently makes seven wines and, spoiler alert, I have enjoyed all of them!

Kuzubağ Sauvignon Blanc, 2021

Wow this is an involved wine! I tasted it before I contacted the winery to ask about the winemaking. While some of it did not come as a surprise (some oak ageing), I was quite wowed with the full scope! The winery employed three different methods for this:

• skin contact for about 6 hours
• whole bunch press
• pressing post destemming

Then 30% of the wine matured for six months in French oak barrels at different toasting levels

Wow, right?

The resulting wine shone a brilliant lemon-lime in the glass. No hint of skin contact or oak on the visual. But the nose…ah, that gave the first clue that there was something unusual going on here! Super aromatic with tropical fruits like guava and passion fruit, splashes of grapefruit, and an alluring thread of flint smoke. Round, almost fat on the palate (thank you skin contact and oak) with pleasant acidity. Here acacia blossoms, lemon, and biscuit flavors joined the tropical and smoky notes from the nose.

Medium-bodied, 13.7% alcohol, and a pretty wow palate. I want this again just thinking about it.

Kuzubağ Chardonnay, 2021

While second on my list here, this was actually the last of the whites I tried. In fact, I did not even order this from the winery (seven wines do not fit into a 6 bottle box!). But the Chardonnay blend (below) so much knocked my socks off that I had to try this. 

To add more aromas, color, and body to the wine, after destemming, Kuzubağ macerated the grapes with the skins for about five hours. After fermentation, 62% of the wine matured for six months in French oak barrels with different toast levels. BUT! Oaky Chardonnay haters take note – none of what you don’t like about oaked Chardonnay is present here. This is a safe one!

Very pale straw color with green highlights with aromatic white peach, warm citrus, peach blossom, honeycomb, and a hint of smoke. On the palate it’s dry and very fresh with peaches, honey, and citrus flavors accented with a splash of cream on the finish. 

Surprisingly high alcohol (for the wine, not for Turkey generally) at 14.3%. There is a very nice balance here making that higher alcohol go unnoticed. 

Kuzubağ Narince Chardonnay, 2021

Last, but by no means least, the Kuzubağ Narince Chardonnay, my favorite of the trio. Made with 60% Narince and 40% Chardonnay, the latter of which was whole bunch pressed and 20% aged in French oak.

A delicate lemon-lime in the glass. Pouring the wine immediately released a happy cacophony of aromatic citrus, yuzu, smoke/flint, apple blossom, mint, and peach. The palate gently hinted at the oak maturating with deeper, almost baked fruit flavors while the bright citrus and smoke notes clung onto the finish. 

Medium body with zippy acidity, a lemony finish, and 13.5% alcohol, I could not help but go back for more. Literally. I immediately ordered several more bottles.