Gorka Izagirre is announced as “a family project that was born in the vineyard and constantly evolves to achieve high quality txakoli, maintaining its identity and origin unchanged: Bizkaia.” They add that “at Gorka Izagirre we contribute to the progress and enhancement of Bizkaia wine.”
It is a family wine project, with Bertol Izagirre as owner. The technical director, the oenologist José Ramón Calvo, is the other alma mater of this Vizcaya winery from Larrabetzu, in the Asúa valley (Txorierri), the one near the Bilbao airport. The protection of the natural landscape and the defense of native varieties is part of its DNA. Gorka Izagirre, a winery that was founded 25 years ago, also makes wines for third parties. José Ramón Calvo states that they seek to create “different txakolis, but with roots,” and “do things well, but to our liking.” And they also bet on aging wines.
The technical director assures that “the trick is in the field, not in the winery, adapting the variety on this soil and sky to the wines we want to make, with maturation and a point of structure.” They process the grapes from each plot separately. They say they understand the winery as “a tool at the service of the vineyard.” They also point out that “at Gorka Izagirre we work with excellent grapes, treated in the winery with the same care as in the vineyard.”
They manage a total of 40 hectares of vineyards, from which they obtain an average production of 6,000 kilos of grapes per hectare, which they harvest manually. They explain that “the low yield per hectare allows optimal ripening to create structured, high-quality txakolis.” They produce around 230,000 bottles annually. 15% of their production is destined for export. Norway, Japan and the Netherlands are its three main foreign markets.
Its main sales are concentrated in the province of Bizkaia. They make txakolis that they intend to “be recognized both locally and internationally.” Its winery is located in the complex where chef Eneko Atxa’s starred restaurants are located. In fact, in Gorka Izagirre they make txakoli that only customers of the great Azurmendi restaurant can taste.
Gorka Izagirre is also a winery open to wine tourism. Txakoli tastings with pairings or a walk through the vineyard are some of their proposals. In Basque ‘eleven o’clock’ is the name for the snack you have before eating. In Gorka Izagirre they wanted to recover the traditional hamaiketako. The classic gilda, ham and an Idiazabal cheese accompany their range of txakolis.
Their most accessible wine, Gorka Izagirre, is defined as a “representative of the modern txakolis of Bizkaia”. He is the son of vineyards that occupy 21 hectares, spread over ten plots and seven municipalities. Its planting framework is 3,636 vines per hectare. They work with selected, although neutral, yeasts. They say from the winery that “a differentiated preparation of each plot allows us to extract its full potential, in order to achieve the perfect pieces that assemble a fresh, cheerful, aromatic wine, but with body and structure and that surprises when drunk.” From this last vintage they have produced a total of 180,000 bottles.
If the year 2022 stood out meteorologically for something, it was because of the absence of precipitation. From the winery it is recalled that “drought and extreme heat were the constant in a year in which we had an early bud break due to the absence of the cold of winter.” The liters of water accumulated were exceptionally low and poorly distributed, since many of them received them in the form of strong waterspouts.
Dry weather, clear skies and high temperatures also accompanied them in early flowering (May 2022). The fruit set rate was higher than usual. The grapes arrived at the harvest date with “spectacular health”, but 15 days ahead of the usual date in recent years, pushed by a very hot start to September.
“Tiny grape grains entered the winery in a hurry, given the risk of raisining – who would have thought that in Bizkaia – especially in the case of the Hondarrabi Zuri Zerratia,” Gorka Izaguirre recalls. This lack of rain and excess heat left them with grapes with an alcohol level higher than they would have liked. Gorka Izagirre 2022 has 13.5º alcohol, while in this winery they like to move around 12.5º. Despite this, they point out that the grapes “knew how to maintain freshness and acidity.”
Gorka Izagirre 2022 is made with the Hondarrabi Zuri and Hondarrabi Zuri Zerratia varieties (in equal parts). They claim that the first of these Atlantic varieties provides “freshness, joy, fruit and power”, and that the second gives them “elegance, volume, white flowers and complexity”.
Atlantic Basque Wine shines on its label. Straw yellow in color with greenish and golden hues at the same time. You show notes that are reminiscent of white fruit, nectarine and fennel. It offers good acidity. It is a young and frank txakoli, with notes reminiscent of acacia flower and citrus, but with a certain glyceric structure. The work of the lees (short) and the memory of the yeasts are evident, as well as the maturity of the vintage, which was unusually dry and warm. It is also sapid, with a long finish and a slightly bitter and saline final touch.
From the winery they define it as “cheerful, appetizing, dry and fresh”, and they affirm that it “pairs perfectly” with seafood and fish. The technical director says that “it can be enjoyed in a bar, but it is also gastronomic.” José Ramon Calvo especially likes it with preparations with powerful sauces, such as pilpil cod or Biscayan-style tripe. Also ideal with some oysters and even with some poultry cannelloni with bechamel or with mullet with pickled carrot, Asturian pork jowl of the gochu breed, puientas and Espelette pepper from the Islares restaurant in Bilbao.
