Producer: Gorka Izagirre

Region: DO Bizkaiko Txakolina

Vintage: 2023

ABV: 12.5%

Grapes: Hondarrabi Zuri, Hondarrabi Zerratia

This wine will go well with:

Shellfish

Salads

White fish

Sushi

Bizkaiko Txakolina is the province of Vizcaya, one of three provinces in Spain’s Basque Country (País Vasco), the other two provinces being Álava further inland and Guipúzcoa to the east towards France. The DO was only created in 1994, but these days it is probably the most thriving of the three, with about fifty bodegas covering a vineyard area of 425 hectares.This is a coastal DO with a great variety of soils and microclimates. The sub-zones which are closest to the ocean tend to give fresher wines while the further you go inland the wines tend to be slightly fuller-bodied.

Gorka Izagirre txakoli is made from a blend of the aromatic Hondarrabi Zuri (Zuri means ¨white¨ in the Basque language) and the more floral, slightly bitter Hondarrabi Zerratia (aka Petit Courbu) grape. Both grapes ripen late and are generally harvested in mid-October. The name of both are derived from the name of the picturesque coastal town of Hondarribia, 120km away to the east on Spain’s border with France, and harks back to a time about 100 years ago when the grapes were planted across 1,000 hectares from Bayonne to Bilbao. Genetically, Hondarrabi Zuri is said to be identical to the Courbu grape which is popular in Jurançon in the southwest French Basque region, where you usually find it in blends alongside Petit Courbu and Gros Manseng.

Gorka Izagirre is one of the best known wineries in the Denominación de Origen Txakoli de Vizcaya, or Bizkaiko Txakolina as it’s referred to in the Basque language - one of the three Txakoli (or Chacolí - chak-ko-lee - in Castilian) DOs in Spain’s Basque Country. Just 20km inland from Bilbao and the Cantabrian Sea, the Izagirre family own and farm 40 hectares of vineyard, split into 14 different plots on south-east facing slopes which make the most of the sunlight and sea breezes. In this cool, wet region, the stars are the native Basque grapes, Hondarrabi Zuri and Hondarrabi Zerratia. These Atlantic varieties give small, concentrated berries bursting with a personality and flavour that gives Txakoli wine its distinctive character.

Gorka Izagirre is a blend of two grape varieties native to the Basque Country: Hondarrabi Zuri (50%) and Hondarrabi Zerratia (50%). The grapes are grown on 30 hectares of vineyards spread across 10 different vineyard plots in three different valleys, each with its own soil type, altitude and microclimate. Each plot is vinified separately to ensure a delightfully fresh, aromatic white wine with surprising body and structure.