Boğazkere has a name that sounds like a warning. Boğaz means throat, and the name is usually translated as “throat burner”: young and unblended, Boğazkere grips the palate with tannins that few other Turkish grapes can match. Its home is Diyarbakır, a province of south-eastern Anatolia on the Tigris, whose capital of the same name is ringed by black basalt walls that are part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. There it grows above all in the districts of Çermik, Çüngüş and Ergani, and since 2021 the Boğazkere grape of Diyarbakır has been protected by a designation of origin. It is also planted in neighbouring Elazığ, the home of Öküzgözü, and in smaller amounts in the Aegean and elsewhere in the country.

Made for the steppe

The vine is made for these harsh surroundings. It ripens late and needs a long, warm season, does well on red, calcareous clay soils and tolerates drought: around Diyarbakır most vineyards are traditionally not irrigated. In the vineyard it is considered demanding. The berries are dark and thick-skinned, and the skins hold the colour and tannin that define the wine. The region may also matter for the history of wine as a whole: the Swiss grape geneticist José Vouillamoz and the American archaeologist Patrick McGovern have put forward the hypothesis that the grapevine was most likely first domesticated in south-eastern Anatolia.

In the glass

This grape’s colour and palate, on the scales wine professionals taste by: each range runs from the lightest typical wine to the richest.

Colour
deep purple
Sweetness
dry
Acidity
medium to medium(+)
Tannin
high
Alcohol
medium to high
Body
medium(+) to full
Intensity
medium(+)

Similar in the glass Touriga NacionalSyrahDiolinoir

Steps of the Wine & Spirit Education Trust’s tasting grid (WSET Level 3, 2022). Typical ranges, not measurements: site, vintage and cellar move every wine. Low alcohol means under 11 %, high 14 % and more; intensity is how much flavour the wine has. The colour is that of a typical bottle when it is drunk.

Neighbours in the glass

Boğazkere among the red grapes by acidity and tannin. In colour and linked: the three grapes closest across all six scales; the five most planted are named too.

lowmedium(−)mediummedium(+)highlowmedium(−)mediummedium(+)highAcidity →Tannin →soft and gentlefresh and gentlesoft and firmfresh and firmCabernet SauvignonCabernet Sauvignon (one of the five most planted of its colour): Acidity medium to high · Tannin medium(+) to highMerlotMerlot (one of the five most planted of its colour): Acidity medium(−) to medium · Tannin medium(−) to medium(+)TempranilloTempranillo (one of the five most planted of its colour): Acidity medium(−) to medium · Tannin medium to highGrenacheGrenache (one of the five most planted of its colour): Acidity low to medium · Tannin low to mediumPinot NoirPinot Noir: Acidity medium(+) to high · Tannin low to mediumSangioveseSangiovese: Acidity medium(+) to high · Tannin medium to highMalbecMalbec: Acidity medium to medium(+) · Tannin medium(−) to highCabernet FrancCabernet Franc: Acidity medium(+) to high · Tannin medium(−) to medium(+)MourvèdreMourvèdre: Acidity medium(−) to medium · Tannin medium(+) to highMontepulcianoMontepulciano: Acidity medium(−) to medium · Tannin medium(−) to medium(+)ZinfandelZinfandel: Acidity medium(−) to medium · Tannin medium(−) to mediumGamayGamay: Acidity medium(+) to high · Tannin low to medium(−)Pinot MeunierPinot Meunier: Acidity medium(+) to high · Tannin low to medium(−)Nero d’AvolaNero d’Avola: Acidity medium(−) to medium · Tannin medium(−) to mediumBarberaBarbera: Acidity high · Tannin low to medium(−)BlaufränkischBlaufränkisch: Acidity medium(+) to high · Tannin medium to medium(+)CarmenèreCarmenère: Acidity medium(−) to medium · Tannin medium(−) to mediumAglianicoAglianico: Acidity high · Tannin highZweigeltZweigelt: Acidity medium · Tannin low to medium(−)NebbioloNebbiolo: Acidity high · Tannin highCorvinaCorvina: Acidity medium(+) to high · Tannin low to medium(+)PinotagePinotage: Acidity medium to medium(+) · Tannin medium to medium(+)ÖküzgözüÖküzgözü: Acidity medium(+) to high · Tannin low to medium(−)Kalecik KarasıKalecik Karası: Acidity medium · Tannin low to medium(−)GamaretGamaret: Acidity medium · Tannin medium(+) to highGaranoirGaranoir: Acidity medium(−) to medium · Tannin medium(−) to mediumCornalinCornalin: Acidity medium to medium(+) · Tannin medium to medium(+)Humagne RougeHumagne Rouge: Acidity medium · Tannin medium to medium(+)SyrahSyrah (one of the five most planted of its colour): Acidity medium to medium(+) · Tannin medium to highTouriga NacionalTouriga Nacional: Acidity medium to medium(+) · Tannin medium(+) to highDiolinoirDiolinoir: Acidity medium to medium(+) · Tannin medium(+) to highBoğazkereBoğazkere: Acidity medium to medium(+) · Tannin high
  • Boğazkere
  • The three closest
  • Other grapes

Across all six scales

Filled, the grape of this page; outlined, its neighbour. Closeness is the mean gap between the ranges on all six scales; on just two scales a neighbour can look further away. Source: Weinquiz after the WSET tasting grid.

Every grape on the grape map →

Tannin that needs time

In the glass Boğazkere is dark, from deep ruby to purple, and full-bodied, with aromas of blackberry, black cherry and spice, and with age of liquorice, dried fruit and leather. The tannins need time: the wine is often aged in oak, which rounds off the edges and adds notes of vanilla and cocoa, and the best examples can keep developing for ten years and more. On its own it is a wine for the patient; more often it is blended.

Its classic partner is Öküzgözü. Boğazkere brings structure, colour and ageing potential, Öküzgözü fruit, juice and acidity; together they make the typical red of eastern Anatolia. Some writers like to call the pair Turkey’s answer to Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Doluca, founded in 1926, bottles a Boğazkere–Öküzgözü under the name Kav. Boğazkere also turns up in blends with international grapes such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah.

Around the world

  • 1,440hectares of bearing vines worldwide, 2016
  • No. 217of 1,589 wine grape varietiesGrown in a single country.

By country

  1. Turkey1,440 ha · 100 %

Turkey last reported figures for 2016. Bearing vineyard area around 2023, from the latest year each country reported, rounded. Source: Anderson, Nelgen and Puga, University of Adelaide (2026).

Fat to tame it

Such a wine needs food with fat and protein to soften its tannins. In Turkey it is drunk with kebabs, grilled lamb and kuzu tandır, lamb slow-cooked for hours in the oven, with spicy meat dishes in sauce and with strong, aged cheese. Elsewhere it suits a braised beef stew, game or a long-aged hard cheese. Young Boğazkere is best decanted an hour before the meal.