Öküzgözü Taste Along
I continued my online wine tasting series last Friday with one of my favorite Turkish grapes, Öküzgözü.
Öküzgözü wasn’t always a favorite of mine. In fact for a long time I avoided it; finding it too insipid for my preferences. This is Turkey’s most widely planted native black variety. Which means the chances for encountering crap wines is pretty high; and I’ve drunk a lot of those. However, a couple years ago I came across a boutique producer, Eskibağlar. That one wine changed my whole view about Öküzgözü and I began actively seeking out examples from around the country.
This grape originates in the Eastern Anatolia province of Elazığ. Vineyards abound in Elazığ and the surrounding area but there are only three wineries: wine giant Kayra and small producers Eskibağlar and Kuzeybağ. Most of the vineyards belong to contracted growers and wineries ship the grapes across the country. More and more wineries now grow their own grapes, regardless of where they’re located, and we now see examples of Öküzgözü from vastly different terroirs and made in a variety of styles.
For this online tasting, we explored six different wines of various styles from different places around Turkey.
Ma’Adra Vineyards Floral Series Rosé, 2019
Ma’Adra Vineyards sits in the mountains in the very northern part of the Aegean wine region in kissing distance from the Marmara region. In their terraced vineyards cut into the mountain side they mostly grow international varieties, with the exception of Öküzgözü. I would love to see a red wine from them with this grape but for now they use it as the rosé in their Floral Series. While this may be Ma’Adra’s entry level series, at about 65 TL ($9.50) a bottle this is one of the best price for quality rosé wines in Turkey and beats out a lot of over, more expensive, pink wines.
Alcohol: 13.2% abv
Color: pale orange-tinged pink
Nose: Fruity and floral featuring strawberry and raspberry fruit, rose petals, and lemon salt aromas
Palate: The palate was dry and medium-bodied, with moderate but mouthwatering acidity. Flavors faithfully reflected the aromas sensed in the nose for a fresh and mineral-toned fruity wine. A nice medium finish kept the flavors lingering pleasingly.
We had a number of different foods to try with the wines to see what worked and what didn’t. This one paired especially well with young pork salami and a tangy, local hard cow’s milk cheese.
Kuzeybağ Şarapçılık Rosé, 2019
Kuzeybağ Şarapçılık, one of the two small producers in Elazığ, focuses almost entirely on the Öküzgözü grape. This is, I believe, their first rosé. Funnily enough, my friend S and I visited a restaurant the day before my tasting that has this on the wine list. The owner told us that it was proving to be a hard sell with people either loving or hating it. And now I know why.
Alcohol: 13% abv
Color: bright, intense, almost violently pink
Nose: Overwhelmingly candy with a bit of fruit
Palate: Soft on the palate with surprisingly low acidity (Öküzgözü is given to much higher acidity). A blessedly short finish after flavors as saccharine and hard candy like as the nose indicated. Not a favorite with any one of us at the tasting.
Significantly more expensive than the Ma’Adra rosé, this is not a wine I’ll return to for seconds. However, if you get a chance to try the winery’s red wines, those are very, very nice.
Saranta Vineyards & Winery, 2016
All the way on the other side of the country from Kuzeybağ and Elazığ lie the quartz-laded soils of Saranta Vineyards & Winery. Located near the foothills of the Stradja Massif in Kırklareli, Thrace, Saranta produces beautiful wines from mostly international varieties. Like Ma’Adra, the exception to that rule is the winery’s Öküzgözü.
Part of its eponymous line, Saranta, this red wine ages without oak to highlight the pure expression of the fruit and local terroir.
Alcohol: 13% abv
Color: medium opaque purple ruby
Nose: Black pepper, earth, and forest berries including wild black mulberry, blackberry, and raspberry
Palate: A lively acidity brought out brighter and redder fruit flavors like cherry to accompany peppery and earthy flavors while friendly tannins present toward the front added an herbal hint of mint. Medium-bodied with moderate alcohol and a medium finish, this is not only great quality for price at 90 TL ($13) but is a good wine to drink on its own or with food. It paired well with mushrooms, truffled almonds, eggplant walnut salad, and fenugreek.
Eskibağlar Şarapçılık, 2016
Based in Elazığ, Eskibağlar Şarapçılık’s passion is making wine from the two regional grapes: Öküzgözü of course and Boğazkere. The winery produces four wines: a varietal Öküzgözü, a reserve, an Öküzgözü-Boğazkere blend, and again a reserve of that. Reserve or not (I actually prefer the not reserve wines), these are age worthy wines of fantastic value under 70 TL ($10-for the not reserve) and until my local market ran out I was drinking the 2013 vintage.
For this tasting we had the 2016 which, since the other reds I got were the same vintage, may seem like design. However, like much of what I do it was entirely coincidental. But a nice coincidence!
Alcohol: 14% abv
Color: deep, almost entirely opaque ruby
Nose: Fruit and earth abounded here in the nose with dried dates, mulberry, and blackberry swirled together with hints of mint, earth, and cinnamon spice.
Palate: A fuller and more robust expression of Öküzgözü than we saw from Saranta, this is, I think, Öküzgözü when it’s at home. Medium plus body with mouthwatering racy acidity, notes of black pepper expressed themselves along with round tannins and accompanied all those lovely fruit and earth notes from the nose. From experience drinking that 2013 vintage I know that this wine will also develop deeper earth flavors and more intense pepper as it ages. Paired well with the truffled almonds, eggplant walnut salad, fenugreek, Turkish Gravyer cheese, the tangy, local cow milk cheese, and dried dates.
Vinkara Wines Winehouse, 2016
Vinkara Wines, a great promoter of Turkish grape varieties, grows its Öküzgözü in its Kalecik vineyards in Central Anatolia. In addition to highlighting yet another terroir for this grape, Vinkara’s Winehouse series does something very special with this grape. The Winehouse Öküzgözü blends together “young” wine with small amounts of wines made in both the Ripasso and passito methods giving this wine an entirely different personality from any other Öküzgözü I’ve ever tried. And at only about 89 TL ($13), it’s a steal. One I will be drinking again.
Alcohol: 13%
Color: medium opaque, clear garnet
Nose: Equal measures of cherry, strawberry jam, and nutmeg with earthy black tea aromas that took me back to endless mugs of Russian black tea my friends and I downed at our Russian professor’s dining table while discussing Russian literature.
Palate: A fresh, silky texture with moderate acidity and low tannin slipped across the palate elevating the flavors found in the nose and added a depth of fried date flavors. Have you ever added a spoonful of jam to black tea? Sounds weird but it’s pretty good. And that’s what this was. Its very different flavor profile meant this was not the best match with the foods we had on hand but it did well with the cheeses, including a soft Brie-like cheese, and dried dates.
Kayra Madre, NV
While there are a slew of producers who make varietal Öküzgözü, blends are not uncommon. Öküzgözü’s favorite blending partner is another Eastern Anatolian grape, Boğazkere. I wanted to feature at least one blend with this tasting but, especially as it gets hotter, didn’t want to throw another red into the mix. Instead I chose a unique wine from Kayra, Madre.
Wine giant Kayra has been producing wine in the city of Elazığ almost since before the city was a city. The winery has multiple production facilities in Turkey but the one in Elazığ focuses entirely on these two grapes. Kayra’s Madre is unique in Turkey as a fortified wine. Fortified wines are not especially popular here. A non vintage wine, Madre is blends these two grapes from a solera-style system to create a wine of exceptional quality and value at only about 100 TL (~$15).
Alcohol: 18.5%
Color: medium intense tawny
Nose: Initially the alcohol was overwhelming but it dissipated to reveal caramel, walnut, orange peel, and dried fruit aromas.
Palate: Pronounced flavors of date, fig, toffee, and walnut framed by a medium viscosity and fresh acidity that lingered pleasingly. Nicely balanced and beautiful for solo sipping but it also paired well with the soft cheese we had, walnuts, and dried fruit.